30 Eggs, Bawa’s Breudher Pan and a Culinary Who Did It?

Geoffrey Bawa's country home, Lunuganga, holds a peculiar sight: a small, angled shade painted white and cut to cast its beam upon a stone bishop. Channa Daswatte, Bawa's protégé, revealed the shade was crafted from a sardine tin, adding a touch of humor and irreverence. The renowned architect and collector possessed an eccentric array of objects, one of which is a well-worn breudher pan.

This pan, with its dark, pitted lid contrasting against its coppery, spiral-fluted body, displays an unusual appearance accentuated by the central protuberance at its lid's center. The pan's origin, however, remains a mystery.

A similar breudher pan can be found at the Dutch Period Museum in Pettah, the old quarter of Colombo. Identified by Dutch historian Lodewijk Wagenaar as a broeder pot made of copper and tin, this pan bears an identical design to Bawa's pan: a deep, fluted pan with a tall central column and three sturdy legs. Though this museum pan lacks a lid, its broad upper flange could have accommodated one, as the upturned handles on either side may have provided stability for one. The similarities between the two pans are clear, but their origins remain unidentified.

These breudher pans offer insights into the baking methods once prevalent in Sri Lanka. Unlike modern ovens, these pans were designed to be baked on a hearth. The Bawa pan's thick metal walls and long legs allowed it to rest above embers while the heavy lid, carrying hot coals, provided heat from above. The central column, a clever engineering feat, reduced the dough's mass while acting as a chimney, facilitating heat distribution and enabling the bread to rise.

The fluting increased the exposed surface area to the heated metal and gave the bread its distinctive tall architecture.

Comparing these pans to a similar Dutch earthenware broeder mould from North Holland, one notices notable differences in size and material. Unlike the Bawa pan, the Dutch mould lacks legs and has no integral lid. Instead, it was traditionally boiled or steamed, or baked in an oven. The Bawa pan, on the other hand, ingeniously integrated the requirements of hearth baking into the vessel itself.

Its long legs held it above the embers, the heavy lid could carry hot coals, and the central column projected through the lid to channel heat through the center of the dough, creating a miniature, self-contained oven. This integration of functions, particularly the projecting chimney, distinguishes the Bawa pan from its Dutch counterpart.