A group of women in Türkiye brings 3,500-year-old Hittite bread back to life

A women’s cooperative is turning back time — baking organic bread from 3,500-year-old recipes carved into clay tablets, using traditional methods and ingredients passed down through generations, in Türkiye’s Corum Province, once the heart of the Ancient Hittite Empire.

Led by agricultural engineer Tuba Topkara, the Valide Sultanlar Sofrası Women’s Cooperative in Elvancelebi village recreated the recipe using clues from millennia-old clay tablets and guidance from gastronomy teacher Ülkü Mensure Solak, co-author of Hittite Cuisine as an Experimental Archaeology Study.

Topkara partnered with local farmers to grow heirloom wheat, milled it in a stone mill, and restored a stone oven for baking.

The bread is made from just four ingredients — organic flour, sourdough starter, rock salt, and spring water — and baked over an oak wood fire.

“We want to make Hittite bread not just a symbol of Corum, but of the world,” said Topkara.

The recipe is based on ancient Hittite ritual texts, aiming to preserve both the culinary heritage and local traditions.

The bread, which is fully organic and handmade by women, is already being offered to the public through the Corum Municipality.

The women's cooperative group now hopes to share this unique taste of history with the world.

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