About Us

Odunköz's story began in 1994, when Mehmet Kalkan took over an old bakery in Kozağaç, Meram, that had baked bread for the neighbourhood for years. In those days it baked bread in the morning and, before noon, the börek and tray dishes neighbours prepared at home. Mehmet Usta had trained under Konya's etli ekmek masters, and within a few years the oven was opening in the afternoons for etli ekmek and pide.

Three generations

In 2005 his son Hüseyin Kalkan took over the oven; in 2012 it was rebuilt and lengthened to seven metres. Today Hüseyin Usta runs it with his son Emre Kalkan. In 2019 we opened a second bakery in Feritpaşa, Selçuklu. Twenty-six people work across the two, nine of them bakers and apprentices.

Why wood?

Many bakeries in Konya have switched to natural gas. We have not. Oak and beech heat the stone floor evenly from every side and give etli ekmek that familiar crisp base. We buy seasoned wood from suppliers with sales permits from the General Directorate of Forestry; our flues have filters and are cleaned twice a year by a licensed contractor.

Ingredients

Our flour is milled from Konya Plain wheat at a mill in Karatay. Our meat comes as lamb and beef shoulder and brisket from our butcher, who works with a Ministry-approved slaughterhouse in Konya, and we chop it with a zırh knife on our own bench every morning. We churn our ayran each morning from yoghurt made by a dairy in Çumra.

Food safety

We are registered with the Meram District Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry under number TR-42-K-033951. Meat and mince are kept at 0–4 °C and mince is used the same day. Our whole team has food hygiene training, and our oven and kitchen staff renew their occupational health and safety training under Law No. 6331 every year.