Ridiculously Easy Naan

Category: Side Dishes | Blog URL: http://www.womanvfood.com/2010/02/ridiculously-easy-naan.html

This recipe was entered in The Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook contest, a compilation of the world’s best food blogs which was published in Fall 2010.

Photo: Womanvfood

Ingredients

2 cups cups flour (you can use 1 whole wheat and 1 cup white…I find that bread flour works best)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons canola oil (if use a strong flavored oil it will change the taste of the bread)

3/4 cup milk

Preparation

Put the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir.

Mix the wet ingredients, warm the liquid either in the microwave (about 40 seconds) or on the stovetop…you want the temperature to be that of a hot bath.

Slowly incorporate the liquid into the dry ingredients while stirring.

When you can stir no more, start to knead the dough with your hands. I just knead it right in the bowl. Stop kneading as soon as the dough comes together and is soft and not too sticky…do not over knead! Try to knead it no more than 10 times if that helps.

Form a ball, place it in the center of the mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rest in a warm spot for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes the dough won’t really look any different, don’t worry about it. Divide the dough into 8 sections and roll into balls.

Re-cover the balls with the plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes.

On a floured surface roll the balls out, either in a round or oval shape. Meanwhile heat an iron skillet (or just plain skillet if that’s all you have) on medium-high heat.

Whack the rolled out dough onto the hot skillet and cover with a lid. In less than the time you can roll out another ball the first side will be done, check the bread, when it’s nice and bubbly on the ‘raw’ side flip it over and cook for a few more seconds.

That’s it, get it out of the pan and put it on a plate or in your mouth or whatever! yum!

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About

Naan! Glorious naan! hmmm, hmm, hmm I don’t know anymore words to that Oliver Twist song…..

I love naan. It almost pains me to say it because it almost feels cliché. I think everybody who has had it pretty much loves it. If you haven’t had naan and you’re wondering if you’re missing out, well the answer is yes, yes you are I’m afraid. That’s okay though, because we can remedy the situation quite quickly and with great ease!

There are lots of naan recipes out there, and I’m sure they’re all well and good. However, the part that can be a bit of a bummer about most naan recipes is that they have yeast and sugar in them. Usually if something calls for yeast it also calls for sugar because the yeast needs to feed off of the sugar. Sugar of course adds calories, booo! Also, yeast can be temperamental and usually needs at least 30 minutes to rise, plus proofing time.

However, my method does not require yeast or sugar, and a short rising time of 20 minutes.

The recipe is actually a slight variation on a flour tortilla recipe from the Homesick Texan. I was desperate for some tortilla action one evening and found her blog and tortilla recipe, the tortillas are awesome by the way, I make them all the time, and I realized that the recipe is easily adapted to make some quick naan.

Tips and variations:

Tip 1: Rolling out the dough: the way I do it is one at a time, I roll one out, throw it in the pan and while the first one is cooking I start rolling out the next one. The timing works out nicely.

Tip 2: Although this recipe is very easy, it can get tiring rolling out eight balls. So don’t cook more pieces than you need. If I only need 4 naans then I only ‘bake’ four. The rest of the dough can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days, just take it out and let it reach room temperature before you roll it out and cook it.

Garlic naan: If you want to make garlic naan, (who doesn’t?) simply mince a few cloves of garlic while you’re letting the 8 balls rest. After you roll out a ball, sprinkle a bit of the garlic over the dough and GENTLY press the garlic into the dough by going over it with the rolling pin. When you toss it in the pan, do it garlic side down first.

Butter naan: After the naan or garlic naan is cooked brush it with a little ghee or butter, it’s so worth it.