Kulere and Kulerenaske: The Two Kurdish Griddle Breads

Dala Sarkis
5 hours ago
3 min read

Kulere and Kulerenaske: The Two Kurdish Griddle Breads

Kulere (کولێرە) is a thick, round Kurdish griddle bread, baked on a hot iron plate and eaten with butter, herbed cheese, and sweet tea for breakfast. Kulerenaske (ناسکە کولێرە) is its ultra-thin counterpart — a Kurdish crepe rolled out paper-thin on the same griddle. The name kulerenaske literally means “thin kulere” — the Kurdish language contains both breads in a single naming system that reveals how central griddle bread is to Kurdish daily life. Both are listed among the defining Kurdish breads by Kurdistan24. A baker in Erbil described kulere by saying: “it is so delicious you eat your hands with it.” Together, kulere and kulerenaske represent the everyday, unpretentious heart of Kurdish bread culture — not the dramatic tanûr or the ancient storage bread, but the quiet griddle bread that appears at every Kurdish breakfast table.

Key Takeaways

• Kulere: thick, round griddle bread eaten with butter, herbed cheese, eggs, and tea at breakfast

• Kulerenaske: ultra-thin Kurdish crepe — the paper-thin version, rolled out on the same griddle

• The name kulerenaske literally means "thin kulere" — the Kurdish language contains both breads in one naming system

• Listed as a defining Kurdish dish by Wikipedia — the everyday breakfast bread of Kurdish homes

Quick Facts

Kurdish Names: Kulere (کولێرە, thick) and Kulerenaske (ناسکە کولێرە, thin)

Type: Griddle-baked flatbreads — thick and ultra-thin versions from the same tradition

Eaten With: Butter, herbed cheese (jîjî), eggs, honey, and sweet black tea

Region: All of Bashur (Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok) and across Kurdistan

Two Breads, One Griddle

Both kulere and kulerenaske are made from the same simple dough: flour, water, salt, and sometimes yeast. They are baked on the same tool — a flat iron griddle (sac) heated over a fire. The difference is in how the dough is handled. For kulere, the dough is shaped into a thick, round disc and baked slowly until golden on both sides. It has substance — you can tear pieces off and use them to scoop cheese or wrap around eggs. For kulerenaske, the same dough is rolled out paper-thin using a teirok (rolling pin), then baked quickly on the hot griddle. It comes off crisp, light, and translucent — a Kurdish crepe. When it cools, it can be sprinkled with water and wrapped in fabric to soften, then eaten later without reheating. A Kurdish blogger in America documented making this bread with her mother, using tools hand-made by her father: the teirok, the missteqe (flipping tool), and the sac itself — all brought from Kurdistan.

The Bread of Kurdish Mornings

Kulere is breakfast bread. In Erbil, a young baker named Ayed Ahmed told Kurdistan24: “People ask for kulera with cheese and eat it right here with sweet tea.” The bakery is not just a shop — it is a morning gathering place. Kulere is the bread of this gathering: warm, thick, torn by hand, shared with cheese that may be jajî (herbed mountain cheese) or örgü peyniri (braided cheese). The kulerenaske, being thinner and drier, stores better and travels better — it is the bread you take to the field, the bread you stack and wrap, the bread that lasts. Together, they represent the two modes of Kurdish bread eating: communal and warm (kulere) versus portable and lasting (kulerenaske).

Conclusion

This series has now documented six Kurdish breads: nanê tenûrê (tandoor), nanê tîrî (storage), kelane (spring herb), bersaq (fried sweet), teşrîb (broth-soaked), and now kulere and kulerenaske (griddle breads, thick and thin). Together they reveal a bread civilisation — a culture that has a different bread for every purpose, every season, and every occasion. Kulere and kulerenaske are the most everyday of all: the bread you eat every morning, the bread your children grow up tearing with their hands, the bread that a baker in Erbil says makes you eat your own hands with it. It is not dramatic or contested or politically charged. It is simply Kurdish breakfast, made on a Kurdish griddle, with Kurdish tools, in a Kurdish kitchen. That is enough.