By order of Çorum Mayor Halil İbrahim Aşgın, toast served in municipal cafeterias across the province now comes from a loaf made with a 3,500-year-old Hittite recipe. The bread is produced by the Valide Sultanlar Sofrasi Women's Cooperative, whose 15 members reproduced the ancient loaf with organic ingredients and traditional tools.
Agricultural engineer Tuba Topkara chairs the cooperative and oversees every stage of wheat production, from sowing heirloom grains to milling. While seeking new products for local women to market, she discovered the recipe in the 2007 book ‘Hittite Cuisine as an Example of Experimental Archaeology’, co-authored by gastronomy instructor Ülkü Menşure Solak.
With Solak’s guidance, Topkara restored a long-unused stone oven, partnered with local farmers to raise heirloom wheat, and used a stone mill to produce flour. Cooperative members then mixed that flour with a sourdough starter, rock salt, and spring water, kneading the dough in a wooden trough before baking it over an oak-wood fire.
“We transform the flour into dough using a special rock salt and our local spring water with traditional methods,” said Topkara. “We want Hittite bread, the history of which is 3,500 years old, to become known not only in Çorum but all over the world,” she added.
“The Hittites documented these recipes in ritual texts. By tracing their clues and using organic wheat, we revived the ancient method,” said Solak, according to Yeni Şafak, noting that stone mills, wooden kneading containers, and stone ovens were essential for authenticity. She emphasized that the loaf contains no genetically modified organisms.
Production now runs daily. Batches are sliced, toasted, and served in municipal eateries, while packaged loaves are sold at cooperative outlets in Çorum city center. Topkara is negotiating with regional organic-food wholesalers and preparing export documents. Archaeological digs at nearby Hattusa continue to reveal other ritual breads, and Solak’s research will guide additional products the cooperative hopes to launch.
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