Samoon

the diamond-shaped bread of Baghdad, baked hard against the stone floor of the oven so the crust cracks and the crumb stays open

Origin: Baghdad & Iraq

From the journey of Wheat.

Samoon is the everyday bread of Iraq and it is unmistakable: a flattened diamond or boat shape, tapered at both ends, with a crisp thin crust and an open, slightly chewy crumb. It is baked directly on the stone floor of a wood or gas-fired oven, and the shape exists for that reason, since the points let the baker slide and turn a dozen at a time with a peel. It is the bread of the sandwich rather than the scoop. Iraqi flatbread, khubz, does the work of tearing and dipping; samoon is split and filled, with kebab, with kahi and cream for breakfast, or with nothing but the fat from a grill. Bakeries sell it hot through the day and the queue outside one at four in the afternoon is a Baghdad fixture. The wheat behind it has the longest history of any grain anywhere. Emmer and einkorn were domesticated in the Fertile Crescent some ten thousand years ago and the cities of southern Mesopotamia were built on the surplus they produced. Baghdad under the Abbasids then became the place where that grain met a genuine culinary literature: the tenth-century Kitab al-Tabikh of Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq is among the earliest cookbooks to survive anywhere, and it records dozens of breads. The name is thought to come from the Arabic for fattened or plump, which describes what the dough does in the oven rather than what it looks like going in.

Ingredients

600 g strong white bread flour
7 g fast-action dried yeast
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp oil
150 ml warm milk
220 ml warm water, approximately
2 tbsp sesame or nigella seeds (optional)

Method

Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. Add the oil, milk, and most of the water and bring together into a soft dough, adding the rest of the water if needed.
Knead for ten minutes until smooth and elastic. Cover and prove for ninety minutes, until doubled.
Put a baking stone or heavy upturned tray in the oven and heat to 250°C, as hot as it will go. It must be thoroughly hot, so give it a full thirty minutes.
Knock the dough back and divide into eight. Roll each into a ball, rest ten minutes, then flatten into an oval about 15cm long.
Now shape the diamond: pinch and draw out both ends into points, and press the middle a little flatter than the edges. The finished shape should be a long lozenge, thicker in the centre.
Lay on floured trays, cover, and prove a second time for thirty minutes until visibly puffed.
Brush lightly with water and scatter the seeds, if using.
Slide two or three at a time directly onto the hot stone. Bake for ten to twelve minutes until risen, pale gold, and hollow-sounding underneath. The crust should be thin and crisp rather than deeply coloured.
Cool on a rack for a few minutes only. Samoon is at its best within the hour and is meant to be eaten warm.

Notes

The heat of the stone is what gives the oven spring and the thin crust; a cool tray gives a pale heavy bread. Do not over-colour it, since samoon is a pale bread and a deep brown crust is a different loaf. The milk is what keeps the crumb soft against the crisp crust. It stales fast, as it is meant to, and day-old samoon is split, toasted, and used for fatteh.

The Gastrographer

Name: Samoon
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 3 h
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Baghdad & Iraq
Ingredients: 600 g strong white bread flour; 7 g fast-action dried yeast; 2 tsp sugar; 2 tsp salt; 3 tbsp oil; 150 ml warm milk; 220 ml warm water, approximately; 2 tbsp sesame or nigella seeds (optional)

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control