Lavash and Gata Farewell

At the end of our sojourn in the mountains we are invited to watch the ancient process of making Lavash - the Armenian long flatbread and also Gata, a round sweet filled bread -  at the home of a neighbour whose family is very much part of the building and maintenance and cherry picking that goes on at the house where we are staying. I felt very privileged to witness it and of course taste it too.

This lady rolls out the weighed balls of dough which take 2 days to prepare and prove and rise as they don't use yeast. I'm glad when she takes a break to answer her mobile phone as it looks hard work. Then she tosses the paper thin disc to this lady,

who catches it on her fore arms and does some graceful, nifty stretching and

then drapes it over this cushion, ( covered in smart denim), makes a small slash in the centre, dabs two corners with an egg wash from a plastic bottle to make it stick on the sides of the clay tourner and

then leans in to the hot oven and slaps it against the wall - for less than a minute - and then hoicks it out with a long hooked pole and tosses it onto the growing pile near by.

They make enough to last the family of seven for two weeks.

We sampled a piece - fresh and crisp and soft -  rolled up with cheese and spring onion.

This is the Gata - another young woman makes it by flattening out the dough ball and pouring on this mixture of melted butter, sugar, flour and egg, bringing in the sides to hold it together in an envelope and then rolling it out again, brushing with an egg wash,

and making this traditional pattern on top with a fork. She places it on a flat iron 2 tiered tray and lowers it into the oven, suspending it with a pole across the top.

It's warm and sweet and tender - it feels like a delicious reward for all their long hard work which we are very lucky to share.

Back in Yerevan on our last night we are invited to a big family feast on the terrace,

which ends with sweet Armenian coffee, more mulberries, cherries and apricots

and a magnificent Solstice moon, white as a ball of dough, rising over the hillside to bid us farewell.