Afghan bread

Afghan bread, or Nân-i Afğânī (Persian: نان افغانی), is the national bread of Afghanistan. The bread is oval or rectangular and baked in a tandoor, a cylindrical oven that widely used in South Asia. The Afghan version of the tandoor sits above ground and is made of bricks, which are heated to cook the bread. The bread, also known as naan, is shaped and then stuck to the interior wall of the oven to bake. It is similar to the naan eaten in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Nigella or caraway seeds are often sprinkled on the bread, as much for decoration as for taste, and lengthwise lines are scored in the dough to add texture to the bread.

Afghan bread

Alternative names	Naan
Type	Flatbread
Place of origin	Afghanistan
Other information	National bread of Afghanistan
Cookbook: Afghan bread

Afghan bread is commonly stocked at Middle Eastern grocery stores in Western countries. In Afghanistan, bakers still cook the bread by spreading the dough around the tandoor, so that it quickly puffs up and starts to colour and emit a fresh bread smell that draws customers. The baker then uses long iron tongs to pull the bread from the tandoor wall. Afghans carry the bread in cloth bags.

Since people in Afghanistan normally use their hands to eat, the bread acts as a utensil, used to carry foods to the mouth, and also to soak up liquids on the plate.

The bread tastes similar to the Armenian lavash bread, as well as to Iranian barbari bread.

In Saudi Arabia and Yemen, it is called tameez (Arabic: تميز‎, romanized: tamīz) or tameez bread (Arabic: خبز تميز‎, romanized: khubz tamīz).