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Sangak

It is baked straight onto a bed of hot river pebbles and then thrown down hard to knock them off.

Vegan.

Ingredients

Method

  1. IT IS BAKED STRAIGHT ONTO A BED OF HOT RIVER PEBBLES AND THEN THROWN DOWN HARD TO KNOCK THEM OFF. Its article describes both halves and the second one is the part nobody expects. The stones are what the bread is named for -- sang is pebble -- and they give it its characteristic corrugated surface: thick chewy hollows where the dough sat between stones, separated by thin crisp borders where it stretched over them. And when the bread comes out it is thrown, with some force, onto a wide-gauge metal mesh, specifically to dislodge any pebbles that have stuck to it. Then it cools on that mesh. Both steps are the dish; neither is optional if you want this bread rather than a flatbread.
  2. AT HOME: THE PEBBLES GO IN A TRAY AND THE OVEN GOES AS HOT AS IT WILL GO. Two kilos of smooth river stones, scrubbed and dried, in a single layer in a deep oven tray, and the tray in the oven at its maximum -- 250C or higher -- for a full forty-five minutes before any dough goes near it. Stones hold a great deal of heat and need a long time to take it up; a short preheat gives you warm stones and a pale, tough bread.
  3. THE DOUGH IS DELIBERATELY VERY WET. Its article says sangak is ALWAYS made from a very high-hydration dough, and gives the flour content as about 83 per cent by weight -- higher than other breads in the country. Five hundred and fifty millilitres of water to seven hundred grams of flour is around 78 per cent and is about as slack as you can handle at home. It will be sticky and unkneadable in the ordinary sense: mix it in the bowl with a wet hand, and fold it over on itself three times at twenty-minute intervals instead of kneading.
  4. IT IS SPREAD INTO A TRIANGLE ON AN OILED SURFACE AND STRETCHED AS IT GOES ON. Its article describes the baker scooping the sticky dough onto an oiled peel, shaping a rough triangle, and then using the peel to stretch the dough over the stones as it slides off -- so a nearly equilateral triangle on the peel arrives as a long isosceles one on the stones. At home, use an oiled baking sheet as the peel and stretch with your hands as you tip it.
  5. THE SEEDS GO ON BEFORE IT IS TIPPED IN. Its article has two varieties sold: plain, and a dearer one topped with poppy or sesame, more rarely cumin, black cumin, caraway or dried herbs. Scattered onto the wet dough on the peel, where they stick.
  6. IT BAKES IN FIVE TO SEVEN MINUTES AND IS WATCHED. On stones that hot it is quick. It is done when the thin borders have browned and the thick hollows are set and still soft.
  7. IT IS LIFTED WITH A HOOK, NOT A SPATULA. Its article describes a three-pronged hook on a long pole. At home, two forks or a pair of tongs -- the bread is in contact with loose stones and a flat spatula will simply push them around.
  8. THE WHOLE POINT OF THE MESH IS THAT STONES WILL BE STUCK TO IT. Check the underside and prise off any that are still there before anybody eats it. A cooling rack over the sink does the job.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Iran · All recipes