Stone-Baked Bread

A sangak baker in Tehran told me that the secret to this bread is a very hot tanur. The bread is cooked by indirect heat on hot gravel. If he turns his tanur off, it takes 7 hours to get back to the right temperature. The amount of water is also dependent on the seasons (summer needs less water). The mother yeast for sangak bread is controlled by the bakers’ union. The dough is prepared in wide clay containers (taghar).