Naan-e-Barbari Recipe | Persian Bread

Naan e barbari is a dramatic looking Persian bread with a defining characteristic oblong shape. It has a crispy crust with an airy crumb. Serve it traditional style with feta cheese, cucumbers and olives. It makes a great addition to any cheese plate.

The best part of this recipe is that the dough is great to make pizza too. Do try this amazing recipe and I am sure you will love it as much as we do.

About the Recipe

Baking bread especially yeast breads is fun and therapeutic. The science in kneading the dough and seeing it transform into a bread is quite fascinating. I love trying bread recipes from around the world, like this Iyengar bakery khara bread or this Arabic za'atar spice khobez.

Today's recipe, naan e barbari is a dramatic looking bread from Persia or Iran. It is sometimes called noon barbari or nan e barbari or simply Persian/ Iranian bread.

A defining characteristic of this bread is its long oblong shape, about 12~14", with lengthwise ridges. In addition, the surface of barbari bread is spread with roomal, a flour and water paste, before baking, which puts a layer of moisture right on the surface of the bread. This is an ancient baking technique that creates a great crust without having to introduce steam into the oven.

The best part of the dough is that it is great to make pizza as well. I usually bake a traditional oblong nan e barbari with half the dough and use the remaining to make pizza.

Ingredients

For the details of the exact quantities of each ingredient and the list of ingredients needed, check the printable recipe card below.

Here are the ingredients you need to make naan barbari bread:

• Flour - traditionally bread flour is used. But I add some whole wheat flour to add fiber to the recipe.
• Instant yeast or active dry yeast.
• Olive Oil
• Lukewarm water.
• Sugar and Salt.
• Black and white sesame seeds for topping.

To make roomal, you will need:

• All purpose flour
• Sugar
• Water and
• Canola Oil

Instructions

For the detailed instructions on how to make the recipe with exact timings, check the printable recipe card below.

Here is how to make naan e barbari bread recipe:

Make the dough

Combine flour, instant yeast, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk well combine. Add olive oil, 1½ cups of water and mix. Stir in more water as needed to form a smooth dough.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside for about 1 hour or until doubled in volume.

Proofing in Instant Pot

To proof the dough in the Instant pot, lightly grease the inner pot. Place the dough and cover it with a glass lid or a kitchen towel. Select 'Yogurt' and set the timer for 1 hour.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough in half. Gently form each piece into a rectangle and form into a log. Loosely cover the logs with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Make roomal

In the mean time, make the roomal. In a small saucepan, combine all purpose flour, sugar, canola oil and water. Cook the flour paste over medium heat, whisking, until bubbles start to form around the edges and the mixture becomes thick and opaque, about 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Shape the bread

Take one of the dough log and place it on a large parchment paper. Stretch or roll it out into 14"x5" rectangle (or into 10"x4" rectangle for smaller barbari bread). Using the fingers, press 5 (or 3 for smaller bread) deep lengthwise ridges into the dough, making sure not to break the dough.

Bake barbari bread

Rub flour paste over the surface and sprinkle with half of the nigella and sesame seeds.

Slide the dough along with the parchment onto the pizza stone and bake until the bread has puffed up and is golden brown. Transfer the loaf to a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining dough. Serve warm.

Nan e barbari Pizza

If you want to make pizza with half of the dough, heres how to make make it:

Let the dough rise 2 times as noted in the recipe. Then stretch the dough into a 14" diameter thin round. Place it on a parchment paper and evenly spread 1 cup of tomato sauce over the dough and sprinkle with grated mozzarella cheese on top. Top that with your favorite pizza toppings.

Slide the parchment and dough onto preheated pizza stone and bake until the crust is golden and crisp, cheese has melted, about 10~15 minutes.

Expert Tips

• Feel free to substitute some of the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour. I add up to 1~2 cups of white whole wheat flour.
• Dough can be made up to 1 day in advance and left in the fridge. 
• Store any leftover barbari bread in an airtight ziploc bag at room temperature for up to 2 days.

You might also like

Here are the few more flatbread recipes that you might like to try:

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Recipe Card

Naan-e-Barbari

Naan e barbari is a dramatic looking bread with a defining characteristic oblong shape. Traditionally served with feta, cucumbers and olives. The dough is great to make pizza as well.

Author: Pavani

Print Pin Rate

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Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 20 minutes mins

Total Rising Time:: 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Total Time: 2 hours hrs 5 minutes mins

Course: bread, breads

Cuisine: middle eastern

Servings: 8 servings

Ingredients

1x2x3x

For the Dough:

• 4 cups Bread flour*
• 2¼ teaspoons Instant Yeast
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 2 teaspoons Sugar
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1½~1¾ cups Lukewarm Water

For the Topping:

• 2 teaspoons All purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon Sugar
• ⅓ cup Cool Water
• ½ teaspoon Canola Oil
• 1 teaspoon Nigella seeds
• 1 teaspoon Sesame seeds

Instructions

Make Dough:

• Combine flour, instant yeast, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk well combine. Add olive oil, 1½ cups of water and mix. Stir in more water as needed to form a smooth dough and knead for about 6~8 minutes on the machine and 10~12 minutes by hand.
• Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside for about 1 hour or until doubled in volume.

  To proof the dough in the Instant pot, lightly grease the inner pot. Place the dough and cover it with a glass lid or a kitchen towel. Select 'Yogurt' and set the timer for 1 hour.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough in half. Gently form each piece into a rectangle and form into a log. Loosely cover the logs with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Make Roomal:

• In the mean time, make the roomal. In a small saucepan, combine all purpose flour, sugar, oil and water. Whisk to make a smooth paste. Place the saucepan on medium heat and cook. whisking, until bubbles start to form around the edges and the mixture becomes thick and opaque, about 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.
• Put a pizza stone on the lowest rack of the oven and preheat the oven to 450°F. Let the stone heat for at least 30 minutes.

Shape the Bread:

• You have few of options here. With the 2 dough balls, you can make 2 large (14") barbari breads or 1 large (14") barbari bread and 1 pizza (14"). I like making smaller breads. So, I make 2 10" barbari breads and 2 8" pizzas. Whichever option you choose, the shaping and baking times will be more or less the same.

To make Barbari Bread:

• Take one of the dough log and place it on a large parchment paper. Stretch or roll it out into 14"x5" rectangle (or into 10"x4" rectangle for smaller breads). Using the fingers, press 5 (or 3 for smaller bread) deep lengthwise ridges into the dough, making sure not to break the dough.

  Rub flour paste evenly over the surface of the dough and sprinkle with half of nigella and sesame seeds.
• Slide the dough with the parchment onto the pizza stone and bake until the bread has puffed up and is golden brown, about 12~15 minutes. Transfer the loaf to a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining dough. Serve warm. Store any leftovers in an airtight ziploc bag at room temperature for up to 2 days.

To make Pizza:

• Roll or stretch the dough into a 14" diameter thin round. Place it on a parchment paper and evenly spread 1 cup of tomato sauce over the dough and sprinkle with grated mozzarella cheese on top. Top that with your favorite pizza toppings.

  Slide the parchment and dough onto preheated pizza stone and bake until the crust is golden and crisp, cheese has melted, about 10~15 minutes.

Video

Notes

• Feel free to substitute some of the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour. I add up to 2 cups of white whole wheat flour.
• Dough can be made up to 1 day in advance and left in the fridge. 
• Store any leftover barbari bread in an airtight ziploc bag at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Nutrition

Calories: 278kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 296mg | Potassium: 97mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 1mg

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