Barbari Bread (Persian Flatbread)

5 from 14 votes

Barbari is a chewy, soft Persian flatbread, and clearly a beautiful Persian bread as well! Use this recipe and video to make them at home to serve with any meal of the day!

several overlapping loaves of barbari bread next to bowl of honey and plate of ripe diced tomatoes

Flatbreads are a staple food in many of the countries along the Ancient Silk Road.

Although the base flatbread ingredients are usually similar, each country’s recipe has a unique spin on the shape of the loaf or the way it’s served. 

From the simplest lavash and khubz to stuffed flatbreads like naan and gozleme, making flatbread recipes from different countries isn’t just fun, it’s also a delicious experience!

Barbari Bread

Barbari bread is one of several types of yeast-risen Persian flatbread. The texture is soft and chewy, and it has a wonderful flavor. Of all the Iranian flatbreads, barbari loaves are the thickest and longest.

The top of the unbaked dough is rubbed with a cooked flour paste to give it a golden crust. Just before baking, long ridges are formed by hand into the dough, along with a sprinkling of white sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or black caraway seeds.

How it’s eaten

For breakfast, Iranians typically enjoy it with feta cheese or butter and jam. Other toppings can include walnuts, cucumbers and tomatoes. A piece of warm barbari bread makes a fantastic dipper for a creamy hummus or eggplant dip, too.

When it’s eaten with soupy dishes, it makes the perfect substitute for a spoon, both transporting the food and sopping up any gravy from the bowl!

closeup: several loaves of barbari (griddle bread) topped with white sesame seeds

Components of this Persian Bread

In bread baking, a starter consists of a simple mixture of wheat flour, water, and a leavening agent, typically yeast or a sourdough starter. It is often known as a “sponge” due to what it looks like; a bubbled mixture of flour, water and a touch of yeast.

The Poolish

A poolish is a fairly wet sponge, typically made with a 1:1 ratio by weight of water and flour. After creating the mixture, it goes through a fermentation process. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside on a counter for 16-24 hours before using. It can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

It’s this fermentation process that lends an incredible flavor to the barbari bread.

4-photo collage: stages of dough rising for persian bread
Top Left: poolish, Top Right: fermented 24 hours, Bottom Left: kneaded dough ball, Bottom Right: risen dough

Roomal (Bread Glaze)

The roomal (flour paste) glaze applies moisture directly to the surface of the bread as it bakes. This allows it to rise fully and also gives the crust a satiny shine. This is an ancient solution to “steaming” your oven.

People often ask how to get toppings to stick to the top of bread. For most traditional bread recipes, the loaf is brushed with an egg wash which holds the toppings to the dough.

In a barbari bread recipe, the roomal flour paste does the job.

photo collage of steps to making barbari (Persian flatbread)

Bread Toppings

Although you can certainly leave the tops of your Persian flatbread plain, a sprinkling of white sesame seeds, caraway seeds, or black poppy seeds is the norm. It makes the loaf even more beautiful.

Barbari Bread Recipe Video

Scroll down to the bottom of the recipe card to watch the video of us making the bread!

2 long loaves of Persian flatbread surrounded by small bowls with nuts, cucumber slices and wedges of red tomato

Recipe Notes and Tips

  • A stand mixer makes the job easier.
    Although some people find kneading bread by hand to be therapeutic, I think it’s more enjoyable to make bread when the kneading is made easier.

    If you’ll be using a stand mixer, you’ll need to use a dough hook attachment for kneading the bread.
  • The dough is very sticky!
    I can’t stress enough how loose and sticky barbari bread dough is. Expect to use a lot of flour on your work surface, and be sure to have a bench scraper to help you transfer the sticky dough to the baking pans or baking stone.

    Before proofing, I typically use an extra 1/2 cup of bread flour for kneading and forming the ball of dough.
overhead: overlapping loaves of barbari bread topped with poppy seeds and white sesame seeds
  • Shaping the dough
    Don’t be afraid to pull and stretch the dough. If it tears, you can simply press the dough back together; it’s pretty forgiving.

    This recipe will give you 4 large, long flatbreads, 8 medium size, or 16 individual pieces.
  • Storing Persian bread
    Like any other homemade bread, the flavor and texture are always best when it’s fresh from the oven. Is there anything better than a slice of warm, freshly baked bread? NO, there isn’t!

    Wrap any leftovers well and keep them at room temperature for several days, or freeze for longer storage.
side view: 4 pieces of barbari Persian flatbread stacked on small blue plate
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several overlapping loaves of barbari bread next to bowl of honey and plate of ripe diced tomatoes

Barbari Bread (Persian Flatbread)

5 from 14 votes
Barbari is a chewy, soft Persian flatbread, and clearly a beautiful Persian bread as well! Use this recipe and video to make a loaf at home!
Servings: 16
Prep: 2 hours 40 minutes
Cook: 8 minutes
Ferment Poolish: 16 hours
Total: 18 hours 48 minutes

Ingredients 

Dough

Glaze

Topping

  • 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
  • 1 teaspoon nigella black onion seeds

Instructions 

  • Place 1 cup of lukewarm water in a large bowl. Add 1/4 tsp of yeast and stir. Add 1 cup of all purpose flour and stir to make a batter. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside on a counter for 16-24 hours. This is called a "poolish". It will ferment and then be added to the remaining ingredients.

