Sangak
Form: Rectangular and elongated
Country of origin: Iran
What distinguishes it from other methods of bread making: Cooked on a bed of small pebbles or gravel
Category of bread: (2) In the category of flat breads, sangak can be recognized by the marks of the gravel or pebbles over which it is cooked
Particularity: It reminds you of an immense open-faced sandwich that the bakers hang in their shop window
Ingredients: Whole-wheat flour; baker’s yeast; salt; water; sesame and poppy seeds
Iran
With the large variety of griddlecakes available in Iran – which goes from the thinnest of thin, referred to as lavâsh, like in Armenia, to the barbari, which is 1 to 2 centimeters thick, depending on the region, and not forgetting the tâftun eaten with ragout (âbe-e gusht) – we cover the ground of what bakers’ craftsmanship and inventiveness has produced in terms of flat bread in this part of the world. Sangak belongs to this family, but it holds a special place because of the way it is cooked.
Sangak dough is made with white wheat and whole-wheat flour, sprinkled with yeast, salted, and then left to rise overnight. Iranian bakers then shape it into dough rolls, which they know how to stretch out with the flip of a hand to obtain what resemble long slices of bread, perforated at the end, and onto which they sometimes sprinkle sesame and poppy seeds.
This in itself doesn’t distinguish sangak from other flat breads made by Iranian bakers. It is therefore the way it is baked that truly sets it apart. Small pebbles or a bed of gravel are placed in an oven for a long time before putting in the bread. The bread rests on the pebbles or gravel, and it literally leaves marks in the bread. It is above all these marks that make it possible to recognize it as sangak. It is also what gives it its name: sang, meaning “rock” or “pebble”. The fact of perforating the dough right before putting it on its bed of rocks allows bakers to hang it above market stall.