Saturday 29 October 2011

Naans

           As promised, I'm posting the recipe of  the Naans I made on Deepavali. I haven't made this for a very looooong time. Everyone in my family loves this flat bread, including my picky no 4! It's so easy to make, so I think I'll be making this more often.




          Traditionally, Naans are baked in a tandoor or clay oven. I used my Napoli Pizza Express oven to bake the naans. This oven has a baking stone base & its temperature can go as high as 470 deg C! You can learn more about the Napoli Pizza Express here. If you have a baking stone, you should use it in your oven. Otherwise, bake the naan (or any bread) on an inverted baking sheet. I learnt this tip from Peter Reinhart's book.
           Told you making this bread was easy.....  Even my 7-year-old could make it! In fact, he helped me rolled out & shaped all the dough! He's so proud that he couldn't stop telling everyone that he made all the naans. Good job Maisur!


Naan

Source: The Complete Book of Indian Cooking
             by Shehzad Husin & Rafi Fernandez

A
2 tsp dried (active dry) yeast - I used instant yeast
4 tbsp warm milk
2 tsp sugar

B
450g (4 cups plain)  plain (all- purpose) flour
1 tsp baking powder (I used double-acting.)
1/2 tsp salt

C
150ml (2/3 cup) milk
150ml (2/3 cup) natural (plain) yogurt, beaten
1 egg (beaten)

D
2 tbsp ghee (melted)

E (Topping)
chopped fresh coriander leaves (aka cilantro)
onion seeds (I didn't use.)


Method:
  1. Combine A & leave to become frothy.
  2. Sift B in a bowl. Make a well & pour in A & C. Mix thoroughly. (I used my mixer with dough hook.)
  3. Add D & continue mixing to form a dough.
  4. Tightly cover bowl & keep in a warm place until the dough doubles in size. To test, push a finger into the dough - it should spring back. Divide dough into small portions.
  5. Preheat the oven to 200 deg C (400 deg F).
  6. Take a portion of dough & roll out  on a floured surface. (Make each naan slipper-shaped.)
  7. Sprinkle with coriander & onion seeds.
  8. Place on greased trays & bake in the preheated oven for about 10-12 minutes.
  9. Remove from oven & brush surface with ghee.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Faeez,
What a fantastic idea to bake naan using ur pizza oven Maker! I have a similar pizza maker n I'm so going to try out this method - ur naans looks really great ... Very authentic ie bubbles n charred spots on surface! Thks for sharing! :)

Susanna

Faeez said...

Susanna, it was my first time baking my naans using the oven.I thought since naans are normally baked using natural stone, the pizza oven would be a better substitute than regular oven. It worked! You're right. They looked more authentic. I'm glad u find the idea useful! :))

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