Pide, often coated with egg and sprinkled with sesame seeds, is the harbinger of the approaching iftar (fast-breaking dinner) time with its irresistible smell spreading through the streets. As it is rarely served outside of Ramadan, this traditional bread receives a lot of interest from fasters during the holy month. People form long queues in front of bakeries just before iftar every evening to buy freshly baked pide.
In the meantime, bakers have to work overtime to meet the high demand during the sweltering days of Ramadan under hot and noisy conditions.
“It is more difficult for us [bakers] to work in this hot weather while fasting. The temperature of the oven is around 300 degrees Celsius and we feel a temperature of 70-80 degrees Celsius. We swelter and get very thirsty while doing our job during the fasting month in particular,” Cengiz Çakmakçı, who has been working as a baker for 26 years, told the Cihan news agency in an interview.
“We also work during the night so as not to leave customers without bread and pide during suhur [the pre-dawn meal],” Çakmakçı added.
