Iran: From Oven to Mouth.

blankAs promised in my last food on my Top 10 Food Surprises in Iran, I’d dedicate a separate post to oven-baked goodies. Iran runs on a path that is completely counter to the gluten-free fad that has overtaken the rest of the coconut-flour obsessed world – and thank goodness for that, some of us still need, and thoroughly enjoy, high quality, gluten-filled bread. This singular post for breads and baked treats in Iran is well-warranted, if you believe that the word ‘naan’ was born in Persia during the Archeminid Empire (550BC to 330BC), much before it baked its way into other cultures around the region. (N. Batmanglij, Food of Life, 2014, p.433)

But two days into the adequately-stocked hotel breakfast in Tehran, it started sinking in that the breads on the breakfast table were simply not cutting it. There was a crackery cool lavash and a few mediocre buns, but nothing that screamed to be slathered with the feta and quince jam stocked on the adjoining buffet table. This was more than mildly shocking, given the history of bread in the region and my hungry expectations of having the best bread experiences in Iran. The hotel clearly wasn’t the place to have them.

Thanks to Jason’s gentle nudge, we stepped out the next morning in search of better bread. Within ten minutes, we had found a bakery with the encouraging sight of a baker and his oven right behind the display. I was mesmerized by the repetitive, precise actions of the bakers, using their fingers, glasses, knifes to create uniform designs and depressions through the length of the dough, with the resulting super fresh, golden-brown baked creations emerging out of the ovens and falling into the hands of hungry customers. This is how quality bread should be eaten, from oven to mouth.

Baker - Breads - Tehran Iran

Street-side bakery - Tehran Iran

Here are some of the freshly baked breads we nibbled on during our journey of Iran. Many of them had that evasively perfect texture that only the best breads have – a crunchy biscuit-like crust, with warm doughy bellies that you want to bury your entire face into. Doughnuts, plain, sugared and chocolate-coated, were aplenty but I stayed away from those (despite my admitted weakness for deep-fried dough) as the Iranian breads and biscuits caught my fancy. None of the most memorable breads were from the hotels, which simply could not match the flavour and texture of the fast-selling stalls on the street.

Koolocheh - Street-side bakery - Tehran Iran

Koolocheh, arguably more a cookie than a bread. The author of The New Persian Kitchen, Louisa Shafia, relates that Koolocheh is an edible symbol of cross-cultural exchange and synthesis along the Silk Road and that the word itself derives ‘from the Old Slavonic word kolo, for “circle” or “wheel.” This cookie was moulded with the smooth, golden brown humps of a simple flower pattern on its top surface, with an inner cavity that was matted with a fragrant mix of sugar and cinnamon.

Koolocheh - Street-side bakery - Tehran Iran

I’m more than relieved that the bakeries in Dubai don’t sell this treat (or none that I know of at least) else I would surely be destined for a massive koolocheh-overdose.

The original inspiration for our bread hunt was the typically oval-shaped Barberi, this being a bread I’ve read about but never seen at an Iranian restaurant table in Dubai. After a broken Persian-English-Gesturing conversation with the baker, we thought we had discovered it on our first bakery run, only to find out later that we had encountered Sheermal.

Sheermal bread - Tehran - Iran

Sheermal, a milk-based bread that tellingly has the word ‘Sheer’ or milk in its name. With a crusty shell glazed with butter and sequined with black sesame, Sheermal has a milky moist, subtly sweet interior that surprisingly stays tender for two days. Left in a baggie near the window of our car as we whizzed across the sun-baked roads between Tehran and Isfahan, the bread became comfortingly warm again and staved off hunger pangs until we reached our lunch spot in Kashan.

Sheermal bread - Tehran - Iran

Moral of the story: Don’t be scared to venture out for your bread in Iran and interact with bakers who might not speak your language. The worst thing that can happen is that you’ll miss the bread you were looking for and walk away with…fresh milky moist Sheermal. A win-win if you ask me.

