Barbari (nān-e barbari): Iranian bread

Iranian traditional flat bread

Dissolve the baker's yeast and a teaspoon of sugar in 100 ml of lukewarm water (about 38 degrees) and let stand for about 3 minutes.

In a large bowl or in your stand mixer, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.

Make a small hole in your mixture and pour in the baker's yeast dissolved in water. Then gradually add the 700ml of water.

Knead your dough for a good 15 minutes, until you obtain a nice ball of homogeneous dough that is quite sticky and elastic.

Divide your barbari bread dough ball into 4 small pieces. Place them on a well floured baking sheet, cover with a clean cloth and let the dough pieces rise for about 1h30. Your Iranian bread dough should roughly double in size!

While the dough is rising, bring the 200ml of water to a boil in a saucepan, adding the Romal ingredients: flour and baking soda. Once the Romal is brought to a boil, turn off the heat and let cool.

Once your dough pieces have risen well, dip your hands in the Romal so that the dough does not stick when you handle it. Flatten your dough pieces on a well-floured work surface, giving them an oval shape. They should be 1-2cm thick.

With a knife (or the tip of your fingers), make scratches on the surface of the barbari breads.
Brush them generously with Romal then sprinkle them with your black or white sesame seeds or a mixture of both!

Once your dough pieces are well modeled and brushed with Romal and sesame, let rise again for 45 minutes.

Preheat your oven for 15 minutes at 180˚C. You can brush them again with Romal for a more golden bread. Bake your Iranian breads for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

There you have it, you have made delicious barbari breads (or Iranian breads) ready to be tasted! You can serve them as an accompaniment to dishes or cheese such as Panir.