Persian Bread, or “Naan” in the Farsi language, is the most important Iranian food consumed in all Persian meals. Generally, Persian food is either eaten with rice or bread. For example, eating bread with cheese, walnut, or jam is common for breakfast in Iran.

In our country, people generally stand in line at the bakery to buy bread. These queues are usually longer early in the morning and during the first hours of the evening. However, in some large Iran cities, there are online bakeries that deliver the bread to your place.

Furthermore, some Iranian restaurants have tandoors, and they serve fresh bread with their meals.

There are four types of Persian bread which are very popular and mostly used by people, named Barbari, Sangak, Taftoon, and Lavash. However, there are also some other types in every village and the city around the country.

Barbari

The word “Barbari” means belong to Barbar, and Barbar stands for a group of people who lived in the northeast of Iran. The bread got its name since the bread was baked in that area and brought to Tehran. Barbari is a tick, flatbread with about 70 centimeters long and 30 centimeters wide. It is usually baked plain or with sesame.

Sangak

Sangak in a word means little stone (Sang stands for stone). Since the bread is baked in an oven, on a bed of small stones it got its name. It is a plain, rectangular whole wheat bread. Some bakeries add a different type of toppings such as sesame, dried herbs, and caraway. It’s very popular to eat Kebab, Dizi, and Abgoosht with Sangak. Sangak is not only popular in Iran, but also in Azerbaijan.

Taftoon

Tafton, Taftan, or Taftun is a Persian word which is derived from “tafan” which stands for “heating”. According to the Shahnameh; the Iranian national epics “Taftoon” is baked and used by people for centuries. The traditional way of baking the bread was baking in a clay oven called tanoor in Farsi. Usually, the baker makes some dimples all over the dough with fingertips.

Lavash

Lavash Bread is round and the thinnest bread among all different types of bread we have in Iran. The bread is one of the most common types of bread in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Turkey. In 2014 Lavash Bread, the preparation, and meaning was listed as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO from Armenia. However, after two years, in 2016, the countries of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey were also added to the list of representative.

Some other types of common Iranian breads are:

Shirmal Bread: In this Iranian sweet bread, a great amount of sugar and milk is used in addition to flour, oil, butter, and egg. Shirmal is produced in various shapes, including circular, oval, and other decorative shapes. This bread alone or accompanying butter or milk, can be used as a full meal.

Naan-e Jow (Barley Bread): It is baked with barley-based flour. Although barley is cheaper that wheat in Iran, barley bread is more expensive than wheat bread, due to low production of barley breads in the bakeries.

Naan-e Sabzijat (Vegetable Bread): The required vegetables for baking of this type of bread often include parsley, dill, and tarragon.

Naan-e Sandvichi: Being used as sandwich bread, it is similar to baguette bread.

Naan-e Sibzamini (Potato Bread): This bread alone can be used as a meal.

The list of popular Iranian bread is an endless one! Rye bread or buckwheat, din and cumin bread, date bread, gingerbread, Persian sesame bread, and various types of local breads such as Khorasani, Tiri Bakhtiari, traditional Baluchi, Borsagh or Kermanshahi, etc., are among the most delicious breads in Iran.