Ancient Israelite cuisine aside, and the loaves were baked on the heated surface. People also began placing a convex dome, initially earthenware and later metal, over the pit-oven and cooking the flatbreads on the dome instead of on the ash-covered surface; this type of oven is probably what was meant by the biblical "machabat", often translated as “griddle”. The Persians introduced a clay oven called a tanur (similar to the Indian tandoor), which had an opening at the bottom for the fire, and through which the bread was placed to be baked on the inner wall of the upper chamber from the heat
Masonry oven bearing insulation and provides an easy way to break contact with surrounding cold. Some earthen oven builders use a lo-cost combination of empty glass bottles surrounded by an insulative mix of clay and fine organic matter (sawdust, chaff, nut shells, etc.); as the organics burn out, they leave thousands of tiny voids in the clay, making a spongey, insulative, and firm foam-like material. To keep the top of the oven warm, masons may build walls around the oven, crib-like, to make space for a loose cover of perlite, pumice, or vermiculite. For a smaller profile and a rounder look, the