Barberi - Tehran Iran

We came across the grooved planks of Barberi in the Grand Bazaar of Tehran, where the baker refused to sell us a loaf because he was the exclusive supplier for the restaurant selling kabab sandwiches next door. But as true Iranian hospitality would demand, he just handed us free loaves to taste.

Barberi - Tehran Iran

Barberi Bread - Tehran IranBarberi and kababs in the Grand Bazaar- Tehran Iran

Barberi is closer to the yeasted, strong white flour breads that are more common in Western-style bakeries. In fact, the closest comparison might be a fresh crusty baguette with the powdery touch of fine flour, except that mum found the the powdery texture of the ones we ate to be quite close to ground poppy seeds.

With our bread mission well underway, we stopped trying to choose which bread to buy at a bakery – one of each, please. On one such blessed and breaded morning, we found a circular pockmarked bread with a chocolate-toned paste smeared on the insides. The lovely and Arabian-Nights-beautiful Huda, a newfound friend in Shiraz, explained that this pastry is called Naan Khormaaei, and is “made from date, wheat flour, sugar, Iranian saffron, eggs, water, Rosewater – the best Rosewater is from Iran, and the best Rosewater in Iran is from Kashan, a city near Esfahan” – cinnamon, cumin and Kermanshah’s Oil (because it comes from Kermanshah originally). There are many different shapes and sizes of this pastry.” Darling Huda, thank you for the information and Be Umide Deedar in Shiraz!

Fresh bread - Tehran IranFresh bread - Tehran IranThere was something surprisingly savoury about this sweet-intentioned filling which jammed my taste signals, maybe the cumin? I’m not quite sure, but the overall effort was strongly reminiscent of a more spiced-up Fig Newton. I can see this stuffed disc pairing well with a cup of sweet black tea, but if I were to pick, I’d reserve my loyalties for the sweet koolocheh instead.

Nargili bread -Tehran Iran

The Nargili pastry (above) stuffed with sweetened dessicated coconut was another one that was challenging to put down. You hear the comforting crunch of the pastry shell in your mouth, wonder what went into the snowy white stuffing peeking out from within, and before you know it, the pastry is gone.

Nargili bread -Tehran Iran

Much to my delight, sangak, a triangular leavened bread stretched out over small stones (‘sangak’) was easily available all across the three cities we visited and was often served under a pile of juice-dripping kababs at the restaurants.

Sangak - Isfahan IranDespite everything I’ve said about how you’ve got to leave the hotels to scout for the best bread, Khan Gostar in Shiraz slides out a mean sangak – crisp, soft, chewy, all those textural wins baked into the artisanal bumps and craters along the surface of this addictive bread. The bakeries were often so jampacked with people queuing up for their stock of bread that I shied away from snapping photos, but the good news is that you can actually find this bread being baked in the authentic style right here in Dubai. Both Abshar as well as a hole-in-the-wall bakery in Hor Al Anz bakes us stacks of fresh sangak every day.

Irani sangak bread - Khoury Special Kabab Restaurant Dubai

I’ve also got to share the photo of this bread, less because I felt strongly about the crackery texture and more because the appearance amusing.

Tehran Iran breadIt resembled those plastic bubble wrapping sheets which provide excellent stress relief when you burst through ever individual plastic blister. I quickly learned that the bubbles on this bread can’t be used in quite the same way.

Giant waves of hunger and longing wash over even as I complete this post. Worse, Huda has sent me a flood of Iranian cookie photos that have left me inconsolable, her love for cookies being a nation-wide sentiment: “Most Iranians like cookies so each city in Iran has special cookies.” If only I had known this earlier, and if only I had a koolocheh by my side, my coffee would seem that much sweeter and morning emails would be a joy (my crumb-covered keyboard might be less grateful). Given my love for bread and baked treats, I get goose bumps just thinking of what else awaits discovery in all the other cities and lesser known parts of Iran.

