Barbari Bread

By Addie

Perhaps the most famous and widely used bread in Iran, Barbari is a part of Iranian culture. A piece of Barbari with some feta cheese and a cup of tea form the traditional breakfast in Iran. The secret behind the golden color of Barbari and its unique smell is in the small amount of baking soda mixed with some water and used to brush Barbari before baking. This mix is called Romal in Iran which is specified as the sauce here.

Ingredients

• Bread Ingredients:
• Bread Flour: 3+1/4 cups
• Water: 1.5 cups
• Active Dry Yeast: package or 2+1/4 tsp
• Baking Powder: 1 tsp
• Salt: 1 tsp
• Cornmeal: or whole wheat flour
• Poppy Seeds: or Sesame Seeds or Black Sesame Seeds (optional)
• Sauce Ingredients:
• Flour: 1 tsp
• Baking Soda: 1 tsp
• Water: 2/3 cups

Preparation

Step 1

1. If using bread machine, add all main ingredients in the order suggested by your bread machine manual and process to form the dough then skip to step 6. Otherwise start from step 2.

2. Dissolve yeast in 100 ml warm water and let it stand for 3 min.

3. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together.

4. Pour the yeast mixture and the rest of the water into the center of the flour and mix to dough.

5. Knead for 15 min or until dough becomes smooth and elastic.

6. Divide dough into 2 round pieces. Slightly sprinkle the baking sheet with cornmeal or whole wheat flour and transfer rolls to it. Cover and leave them in a warm place for 1.5 hours or until doubled in bulk.

7. Meanwhile mix all sauce ingredients and bring to boil. Let it cool down before using it.

8. Brush doughs with the sauce.

9. Dip your fingers in the sauce and punch down the doughs in the way shown in the right hand side pictures.

10. Brush doughs with the sauce one more time and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Let them stand for 45 min.

11. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 375 F.

12. Pull the doughs with your hand as shown in the picture.

13. Bake them for 30 minutes or till golden.
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REVIEWS:

I have purchased this bread at Corrado's in Clifton NJ several times and used it to make pizza! It makes the best pizza crust ever. I am delighted to find a recipe to make it and will try this in the near future.

Very good bread and I think everyone should try it.

I cant wait to bake this bread. Loved it when we lived in Teheran back in the 70s. Our driver would bring fresh bread every morning. The kids loved it with peanut butter on it.

My mum is Persian and it is hard to find this bread here. I made it and it turned out just like the real thing many thanks. I used a bread maker for the dough and it was fine.

The most authentic seeds, I believe are Nigella seeds, which look like black sesame seeds. I don't have them in my spice cabinet, so I'm using a mix of black and white sesame, but I'll be buying some Nigella seeds to try next time.

I used this recipe to make pizza crust, it was the best pizza crust ever!

I have tried several barbary recipes but this one beats them all hands down. Deliciouses persian bread, enjoy with feta cheese, parsley and walnut.

Hey I was wondering how big the breads were????
REPLY: 20-inches by 8-inches

Aaaah, I'm so glad you put this recipe up! I enjoyed barbari bread so much when I was visiting Iran. It's delicious for breakfast spread with a soft cheese and honey.

Thanks for the recipe. I tried it and got a good bread. It looked like a real Barbari. Can you also include Sangak as well?

Does bread flour just mean regular white flour?
REPLY: Bread flour is a high-gluten flour. This is perfect for baking bread since the end result will be chewier with more holes in it. You can certainly replace it with all purpose white flour but the end result may not be as glorious as you had hoped.

It makes an original barbari. I just tried it.

This recipe sounds great, but my first try was a failure:( How much cornmeal does this recipe require? No amount is mentioned above.
REPLY: For Anita about cornmeal: it should be enough to fill the surface of your baking sheet.

Thanks for this wonderful recipe. The first time I visited this site and saw the nice picture of the Barbari, I found myself overtaken by a flood of memories of the last time I had perceived the scent of a true Barbari bread.

Super! For once, within an hour I had a bread just like the photo!.. and it was gorgeous too, it was gone in one mealtime! My husband found it super as well!The sauce treats the crust so its golden/brown and gives it a special taste! A winner!

I am a Turk, and I love it. The best kind of bread u can find in world. Thanks for this recipe.

Hi, thankyou for sharing this recipe. It turned out great. I made a few more, and drove to our friends houses and surprised them with fresh baked barbai for breakfast, they enjoyed it a lot.

Thanks for the recipe. I tried it and the result was better than what I expected. Just the bottom of the bread was a little bit hard which I think I have to put the bread in upper part of the oven. thanks again.

Thank you so much. My husband said it is just like the bread he grew up on in Iran.

I just made this bread! It is scrumptious and brought lots of good memories back to me. My 4 and 6 yrs old tried this Iranian bread for the first time and loved it so much. Thank you so much for sharing this simple, yet great recipe.

The color of my bread is still white. Is there a tricky point for making that sauce that makes the color golden? I spread the sauce on the bread but the color is still white?
REPLY: There is no trick. If you use baking soda in your sauce, the bread color becomes golden. Maybe your baking soda has expired or you are not using enough baking soda.

I've made this recipe several times and each was perfect. I think the trick is to use FRESH bread flour, and putting a bowl or tray of water in the oven under the bread improves the texture. Also, watch the baking time closely. Altitude and diffferences in oven heat can make a difference.I made this bread with a chello kabab meal for friends including several teens not familar with Iranian food. They LOVED it!

Baking bread takes a little practice for everyone. I bake often, so my first effort at this bread turned out pretty well, and even better the several times I've made it since. Just keep practicing and you'll do just fine. This recipe is the best I've ever tried.