Shirmal

“Bread is a staple in Iran, second only to rice,” Cody Ma says, who, along with his partner Misha Sesar, runs Persian all-day café Azizam, one of our Best New Restaurants of 2024, in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. “We really wanted to highlight bread from Iran outside of lavash, which is why we make both barbari (a crusty, chewy flatbread) and cloud-like shirmal.” Azizam’s shirmal is fluffy and tender thanks to the inclusion of tangzhong, a cooked milk and flour paste that gives Japanese milk bread its springy texture. Saffron and a pinch of turmeric add a vibrant color and a subtly sweet, honey-like scent.

While this bread is all about its tender, stretchy interior, the exterior gets some aesthetic love as well. You can press pretty hard with your bench scraper to imprint the gridded lines on top of the dough ball and ensure they stay visible post-bake, but don’t slit or cut into the dough (don’t use a knife!) as that can mess with the finished loaf shape. Also, be delicate with brushing your dough balls with egg wash—you’ll want to keep the wash on top of the dough rather than on the sides where it might glue the bread to the parchment paper. If this happens, don’t worry! Just gently peel the paper off the bottom of the bread and transfer it to a baking rack to cool. —Kendra Vaculin, test kitchen editor