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How to make noon sangak

By Ashpaz Baashi
July 6, 2001
The Iranian

Cyrus wrote: My needs are quite limited. I live in Michigan and want to have sangak. what is the best way to go about this?

No, Cyrus, you are wrong. Your needs are deep, and their simplicity is as deceptive as a shy glance from under dark lashes. Today you want only sangak, but tomorrow you will want abgusht to dip it in, and the next day kebab to wrap in its folds, and then you will ask for the garden. In Michigan.

So this is what you must do: Take a long walk to a fresh stream of melted snow, where pebbles shine under the rushing water. Find a thousand shattered pieces of the sang-e sabur that have worn smooth with the years of your absence.

Gather the stones and take them into your home. Leave them to soak in oil for a day and a night. Drain them and spread them on an oven tray. Dissolve a teaspoon of yeast in half a cup of warm water and mix this into a cup of wholemeal flour and three cups of white bread flour, with a teaspoon of salt. Add a little warm water, mixing it in spoon by spoon, until the dough is soft enough to work.

Roll up your sleeves and knead the dough until it feels alive, elastic and smooth in your hands. Cover it and leave it to sit in a warm place for a few hours, until it has risen like a full moon. Beat it down and let it rise again, like hope, for all of another hour.

Heat the stones in the oven to 500 degrees. Divide the dough in two lumps and roll one on a floured board into a large oval, half an inch thick. Use the board to turn the dough onto the hot stones and bake for about 5 minutes, until golden. When the bread is done, it should lift easily off the stones. Do the same with the second lump of dough.

Wrap the warm bread in cloth, and eat it with your eyes closed.

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