Greek spread on Armenian bread

During one of my recent Russo’strips, I came across a large, oblong, flat loaf of bread ($2.39). It looked so enticing that I had buy one. Upon closer inspection, I realized that (like all the bread at Russo’s) this was not only a local product, but also a traditional Armenian bread called Matnakash. According to Wikipedia:

The word matnakash literally means finger draw, referring to the way the bread is prepared. Matnakash is made of wheat flour with yeast or sourdough starter. It is shaped into oval or round loafs with longitudinal or criss-crossed scouring. The characteristic golden or golden-brown color of its crust is achieved by coating the surface of the loaves with sweetened tea essence before baking. 

The bread came from Christopher’s Bakery in Lynn, MA. I did a Google search, but couldn’t find any information on this bakery… I did find a Christopher’s Cafe at the same address, so it looks like this supplier also has a store front — and it gets good ratings on Yelp.

Once I got the bread home, it was a no-brainer what to eat it with… the delicious, indisputable, delicate and absolutely tasty Taramosalata– Greek caviar spread ($3.49 — also at Russo’s). I’ve written about Taramosalata before… but it doesn’t take much arm twisting for me to write about it again because I love the dang stuff!

The combination was perfect. The Matnakash was soft and yeasty and the Taramosalata was creamy, savory and added a nice little texture to the open palate of the bread. Now I need to just stop eating it before I finish off the jar…