Alireza Izadi, Director General of National and World Heritage Registration at Iran's Ministry of Cultural

The traditional method of preparing Sangak, a flatbread baked on heated pebbles, has been added to Iran's national list of intangible cultural heritage, an official announced. Alireza Izadi, director general of national and world heritage registration at Iran's Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, said the registration followed a review by the country's National Council for Intangible Heritage Registration. Izadi said the recognition highlights Sangak as one of Iran's traditional breads and an enduring part of the country's food culture.

"Its registration is a step toward safeguarding part of the historical memory, everyday culture, indigenous knowledge and food identity of Iranians," he said. The name Sangak comes from the Persian word for "pebble, referring to the small river stones on which the bread is baked. The bread is typically made from whole-wheat, high-hydration dough, shaped into a rough triangle, and stretched over heated stones in a large oven, with sesame or poppy seeds among traditional toppings." Izadi noted that the oldest known written reference to Sangak appears in the Borhan-e Qate, a Persian dictionary compiled by Muhammad Husayn ibn Khalaf Tabrizi in 1062 AH, which describes the bread as baked on heated pebbles.

Oral traditions link the bread's origins to the Sasanian era or earlier, though Izadi said such accounts require further historical assessment. Archaeological evidence includes the remains of a Sangak bakery, with an intact oven and specialized baking pebbles, discovered at a ruined fortress in Varamin, south of Tehran. A popular account attributes the design of the Sangak oven to Sheikh Baha'i during the Safavid period, after Shah Abbas requested a method for supplying bread to soldiers on military journeys.

Izadi said the story was recorded in a 1947 calendar published by Tehran's bakers' committee, but its historical accuracy remains uncertain. Sangak is typically made from whole-wheat, high-hydration dough and shaped into a rough triangle before being stretched over heated stones in a large oven. Sesame or poppy seeds are among the traditional toppings.

Izadi said the oldest known written reference to Sangak appears in the Borhan-e Qate (aka Burhan-i Qati), a Persian dictionary compiled by Muhammad Husayn ibn Khalaf Tabrizi in 1062 AH. The entry describes Sangak as a type of bread baked on heated pebbles.