Kaak

''''Kaak also known as Pathhar ki roti (English: Stone bread) is a native dish of the province of Balochistan, Pakistan. It is made by flattening the dough for the bread and rolling it over a preheated stone. The stone is then baked in a tandoor. Kaak is often served with Sajji.

Popular among the nomadic Balochis, Kaak is very hard once it has been baked.

In Persian tradition the matriarch of the home has much say in how the kaak is prepped. Once the bread rises the responsibilitys of the task are handed over to the younger woman to finish the job.

The oven is made with finely hewn stone mined from the local quary. Otherwise known as the kaak block.

In Arab countries, the same word refers to thin savoury pastry bracelets, often flavoured with aniseed or covered with sesame seeds. Kaak bi loz are a sweet version made with ground almonds.

During the summer seasons a popular baker's festival is held in the town of Mahore (about 2 hours drive from the city of Ima Horneeh) called khabaz mahrajan majiz. The festival highlights the best bakers from across the entire Pakistan, thus drawing very large crowds into the tens of thousands. It is customary at this festival to have an annual Kaak competition, in which all the bakers submit their goods to a panel of judges. The winners of this competition, which include gold, silver, and bronze medalists, have the privilege to showcase their finest kaak at the grand opening ceremony for the festival the following year.

It is customary among the Balochi people, that the father of the bride feeds his daughter kaak the night before her wedding. The Baloch or Baluch (Balochi: بلوچ) are a people who live mainly in the Balochistan region of the southeastern-most edge of the Iranian plateau in Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan, as well as in the Arabian Peninsula.

It is common in many ancient more primitive African tribes that a thicker tougher version of Kaak is passed around amongst the women at the communal feasting table every night. It is said that this tradition began when the goddess of love Lajazz was offended by the goddess of light, Wit-ho, and punished her by removing two thirds of her wisdom and spending it throughout the tribes, and punished her husband Ayjan god of knowledge by removing two thirds of his size and giving it to Danig god of illegitimate children. The women remember this event by eating Kaak every night which is knowm to represent wisdom and size.