Arabic & Levantine Pantry Guide
Samoon: Iraq's Iconic Diamond-Shaped Stone-Oven Pocket Bread
Samoon is Iraq's beloved everyday diamond-shaped bread, hand-stretched with two tapered, crunchy points and a wide belly that puffs up on the floor of a blazing brick oven. Crisp on the outside and pillowy-hollow inside, it is the ultimate vessel for Iraqi falafel with amba, kebabs and morning cream.
The Diamond Shape and the Brick Oven ('Furn Hajari')
Among Middle Eastern breads, Iraqi samoon is instantly recognisable by its boat- or diamond-like geometry: two slender, pointed tips framing a wide oval centre. Made from a straightforward dough of wheat flour, water, yeast and salt that undergoes three separate proofing stages, the shaped loaves are slid onto the floor of a roaring masonry oven ('furn hajari') on a long wooden peel. In the intense heat, the centre balloons upward into a hollow, cotton-soft pocket while the crust turns golden and the pointed tips bake extra-crunchy.
Iraqi Stone-Oven Samoon vs Levantine Sandwich Samoon
It is helpful to know that the word 'samoon' means two different things depending on where you are: across Iraq, samoon always means this crusty, diamond-shaped stone-oven pocket bread brushed with a thin flour-water wash and often sprinkled with sesame. In Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, however, bakeries use 'samoon' (or 'fino') for soft, oblong submarine-style sandwich rolls.
From Friday Morning Gaimar to Falafel and Kebab Sandwiches
In Baghdad, Erbil, Mosul and Basra, hot samoon anchors every meal of the day: on Friday mornings, families tear open steaming loaves to slather with thick Iraqi clotted buffalo cream (gaimar / qishta) and date syrup (dibs) or fig jam. By lunchtime, street stalls slit open the wide belly of the samoon and pack it with crispy Iraqi falafel, pickled turnips, tomatoes and tangy mango amba sauce, or with charcoal-grilled lamb kebabs and shawarma.