Our Story

A person wearing black gloves using a rolling pin to flatten dough on a large round cast iron pan.

Hello, and welcome to our village.
My name is Maan.

My name is Maan and I was born and raised in small village called Kfarhim in Lebanon and also Beirut, the capital. After leaving at 21 years of age, I realized key values of our culture are hospitality, generosity, family. After more than a decade working in big corporate and startups in Dubai and the United States, I felt called to simplify, return to what mattered, and share culture through food.

Through Saj bread, we bring the values of family, friendship, and nourishment from Lebanon to Appalachia bridging lands, stories, and people.

A person wearing black gloves is chipping a smooth stone on a wooden surface with some white powder scattered around.
A woman with long, wavy hair smiling and holding a half-eaten burrito in her hand, sitting outdoors at a gathering.

Brining Saj bread or Manouche to the US, spelled in Arabic as (منقوشة), has long been a dream of mine, a way to preserve ancestral recipes while developing something of my own, rooted in the heritage I come from.

I have always seen bread-making as a meditation, a living prayer, where all the elements of life come together to nourish both body and spirit. When made with intention, bread carries care, memory, and connection.

While living in intentional community in Appalachia, I developed our Saj bread recipe, drawing from ancestral Lebanese practices and my own intuition and research and community feedback. The result is a recipe that is simple, gluten-free, inclusive and deeply nourishing, designed to honor tradition while welcoming modern needs.

For me, making bread is an act of service. It fuels community. Saj bread is my offering — developed with intention, rooted in heritage, and shared as a bridge between cultures and people.

This journey has been made possible by the incredible community in Appalachia who supported and believed in this work. It truly takes a village.

This is the beginning of our adventure.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story — we look forward to connecting and breaking bread with you.

MEET SOME OF OUR FAMILY

A smiling man with dark hair, wearing a baseball cap backwards and a patterned shirt, leaning on his hand inside a food truck or small store.

Maan

Founder and Fearless Leader

A person with long dreadlocks, a bandana, glasses, and black gloves is cooking on a large griddle, shaving a food item called 'roti' from a flatbread with a metal scraper, while holding a container of cooked filling.

Bodhi

Baker (Sajmati)

A young man with red hair, glasses, and a black cap, wearing a black shirt and apron, is preparing dough at an outdoor food stand. He is using a rolling pin on a piece of dough, with other people visible in the background, some using their phones, at what appears to be a festival or outdoor event.

Nick

Baker