Persian Flatbread or Nan e Barbari

Brotwein is the host for Bread Baking Day 74 and she asked for savory bread. I knew I wanted to bake flat bread because we love savory flat breads. It goes well with so many dishes. We love to eat sesame seeds, garlic and onion. I can say we almost every day have some in our food.

It’s an easy recipe as long as you can accept the slack dough. I have to admit I had to control myself to add just a bit of extra flour during mixing to give it more strength. It's good I did control myself because it worked very well. The dough rose very well. I shaped it by pulling it with wet hands under the dough. I pre-cooked the garlic and onions and dry roasted the sesame seeds. The romal (sauce) is spread over the dough before baking.

We ate the Nan e Barbari with sun dried tomato soup; this brought the sun back to our rainy day.

Specifics
Name                                       Persian Flatbread or Nan e Barberi

Adapted from                          Lida's recipe for Barbari Bread at 1001recipe.com
Yields                                       1 loaf
Dough temp.                            24°C
Autolyse                                  0

Mixing                                      10 minutes, or until the sides are cleared
Fermentation                          60 minutes
Shape                                      oval
Proof at roomtemp.                60 minutes
Bake 230°C                              25 minutes; 10 with steam and 15 without

This is what I used:
Bakers formula                      %          grams
Flour                                        100       420

Water                                      85        360
Salt                                          1.9       8         

Final Dough
Unbleached all purpose flour              360      
Whole wheat flour                              60

Water (32ºC)                                       360

Salt                                                      8

Yeast, active dry                                 5

Baking powder                                     2                                                         

Romal sauce:
½ tsp flour
½ tsp baking soda
80 gm water

Topping:
White sesame seeds, dry roasted
1 bulb garlic, chopped in tiny pieces, pre-cooked
1 medium size onion, sliced, pre-cooked

This is what I did:
I poured the water in the mixing bowl, added yeast, the flours, baking powder and salt. I mixed until well combined, about 2 minutes. Then I mixed on medium speed until the dough pulled away from the sides of the bowl. This took me around 10 minutes.

Bulk Fermentation: I left the dough in the mixing bowl, covered for 1 hour. 

The sauce: whisk flour, baking soda and water in a small pot, bring to a boil and remove from heat to cool.

Shaping: Dust parchment paper with flour and gently kind of pour the dough on top. With wet hands I shaped it oval. Instead of waiting for one hour I sprinkled the roasted sesame seeds and pre-cooked onion/garlic on the dough and poured the sauce on top.

Proofing: I covered it and let it proof for 1 hour.

Pre heating: I pre heated the oven to 230°C and prepared for steaming.

Preparing and Baking: When the oven is hot enough I boil water and pour it in a glass bottle with a long neck. I pour some boiling water on the hot stones and quickly close the oven door to keep the steam in the oven.
Transfer the loaf to the oven and quickly slide the loaf on the baking stone. After some minutes I add some more water to get more steam.

I baked the loaf 10 minutes with steam and quickly removed the parchment paper and the steam pan. I baked the loaf for another 15 minutes. Bake the loaf until it is dark brown colored.

Cooling: Let the loaf cool completely on a wire rack.

I send this to Brotwein host for Bread Baking Day 74. Also I would love to send this to Susan’s weekly showcase of home baked artisan breads YeastSpotting