Nan-e Barbari (Persian Flatbread)

Nilou Motamed, the former editor-in-chief of Food & Wine magazine and current “Top Chef” judge, learned this cheat for making the Persian flatbread called nan-e barbari from her mother. It’s super easy — just stretch and pull some previously frozen pizza dough on a baking sheet, brush with yogurt glaze, sprinkle with seeds and salt and bake. It’s the ideal accompaniment to a Sabzi Khordan platter, as we wrote in August 2020. And just the thing to dunk into bowls of the Persian bean and vegetable soups Ab Ghooshte Fasl or Ash-e-Reshteh.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons whole milk yogurt

3 tablespoons water

2 one-pound balls pizza dough

Nigella seeds, sesame seeds and flaky sea salt such as Maldon salt (optional), for sprinkling

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 450 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk the yogurt with the water.

2. On a large, rimmed baking sheet, stretch and press one ball of the dough into a 14-inch by 6-inch rectangle. Using your fingers, press five or six deep, lengthwise channels into the dough (don’t worry if it tears a little). Brush the surface with some of the yogurt mixture and sprinkle with nigella and sesame seeds; season with salt, if using. Repeat on another baking sheet with the other ball of dough.

3. Bake the flatbreads for 20 to 25 minutes, until browned; rotate them halfway through the baking time. Serve.