History

Maydan opened in November 2017 on Florida Avenue NW with a central wood-fired hearth ringed by the kitchen line. Bon Appetit and Food and Wine both named it among the best new restaurants of 2018, and the James Beard Foundation made it a Best New Restaurant semifinalist that year. The bread is the structural element of the meal: stretched and clapped onto the tabun's hot stone, ballooning and char-spotting in under a minute. Albi by chef Michael Rafidi extends the Levantine-DC canon; Rafidi took the 2024 James Beard Outstanding Chef award.

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Common allergens: Gluten, Sesame, Dairy, Nuts

Make it at home

Yield 4Hands-on 35 minTotal 3 hrDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • For the bread: 500g strong bread flour
  • 7g instant yeast
  • 10g fine salt
  • 300ml warm water
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • For the hummus: 250g dried chickpeas (soaked overnight), 1 teaspoon baking soda, 150g raw tahini, juice of 2 lemons, 2 garlic cloves grated, 80ml ice water, sea salt, 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil to finish, sweet paprika and toasted cumin seeds to top
  • For the baba ghanoush: 2 large aubergines, 3 tablespoons tahini, juice of 1 lemon, 1 garlic clove grated, sea salt, olive oil and pomegranate molasses to finish, a handful of pomegranate seeds
  • For the muhammara: 4 roasted red peppers (skinned), 50g walnuts toasted, 30g fine breadcrumbs, 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses, 2 teaspoons Aleppo pepper, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, juice of half a lemon, 3 tablespoons olive oil, sea salt

Method

  1. Make the bread dough first. Whisk flour, yeast and salt. Add warm water and olive oil; knead 8 minutes by hand or 5 minutes in a stand mixer to a smooth supple dough.
  2. Cover and prove 90 minutes until doubled.
  3. Drain the soaked chickpeas. Cover with fresh water, add baking soda, and simmer 60 to 90 minutes until the skins slip off and the chickpeas are very soft. Drain.
  4. Blend the warm chickpeas with tahini, lemon juice, garlic and ice water until completely smooth. Salt to taste; the texture should look ribbon-smooth, almost glossy.
  5. Char the aubergines over an open gas flame or under a hot grill until the skins are blackened and the flesh has collapsed, 15 minutes. Cool, scoop out the flesh, drain in a sieve 20 minutes. Blend with tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt to a coarse purée.
  6. Blend roasted peppers, walnuts, breadcrumbs, pomegranate molasses, Aleppo pepper, cumin, lemon juice and olive oil to a coarse paste; salt to taste.
  7. Heat the hottest pizza stone, baking steel, or cast-iron pan you have in the oven at 270C for 30 minutes.
  8. Divide the dough into 6. Roll each into a 25cm round, 2mm thick.
  9. Slide one round directly onto the hot stone. Bake 60 to 90 seconds, no longer, until it puffs and the surface char-spots.
  10. Lift the hot bread into a basket lined with a tea towel. Repeat with the remaining rounds.
  11. Spoon the hummus, baba ghanoush and muhammara into shallow bowls. Finish hummus with olive oil, paprika and cumin seeds; baba ghanoush with olive oil, pomegranate molasses and pomegranate seeds. Serve immediately with the hot bread, torn at the table.

Tip from the editors. The bread must come off the stone the moment it puffs; even ten seconds longer dries it to a cracker. The defining cue is a soft elastic chew with hot air still trapped inside.

Where to eat maydan-style fire-cooked flatbread and dips

Maydan-style fire-cooked flatbread and dips in Washington DC

Maydan ★ 4.7

$$$ Middle EasternLogan Circle

Maydan in Washington DC is Rose Previte's James Beard award-winner above 14th Street, a courtyard around a live-fire pit serving North African.

OrderThe lamb shoulder cooked over fire for ten hours, ordered as a family-style bookend.

TipThe booth seats face the fire; ask for one. The pre-shift cocktail flight at the upstairs bar is the value pick.

Directions Book

Albi 1 ★ ★ 4.4

$$$$ Tasting $140 (Yellow Door room)LevantineChef Michael Rafidi

Albi in Washington DC is Michael Rafidi's Michelin-star Navy Yard Levantine wood-fire dining room on 4th Street SE, a James Beard winner running a separate.

Book4 to 6 weeks ahead

Directions Book

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