Gata (food)

Some Gata resemble croissants, made from an enriched bread dough rolled into paper-thin, table-wide sheets using an “okhlavoo” (a wooden dowel dedicated to dough work), smeared with butter, rolled up like a carpet and cut into spirals that bake up layered and crisp. Others are sweeter and decidedly more cake-like, whether they're made with a yeast- or baking soda/acidic dairy-leavened dough (baking powder was, until very recently, unknown in Armenia, so most chemically-leavened baked goods are made using a combination of baking soda and an acidic dairy like yogurt or sour cream). This latter style is usually formed into a flattened disc and filled with a single layer of butter, flour, sugar, vanilla, and (sometimes) chopped nut paste known as khoritz, a mixture that's essentially the Armenian equivalent of Strudel. These more simple gata are often dressed up with decorative strips of dough or by scoring patterns onto the top before baking.^{[citation needed]}

The following styles of Gata can be found in Eastern Armenia and Karabakh (Artsakh):

• Stepanavan (Gugark) Gata.^[8]
• Gyumri (Leninakan) Gata.^[8]
• Yerevan Gata.^[9]
• Vanadzor (Kirovakan) Gata.^[10]
• Gavar Gata.^[11]
• Geghard Gata.^[12]
• Karabakh (Artsakh) Gata.^[13]

Gata is also prepared by Assyrians, who call it Chada or Kadeh.^[14]

Gata is traditionally eaten during various feasts. For example, during the Christian holiday (Candlemas) in Armenia.^[15]

• Nazook
• Kete (food)
• Qatlama