Taftan Bread or simply Taftoon is a flatbread from the Persian and Pakistani cuisine that is quite similar to Indian Naan.
We are in the last week of my A to Z International Flatbread series. For the alphabet T, we go to the Persian cuisine to explore the Taftan Bread. This bread is very similar to the Indian Naan, made with lightly enriched dough.
The texture of the Taftoon is very similar to the Naan and can be served with soup or stew or as I did with some spicy side dishes. Last night I was casually mentioning to my son about not having enough bread stories to write as I am blogging every day about bread.
He asked me to correlate the bread with our travel and write about it. Talking about travel and food greatly enhanced my travel curiosity and I really hope that soon I will be able to travel to all the different countries and experience their cuisine firsthand.
We do travel quite a bit and have exposed our children to many different cuisines. We have yet to do many international travels as we are always short on vacation time.
Since our family lives in India, we do make the trip to India at least every other year and that pretty much takes away the time and budget. Locally though, it is another story. We have pretty much traveled all around the US and quite a bit of Canada and totally enjoy the places of wilderness and nature.
My Other recipes in the A-Z International Flatbread Series –
A for Aish Baladi
B for Boulanee Katchalu
C for Chickpea Flatbread / Socca
E for Emirati Khameer
F for Fruit Focaccia
G for Gozleme
H for Himbasha
I for Indian Fry Bread
J for Janta Roti
K for Ka’ak
L for Lepinja
M for Mahjouba
N for Norwegian Crisp Bread
O for Onion and Poppy Seed Pletzel
P for Pol Roti
Q for Qutab
R for Roomali Roti
S for Samoon
Preparation time - 10 minutes Plus 2 hours of resting time
Baking time - 15 Minutes
Difficulty level - Easy
Recipe adapted from - Here
Ingredients to make Taftan Bread - Makes 8
- All-purpose flour - 3 cups
- Active dry yeast - 2 tsp
- Yogurt - 2 TBSP
- Butter - 2 tablespoon (melted)
- Sugar - 1 TBSP
- Salt - 1 ½ tsp
- Warm Milk - 1 cup plus 2 TBSP
- Saffron thread - few
- Nigella seeds - 2 teaspoon (for sprinkling on top)
Procedure to make Taftoon
To make the dough -
- Measure 1 cup of milk and warm it until lukewarm. Add the sugar and the active dry yeast to the warm milk and mix well. Cover the mixture and let it proof for 10 minutes to activate the yeast. The yeast mixture would appear bubbly and frothy.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl or the bowl of the mixer, add the flour, salt, melted butter, and yogurt.
- Add the proven yeast mixture to the flour and start kneading the dough. The dough will be quite sticky.
- Keep kneading until the dough is very soft and smooth.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl and let it rise until double in volume. It will take an hour to 1 ½ hours.
To shape and bake Taftan Bread | Taftoon -
- Preheat the oven to 400 F. Layer two baking trays with parchment and keep it ready.
- Once the dough has risen, punch it down gently and divide it into 8 equal pieces.
- Roll each piece into a ball and then roll it out to about a 5-inch circle, keeping the edges thicker than the center.
- Place the prepared discs on the baking sheet.
- Dissolve the saffron in 2 tablespoon milk. Brush this mixture evenly over the rolled dough.
- Make deep indentations in the center of the rolled dough using your fingers, keeping the edges intact.
- Now sprinkle it evenly with the nigella seeds.
- Cover the baking tray and let it rest for about 20 minutes.
- Bake the Taftan for about 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Place it on a cooling tray and then serve with some spicy side dish or as is with soup or stew. I served mine with Restaurant-style Vegetable Kurma.
