Iranian Flatbreads

Four Iranian flatbreads: Barbari, Lavash, Sangak & Taftoon.

Bread is called نان (nān) in Persian, which has been borrowed as Naan in English. There are four major Iranian flatbreads:

Barbari

Thick and oval-shaped, according to Dehkhoda Encyclopedic Dictionary of Persian Language, this bread was baked by the Barbar people and was brought to Tehran, becoming popular during the Qajar period. This type of bread is perhaps the most common style baked in Iran.

Lavash

Thin, flaky and round or oval, and is also the oldest known bread in the Middle East and Caucasus.

Sangak

Sangak is a plain, rectangular, blanket-like Persian flatbread. ‘Sang’ in Persian means stone or pebble and ‘sangak’ means little stone. This bread is traditionally baked on river stones (hence the name), and is occasionally topped with sesame seeds.

Taftoon

Thin, but thicker than lavash, soft and round.

✤ Also available in: Persian