Make the dough:

  • Stir the poolish into bowl of a stand mixer and add 2 cups of lukewarm water, 2 teaspoons yeast, 2 cups bread flour, 2 cups all purpose flour, and salt. Mix using dough hook. A smooth batter will form, then add remaining 1 cup all purpose flour and knead in stand mixer for 10 minutes.
    4-photo collage: stages of dough rising for persian bread
  • This is a sticky dough and it will stick to bottom of bowl. Use a scraper to transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface and use your floured hands to knead dough, adding more bread flour as needed to prevent sticking, until dough is smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes (See note 1). Transfer the dough to a large, lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise until it's nearly doubled in size, about 1 hour.
  • On a work surface sprinkled with flour, turn the dough out. This is a very wet, sticky dough. Fold the dough over a couple of times, using enough flour to keep hands dry and form dough into a round. Next, cut the dough in half, then each half into 4 or 8 equal pieces, depending on how large you want your barbari bread loaves to be (See Note 2).
  • Shape each piece of dough into a ball by rolling on surface under your palm, or use both hands. Transfer dough balls to a baking sheet, keeping them 2 inches apart. Tent the balls with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow them to rest for 30 minutes.
  • Preheat the oven to 500°F. If you have a pizza stone, set it on the lowest rack or oven floor. If you'll be using an upside down sheet pan, position on rack in the center of the oven.

Prepare the bread glaze:

  • Combine the flour, baking soda, sugar, oil, and water in a small saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Let cool.

Form the dough:

  • Sprinkle wheat bran over your work surface (or use all purpose flour). Working with one piece at a time, gently press and stretch each dough ball into 9×4 inch oval pillow shapes. Do not use a rolling pin, it will deflate the dough. Press and pull using your fingers. Let flatbreads rest uncovered for 10 minutes.
    photo collage of steps to making barbari (Persian flatbread)
  • Brush half the glaze on top of the dough. Dip your fingers into a small bowl of water. Using your fingers (excluding thumbs) press continuous, lengthwise grooves into the dough. Press firmly, but don't break through the bottom of the dough. Repeat making several parallel indentations on top. Sprinkle with half the sesame or poppy seeds.

Bake the dough:

  • Carefully lift and stretch each loaf of dough lengthwise before placing it onto the baking stone, keeping them 4 inches apart. Repeat with as much dough as you can fit on baking sheet. Bake for 8 minutes, or until golden brown. If you're not using a stone, place the bread on the upside down baking sheet and bake it on your oven's middle rack. Remove the bread, and cool it on a wire rack.
  • Repeat the shaping and baking process for remaining dough.
  • Serve warm or at room temperature. Traditional accompaniments are olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta cheese or honey served with hot mint tea.

Video

Notes

  1. This is a loose, sticky dough and before proofing I typically will use another 1/2 cup of bread flour to knead and form into a ball to proof.
  2. This recipe can make 4 large, long flatbreads, 8 medium or 16 individual pieces.
  3. Store leftovers, well wrapped, for several days at room temperature; freeze for longer storage.
  4. Recipe adapted from A Taste of Persia, by Naomi Duguid.

Nutrition

Calories: 212kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 586mg | Potassium: 240mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 1g | Calcium: 23mg | Iron: 3mg

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Course: Bread
Cuisine: Iranian, Persian
Author: Kevin
Have You Made This Recipe? Let Me Know on InstagramTag @keviniscooking or tag me #keviniscooking!
titled image for Pinterest (and shown): Barbari Flatbread

Kevin

I was bitten by the cooking bug as a kid cooking and baking along side my mom. After an ROP restaurant course in high school, I went to work in restaurants and catering. My love of travel and food has led me across the world and I love to share those foods with family and friends.

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Recipe Rating




27 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    To the Author, I really don’t know how to thank you enough for such a great recipe, we made this bread tonight and it turned out great, even better than the one I used to eat when I was visiting Middle East and buying from the local bakery. Thank you so much

      1. 5 stars
        Thank you so much, we enjoyed breakfast too with these breads 🥰 is hard to find a good barbari in OC California nowadays but we have a lot. Appreciate it, will go over other recipes. Have a wonderful weekend 🙏☺️

    1. 5 stars
      What’s great recipe! Thank you for sharing. Also, the song on your Pinterest post is haunting me. Will you please share the name and artist?

  2. My 8 year old great great nephew and I are doing a silkworm project. We had 50 eggs that hatched into about 40 worms. We hope to have a few cocoons so we can try to spin a few threads. To go with this project, we are reading legends about silk and the Silk Road. To make it even more interesting, we hope to try some of the recipes from the Silk Road. This bread sounds great! We will be stating it Monday. Thank you for posting it. Do you have other ideas for us to try?

    1. Enjoy looking around the site for all kinds of wonderful recipes from along the ancient Silk Road and good luck with those silk worms!

  3. 5 stars
    This is amazing and my family DEVOURED this whole thing! So delicious and very tasty! Definitely making this again soon!

  4. 5 stars
    This Barbari bread did not last long at our house! My family LOVED it!! Can’t wait to make it again and again!

  5. 5 stars
    Thanks for the tip about the bench scraper. Just ordered one so once it arrives, I’m totally making this. Sounds fantastic!

  6. 5 stars
    I would love to try this. I have developed a gluten intolerance, although I can tolerate Einkorn flour. So I have become used to a sticky flour, but Einkorn does not have a lot of gluten, so it doesn’t make that stretchy bread you are referring to. I wonder how it would work for this?

    1. I would suggest trying it with your flour. I have no experience using it but if you try it let me know how it turns out!

  7. 5 stars
    will be making this soon perfect for my office meals will dm you if i make this and let yo know how it goes Thanks Ramya