A small Afghan bakery in Brooklyn Heights has been selling out of its traditional baked goods daily since opening in December, according to its co-owners.
Diljān, operated by Ali Zaman and Mohamed Ghiasi of Astoria’s Little Flower Cafe along with baker Bryan Ford, focuses on bringing authentic Afghan breads and pastries to New York, according to the owners.
“We wanted to bring the traditional breads that Afghan Americans grew up eating,” Zaman said in a recent interview about the bakery’s offerings.
The bakery’s best-selling item is the saffron shah, a crescent-shaped pastry filled with saffron pastry cream and dipped in saffron-infused white chocolate. Zaman explained the inspiration behind the signature item: “Everyone’s done rose water and cardamom, but I was like, ‘Let’s just try to see what we could do with saffron.’”
Ford, who developed the recipe, creates the pastry cream by blooming saffron in milk without vanilla to let the saffron flavor dominate. “I decided to make white chocolate tempered with saffron, which I blended and dipped the pastry into, which creates that nice little crunch,” Ford said. The crescent shape represents the Islamic symbol, according to Zaman.
Another popular item is the halwa sticky bun, which combines traditional Afghan semolina pudding with American-style pastry. Ford places chunks of halwa on the baking pan before adding the dough, so when inverted, “the halwa is crispy right on top,” he explained. The sticky bun includes jaggery, butter, and mixed nuts including almonds, walnuts, and pistachios.
The bakery also offers sheer pira, a round pastry filled with Afghan milk fudge. Ford layers pistachio frangipane in flaky dough, bakes it, then adds the milk fudge and tops it with vanilla diplomat cream. The milk fudge contains cardamom, rose water, sugar syrup, and milk powder, often folded with pistachios, according to Ford.
Diljān’s bread selection features traditional Afghan flatbreads including naan e panja and roghani. Ford worked closely with Zaman, Ghiasi, and their parents to recreate authentic flavors. “They’ve eaten the bread the way it’s supposed to taste, so I drew on their flavor, aesthetic, and smell notes,” Ford said.
The panja bread holds special significance for Zaman because of its handmade quality. “You literally see Bryan’s fingerprints in every single piece of bread that comes out,” he said. “It’s such a personal, intimate bread.”
Ford sources stone-ground flours from Cairnsprings Mills in Washington state and Brooklyn Granary to achieve the proper texture, which requires “a decent amount of whole wheat,” according to Ford. The addition of sourdough creates “a nice little tang,” which Zaman initially found unfamiliar but now considers “a perfect addition.”
The roghani bread differs from panja through its higher oil content. “‘Roghan’ in Farsi is ‘oil;’ ‘roghani’ is something that is oily, so it’s bread with more oil,” Zaman explained. The bakery determined that 18 percent additional olive oil creates the optimal texture and flavor.
The partnership brings together Zaman and Ghiasi’s cultural knowledge with Ford’s technical baking expertise. Ford emphasized the collaborative approach: “I gathered information from Ali, Mohamed, and the parents” to ensure authenticity in the final products.
Located in Brooklyn Heights, Diljān represents a growing trend of specialty ethnic bakeries bringing traditional foods to New York’s diverse neighborhoods. The bakery’s daily sellouts suggest strong demand for authentic Afghan baked goods in the area.
