Duff Goldman Got Schooled On Instagram About This 'Bread Blanket'
Imagine rolling about in bed dreaming about the smell of fresh bread being baked, tearing off a piece, and eating it slathered in butter while actually being wrapped in a blanket made of bread? While we aren't sure about the dreaming bit, it turns out that Charm City Cakes owner Duff Goldman certainly managed to taste a "bread blanket."
Sharing a picture on Instagram, Goldman asked his followers if they could identify a long piece of bread that he was holding, which he called a blanket – presumably due to its size and flatness. He described the "bread blanket" as extremely delicious and explained that it came from a Persian market. Naturally, his fans were only too eager to school the baking pro. Some thought the edible bedding was a lavash, which according to Serious Eats, is crisp thin Armenian bread. Others thought it was barbari bread, which is a kind of Iranian flatbread (via MasterClass). At least one person suggested it was Syrian bread.
A few followers managed to nail it: The "bread blanket" Goldman's holding is sangak. One comment said that "sang means stone which refers to how this bread is made! On hot stones in an oven." Others said that the bread was best enjoyed warm and happened to be "the best Persian bread ever!"
What is sangak?
According to MasterClass, sangak, or nan-e sangak, is a Persian version of naan which was traditionally baked over a layer of small hot stones. It gets its name from the Farsi word "sang," which translates to "pebble" or "little stone." The stones give the bread a distinct bumpy texture. Sangak falls somewhere between the crisp thinness of a lavash and the pillowy thickness of barbari bread. It can be as much as 2 feet long and was originally a staple of the Persian army, as it was long enough to feed the troops on the road with only the use of little stones for cooking (via Taste Atlas).
While cooking sangak traditionally involves using stones, the Los Angeles Times reports that health officials in America think the stones pose a risk to teeth. Those stones can stick to the sangak while it is being baked, and you could end up biting one and breaking a tooth. As a result, certain bakeries in the U.S. have been known to use a metal contraption that mimics the bumpy surface of little stones to bake sangak.
The Persian flatbread can be prepared plain or sprinkled with poppy seeds or sesame seeds. The bread blanket, MasterClass notes, is usually eaten with kebabs or served alongside Iranian stews. Or, you could listen to one of Duff Goldman's followers and use sangak like a fuzzy blanket (via Instagram). In the meantime, you can wrap yourself in sweet dreams of freshly baked warm bread.