-
1
Combine the flour, instant yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl, then add the warm water and neutral oil. Mix to a shaggy mass, turn onto a work surface, and knead for 10 minutes, so the gluten develops enough strength to hold the bread's thick rim upright without slumping. The dough is ready when the surface is smooth and springs back slowly to a gentle poke.
-
2
Return the dough to the bowl, cover, and rest at room temperature for 1 hour, so the yeast has time to leaven the dough fully and the gluten relaxes enough to roll without tearing. The dough is ready when it has doubled in volume and a finger pressed into it leaves an indent that does not spring back.
-
3
Place a pizza stone or baking steel on the oven's middle shelf and heat the oven to 260 °C for at least 30 minutes before baking, so the stone absorbs enough heat to give the base an immediate, fierce blast the moment the dough touches it — replicating the floor of a clay oven. The stone is ready when the oven has held its temperature for a full half-hour and the surface radiates a dry, scorching heat when a hand is held briefly above it.
-
4
Divide the dough into two pieces of approximately 200 g each and shape each into a disc 25–30 cm in diameter, keeping the rim noticeably thicker than the centre, so the two zones behave differently under heat — the thin middle setting hard and flat while the thick edge traps air and blisters. This is where the bread lives or dies: the rim must be substantially raised and the centre pressed genuinely thin, producing the bread's defining contrast of puffy, blistered edge and flat, cracker-like middle.
-
5
Use a nang stamp to cover the entire thin central zone with its characteristic dimpled imprint, so the perforations pin the dough to the hot stone and prevent the centre from puffing into a hollow bubble while the rim rises freely. The pattern should be even and deep enough to hold its shape when the disc is handled.
-
6
Brush the raised rim with egg wash or neutral oil, so the seeds have something to grip and the crust takes on a deep, lacquered colour as it bakes. Scatter the white sesame seeds and nigella seeds over the rim only; if they roll off, the wash was too thin or the dough too dry.
-
7
Slide the shaped nang directly onto the preheated stone and bake at 260 °C for 8–12 minutes, so the base crisps immediately on contact with the hot surface rather than softening as it slowly warms. The bread is done when the rim is deep golden brown with darker blistered spots, the centre is set and dry, and the underside, lifted with a palette knife, sounds hollow when tapped.