Author: InaFryingPan

With a family legacy of ingenious cooks, a nutritionist and chef-extraordinaire mother, and a father who introduced me to steak and caviar when I could barely reach the table, I had no choice but to acquire a keen awareness of food during my childhood years in Dubai. But it was only after I found myself on a college campus in Philadelphia – far away from home, too cheap as a student to spend on anything other than pizza, and with dorm rooms that had little rat-holes of kitchens if they even had them at all – when I developed a heightened appreciation of food. An appreciation of food that I once ate every night at the dinner table in Dubai, but that was now an entire ocean away. I lusted for the culinary treasures that lay outside the stale walls of my college dining hall, hijacked friends’ kitchens to try my hand at something, anything , remotely edible, and greedily raided different websites in search of highly-rated restaurants. With my move to New York to work for a consulting firm that secretly harbored self-professed foodies, my appreciation transformed into a passion, an addicition. I felt like everyone around me in New York was talking about food: where to get the best cupcakes, pizza slices, banh mi, kati rolls, pho, fried chicken, and every other food item out there that is just a plain old dish in some part of the world, but that’s become hyped to unforeseen proportions in New York. What fuelled my addiction over time was travel to different cities, both for work and play, which gave me unfettered access to the culinary havens of not only New York, but also of DC, Virginia, Chicago, Houston, Vegas, Austin, Seattle and even a little city called Bentonville (Arkansas!). After 9 years away from home, I’ve finally taken the leap to come back to Dubai – with not just an awareness, but genuine appreciation and passionate addiction for what I’d taken for granted as a child. Mom, I’m back to reclaim my seat at your dinner table, and to rediscover this city with its ever-expanding menu of international flavors.

12 thoughts on “Iran: From Oven to Mouth.

    1. the gold digger says:

      That’s exactly what I thought! My Slovak grandmother made kolaches and I thought, “That word sounds like kolache!”

  1. GA says:

    I wonder if that Pars Iranian place does breads? the one in Satwa. Great review as ever and makes me wish to travel to Iran even more! thank you

    Reply
  2. Na Choo says:

    Aaargh too late for me but thanks for putting names to some of the random baked goodies I tried on the streets of Iran. Was in Iran a couple of weeks ago. Without any Farsi and a useless guidebook, I lined up when I see locals lined, point my finger present a selection of bills for store to pick as my payment. Found some freshly backed amazing goodies which I have no idea what it is called and can only guess what’s in them. If only I have read this before …..

    Reply
  3. Mandy ~ KitchenJoy says:

    I loved this post. Pastries around the world are so beautiful and representative of a region’s culture. I’ve never been to Iran (yet), but you’ve certainly given me the urge to visit. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    1. InaFryingPan says:

      Mandy, thanks for the appreciative comment – I’m glad this post made you consider visiting Iran. Highly recommended for the discerning and culture-seeking traveler!

  4. Herminia says:

    How could I get the recipe for the Nargili pastry bread? Any idea?

    Reply
    1. InaFryingPan says:

      Hi Herminia – wish I had a recipe for you but sadly I don’t! Have you tried doing a Google search? I feel like Najmieh Batmanglij’s book might have a recipe, or maybe you can contact her through http://www.najmiehskitchen.com/ . Good luck and do share if you find the recipe!

    2. Herminia says:

      Thank you for the website I will try that. I checked on google and couldn’t find a recipe for that pastry bread it sound delicious!

    3. InaFryingPan says:

      No problem Herminia, let me know if you end up finding a recipe and making it.That pastry was totally delicious, wish I could find it again in Dubai.

  5. Mahroo says:

    Thank you so much for sharing this amazing post! In Iran “Naan” means Bread but also it refers to FOOD. For example still in small cities or villages people may ask: (Noon Khordi?) Did you had bread? but actually it means Did you eat something? Bread is a big part of our food culture and they’re damn delicious! Now I really want some! :D

    Reply

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