Georgian Bread: Names, Types and What to Buy at a Bakery

At a glance

Puri is the Georgian word for bread. One recognisable type, shoti, is long with pointed ends. Tonis puri means bread baked in a tone oven, rather than one particular round flatbread. Try mchadi for a corn-based bread, chvishtari for a version with cheese, or sweet nazuki with tea. Names help you find your way, but ask the seller about ingredients and size. Before visiting a bakery, check its address, hours and whether the bread you want is available.

What is Georgian bread called?

A sign may say “პური” (puri), meaning bread, or “თონე” (tone), the name of the oven. Neither identifies a particular loaf. If you want long bread with pointed ends, ask for shoti or point to it in the display. Shotis puri, შოთის პური, is the fuller form of the name.

Tonis puri, თონის პური, describes bread by its method of baking in a tone. Shoti and tonis puri can therefore describe the same loaf in different ways. For a buyer, looking at the shape, crust and crumb is more useful than treating the terms as two necessarily different recipes.

Types of Georgian bread, with photos

How to tell Georgian breads apart

Shoti / shotis puri

A long loaf with pointed ends is easy to recognise in a bakery display. Georgia Travel’s description of Kakhetian shoti notes that one side is thicker than the other and compares its outline to a sabre. This describes the shape; it is not proof that the bread was invented for military campaigns.

Dedas / dedis puri

“Mother’s bread” is associated with regional names and baking traditions. Georgia Travel discusses it alongside Kakhetian shoti. Do not expect every bakery to sell it as a separate loaf of one fixed shape. Ask to see the bread and how that baker distinguishes it from shoti.

Lavash / lavashi

Lavash can refer to different breads in different places. Georgia Travel lists lavashi and long lavashi among Meskhetian breads, alongside other local flatbreads. Do not assume that every lavash must be thin, round or made to a single recipe. If you want bread for grilled meat or to wrap a filling, check its thickness and flexibility first.

Mchadi

Choose this corn flatbread for a different base and a denser texture. In Georgia Travel’s description, the dough is made with corn flour and water, while cooking methods vary. Try mchadi with cheese, lobio or a vegetable starter. If the exact ingredients matter to you, ask the person who made it.

Chvishtari

Chvishtari combines a corn base with cheese. Georgia Travel associates it with Samegrelo and Svaneti. It is more substantial on its own than plain mchadi; choose it if you want the combination of corn and cheese. The name does not tell you how much cheese or which other ingredients a particular recipe contains.

Nazuki

This sweet yeast bread with raisins and spices is particularly associated with Surami. Georgia Travel’s recipe includes milk, eggs, raisins and spices, but that does not guarantee the ingredients of every bread sold under this name. If you want something sweet with tea, ask for nazuki and look at a cut slice.

How bread is baked in a tone

A tone resembles a deep oven with an opening at the top. Georgia Travel’s description of the traditional structure identifies a cylindrical clay oven set into the ground. Describing it as a ceramic hemisphere is inaccurate.

The oven is heated first. The dough is shaped and attached to the hot inner wall. The bread bakes against the wall, rather than resting on a tray. To remove a finished loaf, the baker holds it with a pointed tool and uses another to detach it. Watching the baker at work is therefore more useful than applying the rules of a conventional oven to a tone.

Traditions without invented history

Georgia Travel describes Kakhetian baking as a family activity and bread with cheese and wine as part of the meal. It also describes a custom of breaking bread by hand. This is an account of a particular tradition, rather than a rule for every family and every day.

Stories about the origins of names, the purpose of every hole in a loaf or a military explanation for its shape need separate evidence. A loaf’s shape or an unsourced story cannot establish its age and history. You can invite people to share a meal without relying on a literal translation of an old expression.

Choosing a bakery and buying bread

Start with the Tbilisi bakeries, Batumi bakeries or Kutaisi bakeries directories. If you specifically want shoti from a tone, ask about it separately: a bakery category includes other baked goods too.

Step 1. Find a suitable bakery

Open the directory for your city and select a bakery’s name. In Tbilisi, you could start with the Entrée listing at 47 Kote Apkhazi Street. If you cannot find it in the list, use the direct listing link in the table below. Do not choose a place solely because its description says “best” or because it has many stars.

Step 2. Check the address in the listing

Find the “Address” section. Check the street and number, then look for “Official website” and published contact details. The Entrée example gives 47 Kote Apkhazi Street. If no contact or website is listed, the missing field does not confirm that the bakery is open: choose a place with an accessible source or check it directly before visiting.

Step 3. Compare the information with the bakery’s own website

Select “Official website”. On Entrée’s English page, addresses appear under Tbilisi; for this example, find “#47 Kote Apkhazi Street”. On a computer, use Ctrl+F; on a phone, use your browser’s find-on-page option. Check the address and available contact. Ask the bakery about the bread type, price and next batch: an address on its website does not mean shoti is currently in stock.

If the website will not open or the addresses differ, use the published contact to ask for current information. Do not travel based on an old screenshot without checking.

Choosing a bakery: two examples of checking the details

What to serve with bread and how to store it

For a first taste, try shoti with cheese and vegetables, mchadi with lobio, or nazuki with tea. Chvishtari already contains cheese; bear that in mind when ordering several dishes. Thin bread for wrapping and a substantial loaf for the shared table serve different purposes.

If you are buying bread to eat on a walk, ask for packaging suitable for a hot loaf. If you plan to carry it further, ask the baker whether to let it cool and how to store that particular bread. For packaged products, follow the label and the producer’s storage instructions.

A fresh, crisp crust is not the same thing as a shelf life. We do not promise that any shoti will stay the same for several days: the result depends on its recipe, packaging and storage. For a long journey, decide when you will eat it and where you can keep it.

Georgian names and phrases for a bakery

Videos: baking in a tone and at home

A traditional oven and a home oven work differently. In a home oven, bread rests on a baking surface; you do not reproduce the method of sticking dough to a tone’s wall. For home baking, choose an oven-specific recipe with ingredient quantities, temperature and time.

Compare the method shown with the equipment you have. A home baking recipe should specify ingredient quantities, temperature and time.

For baking at home, choose a recipe for your equipment with ingredient quantities, temperature and time. An explanation of tone baking helps compare methods, but does not replace instructions for a home oven.

Readers’ questions

How should I choose bread on my first bakery visit?

Point to a loaf you like and ask about its name, base ingredients and size. For a first taste, you can buy one type rather than every name on the list.

Can I watch a tone in use?

Ask the staff where you may stand and whether watching and filming are allowed. A description mentioning an open oven does not grant access to the work area.

What if the sign is only in Georgian?

Compare the word with the table above, or show the seller the name on your screen. If you need particular ingredients, ask for an explanation in a language you understand.

Read also

Georgian spices and their names

Traditional khinkali in Tbilisi

A guide to Georgian cuisine

Sources and check date

Names and methods: Georgia Travel’s “Shoti – Mother’s Bread”, “Meskhetian Dishes”, “Mchadi and Chvishtari” and “Nazuki”, read on 20 October 2026. Word meanings were checked against accessible NPLG dictionary entries. Example addresses: Madloba listings and Entrée’s official website, compared on 20 October 2026. Check information that may change again before visiting.