Sides that can pair well with this dish
If you made this recipe and liked it, give a star rating on the recipe card or let me know in the comments below. You could also share it with me on Instagram using #MyCookingJourney and tagging me @sandhya.ramakrishnan. You could follow me and my recipes on Facebook |Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter/X
Recipe
Taftan Bread
Equipment
- Standing mixer
- Oven
Ingredients
- 3 cup All purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon Active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoon Yogurt
- 2 tablespoon Butter melted
- 1 tablespoon Sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Warm Milk plus 2 TBSP
- Saffron thread few
- 2 teaspoon Nigella seeds for sprinkling on top
Instructions
To make the dough -
- Measure 1 cup of milk and warm it until luke warm. Add the sugar and the active dry yeast to the warm milk and mix well. Cover the mixture and let it proof for about 10 minutes to activate the yeast. The yeast mixture would appear bubbly and frothy.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl or the bowl of the mixer, add the flour, salt, melted butter and yogurt.
- Add the proved yeast mixture to the flour and start kneading the dough. The dough will be quite sticky.
- Keep kneading until the dough is very soft and smooth.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl and let it rise until double in volume. It will take an hour to 1 ½ hours.
To shape and bake Taftan Bread | Taftoon -
- Preheat the oven to 400 F. Layer two baking trays with parchment and keep it ready.
- Once the dough has risen, punch it down gently and divide into 8 equal pieces.
- Roll each piece into a ball and then roll it out to about 5 inch circle, keeping the edges thicker than the center.
- Place the prepared discs on the baking sheet.
- Dissolve the saffron in 2 tablespoon milk. Brush this mixture evenly over the rolled dough.
- Using your fingers, make deep indentations in the center of the rolled dough, keeping the edges intact.
- Now sprinkle it evenly with the nigella seeds.
- Cover the baking tray and let it rest for about 20 minutes.
- Bake the Taftan for about 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Place it on a cooling tray and then serve with some spicy side dish or as is with soup or stew. I served mine with Restaurant style Vegetable Kurma.
Ayesha says
Can we freezes it and how
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
You can freeze the bread after layering it between parchment paper or wax paper and then placing it in a freezer bag. Thaw and reheat in the microwave.
Padmajha PJ says
Another beautiful bread Sandhya.So nice of your kid to suggest a topic to write about. We too love to travel and love to relish the local delicacies even if we are travelling within tamilnadu 🙂
code2cook says
I fell in love with taftan bread after looking at on your blog. baked so beautifully. and with kurma it must be tasty for sure. I am amazed to know so many baked bread from you in this BM. loved many recipes.
Srivalli Jetti says
Taftan is a fantastic bread and I almost thought of making it but lack of a proper recipe made me select something else..now you have shared with beautiful sbs pics that it will be easy for me to make!
Renu says
Taftan looks deliciously crisp on the top and soft on the inside. Love the colour of the bread . The topping off nigela seeds have added to it's beauty. Awesome share Sandhya.
Mayuri Patel says
Beautifully baked taftan,like the idea of adding saffron and nigella seeds. I'd baked these soft and delicious bread a few weeks back and we loved it with a thick gravy based curry.
preeti garg says
I also thought taftan with t... but didnot get enough time to cook... but your bread comes out so well and perfectly baked.
Ritu Tangri says
Taftan has got a very nice golden colour making it all the more attractive. It is like sheermal and my daughter liked it very much and keeps on asking me to make again
harini says
We love to travel as well but vacation time is in short supply with a teenager at home 🙂 But the bread looks awesome and would love to read more travel stories and pictures for sure.
Vaishali Sabnani says
I know when has to consider the budget and plan these travels . While you travel to India you should make sure to travel within india to a different state , you will learn so much more .
Taftan is a delicious and a very attractive bread and has been on my list since a while now . Hopefully will make this crisp looking bread very soon .
M.Gayathri Raani says
Tartan has turned out so perfect Sandhya. It is so similar to the Sheermal I baked a while back. Love hearing about travel stories. Do share it frequently.
Priya Suresh says
Taftan bread looks absolutely stunning with beautiful crust, and this bread looks very rich as well. Persian breads always rocks. And thats a beautiful pick for T Sandhya. Bread came out extremely delicious.
Sowmya says
Nice travel stories...love to read more such.
And the taftan looks beautiful with that lovely golden brown...so tempting!