Naan

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Originally uploaded by dumin.

Last night my boyfriend made a delicious Indian dinner and I decided to make naan to accompany it. I used the naan recipe from Bread by Christine Ingram & Jennie Shapter.

I grew impatient while waiting for the groceries to arrive so I tried a first batch with some modifications. Namely, olive oil in place of vegetable oil and vanilla yogurt in place of plain yogurt. As one can imagine these were not nearly as good as the final product, but it was nice to practice and to start baking once the drive hit.

When the true ingredients arrived I was feeling confident. They turned out well and ended up puffing and browning nicely. They were perhaps a little chewier than I would have liked.

I used quick-rise yeast (again, I get impatient) which, while I don’t know for sure, I have the feeling that some serious bakers would look down on that. I will try to cut down on my not constant, but often use of it.

The naan only needs to rise 45 min, so it was a pretty easy thing to bake in conjuction with a dinner menu.

After rolling the dough into tear-drop shapes, I set each side of the dough briefly in a plate of olive oil and sprinkled one side with sesame seeds and fresh chopped garlic. I then baked them on inverted cookie sheets which had been heated in a 500°F oven for ten minutes. They baked about 4 minutes.

I reserved a portion of the dough (I had quadrupled the recipe) and made the rest in the morning (with cheddar and veggie bacon). The dough kept well in the refridgerator. I kneaded it a few times and let it come to room temperature before rolling out and baking. The texture may have actually improved with the wait.

Here is the full recipe:
Here is the naan recipe that I used:
2 cups unbleached white bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 oz fresh yeast ( I tripled the recipe and used one packet quick-rise yeast)
4 tbsp lukewarm milk ( I used to 2%)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp natural yogurt
1 egg
2-3 tbsp melted ghee or butter for brusing (I used olive oil with chopped garlic)
This recipe makes 3 naan as is (hence, why I tripled it)
1. sift flour, salt together in one bowl.
2. cream yeast (or sprinkle if you are using dried) with the milk and let sit until active (about 15 min.).
3. combine the yeast mixture, oil, yogurt, and egg with the flour/salt mixture. it should form a soft dough.
4. turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead 10 min. dough should become smooth and elastic.
5. place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover ( I used lightly oiled saran wrap to do this. It traps heat nicely) to rise 45 min.
6. preheat over to 450F and place inverted baking sheets in the oven at this time to heat with the oven.
7. turn out the dough to the floured work surface and knock back. Divide into 3 equal pieces (or 3x how many times you doubled the recipe) and form into balls.
8. cover all but one to reserve (or at this point you can reserve in the refridgerator for later use. they kept well for the 24 hours I reserved the dough. they will continue to rise actively, so be sure to place them in a lightly oiled bowl with oiled film).
9. roll out the ball into a teardrop shape about 10in long, 5in wide and 1/4in thick.
10. place each naan ( I did two at a time) on the baking sheets for 3-4 minutes. remove when puffed and slighly browned. (I flipped a few of them and it didn’t seem to damage the end result).
11. while baking the rest keep the naan warm. I kept mine in the microwave. The heat from each additional naan kept the others warm in the confined space.