Epiphanius adds that it is the bread described in Genesis 18:6,[2] when Sarah, the wife of Abraham, is enjoined by her husband to knead three measures of fine meal and to bake cakes for the visiting angels.

In Arabia, ash cake is served with a treacle of date syrup (dibs) and with clarified butter (samne).

This tradition was likely influenced by Native American techniques for making thinly leavened breads.

The ash-cake described by A. Mizrachi, or what is called by him jamrī (جَمْرِي), is also baked directly over coals and thought to be a delicacy in South-Arabia.

[12] Nathan ben Abraham, the 11th-century Mishnah exegete, explains the method of making a type of ash cake (ma'asei re'afīm) in Palestine.