A New Destination for Afghan Baked Goods Is Coming to Brooklyn

"Diljān's centerpiece will be its Afghan flatbread, aka Afghan naan - "the star of the show," Ford tells Eater, explaining that the team plans on hanging the bread from the window of the tiny bakery for all to see. The carbs will come in a large or small size, meant to be ripped and dipped into condiments like honey, pomegranate, molasses, eggplant, and different chutneys."

""The core of my work has always been: How do we decolonize baking?" Ford says. While he's rooted in the Latin American baking world, what excited him about Diljān was that he was able to deep-dive into a whole different baking culture. "I get to learn again and ask questions and smell things and taste things and play with things," he says, like dates and black lava salt. "How do we find harmony while giving people in New York what they want?""

Diljān will open in November at 330 Hicks Street in Brooklyn Heights, operated by Ali Zaman and Mohamed Ghiasi of Little Flower Cafe with baker Bryan Ford. The bakery's centerpiece will be Afghan flatbread (naan) displayed hanging in the window and sold in large and small sizes to be torn and dipped into honey, pomegranate molasses, eggplant, and various chutneys. Ford approaches the project as an effort to decolonize baking and to learn and experiment with Afghan flavors such as dates and black lava salt. Pastries will feature saffron, cardamom, pistachio, and both dried and candied apricots.

Read at Eater NY