Naan?

I've been cooking up a few "curries" lately and that requires some naan!

Naan is that lovely flat bread they serve you in Indian restaurants. You know the delicious toasty yummy goodness that they parcel out by the piece? As far as my family is concerned they should bring it out by the wheelbarrow! No bite of Indian food goes in their mouth without an accompanying bite of bread. It helps cut the heat. It's a somewhat plain foil for the spicy rich goodness of Indian cuisine. If we're having any Indian food with a sauce the family demands lots of naan to mop up the gravy.

One time I was feeling rushed and I just grabbed some flour tortillas and heated them up on the griddle and tried to pass them off.

We don't speak of that time around here anymore.

Shall we just say "that bird don't fly."

My naan is a totally Americanized version but it's a lot less work than some of the authentic ones and mops up the gravy just as good!

So, let's make bread!

Get yourself a nice clean bowl. I like my stand mixer but I've made this for years in a normal bowl with my hands!

Add four cups of flour. (We're going to make A LOT!)

A bit of baking powder for bubbling goodness!

A bit of salt for flavor!

Stir it up! You've just assembled your dry ingredients! Woohoo!

Now for the wet . . .

You want some plain yogurt. Yes the plain! You've been wondering why they carry that stuff in the stores haven't you? It's for ME! It's lovely and sour. This is whole milk plain yogurt so it's sour and bad for you! The low fat tends to had too much gelatin added to it for me. I'm looking for creaminess!

Now if you've only got some strawberry yogurt I don't know what to tell you! You could probably take 1/2 cup of milk and add a little lemon juice to it and let it sit on your counter for 10 minutes or so. You'll be a little runnier but we're adding water later and you can just add less at that point! I think . . . I'm sure, it'd work!

Just dump the yogurt in along with some eggs, oil, and a little water. Start mixing . . .
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What?
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The photos of those steps aren't loading?
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I wonder why?
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Maybe I got distracted by the cat and forgot to take pictures . . .
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Maybe?
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Forgive me!
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But you know what they look like right?
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right?
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I shall . . . I shall over come . . . I shall . . . I shall overcome . . .

There it is! Slightly sticky, but not really. If I poke it with my finger my finger's not messy. The wetter the dough the easier it'll be to form into flat little breads.

I sprayed the inside of a gallon bag with some spray oil and threw my dough in. Now you let it sit. For several hours.

Eggs, yogurt, and room temperature . . . what could go wrong?

This may be why my children seldom get sick . . . they have immune systems of steel!

3 hours later . . .

Notice there's very little change. There's no yeast in this variety of naan so nothing visible happens to it during the resting process. There are things going on in there you can't see yet.

Put a griddle on the stove. Heat it up nice and hot . . .

I cut it into 8 chunks. They should be about the same size but it really doesn't matter. Do you see how smooth the dough is? We didn't knead it or anything yet the long rest has caused the gluten to develop anyway. It is a lovely and elastic dough. I like to handle it with oiled hands rather than floury hands. 

Squish it out. It will get really flat and should stick to your counter. But you should be able to lift it up still. If it's too sticky then add a little flour to the counter! It'll absorb the amount it needs naturally.

Nice and flat! I leave mine very "rustic." Rustic for me means irregular! You could roll it with a rolling pin and make it all smooth and traditionally oval but rustic is so much more relaxing.

I prefer not to set up standards for myself that I'll never meet.

Peel it up off the counter . . .

It should be a little stretchy . . . stretchy is good! Do you see why I don't worry about the shape that much?

Lay it on the griddle!

After about 30 seconds you should have some pretty big bubbles!

Grab your bubbly bread with a fork or spatula or tongs. Whatever works for you!

Flip it! See the little brown marks? See the place where it was too thin and it broke? Another 30 seconds or so and it's basically done. Sometimes I flip them a couple times until I have it as speckly brown as I'm wanting.

Throw your naan is a container you can keep them warm in. Today I chose a cake pan and put a piece of foil on top! Sometimes I use a little casserole bowl with a lid.

I wanted something heat safe so I could throw the pan on top of the griddle to keep warm while I finished dinner. The heat is off.

These really are perfect for something saucy like my Red Coconut Curry. My kids like to throw their meat, vegetables, and rice inside one of these and roll it up like a burrito! I break off pieces and pick up my meat with it!

The flavors are rather subtle. A little wheatiness, a touch of salt, and a touch of sour. They're crispy in the brown places and chewy in the thick places. Who doesn't like chewy crispy? We use them to clean up our plates! It's much more sophisticated than licking them . . .

Naan

4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2/3 -1 cup water

Mix dry ingredients together. Add yogurt, oil and eggs to bowl and start to mix. Add enough water to make a smooth dough. Cover or put in a bag and let rest 3 hours. Form into flat breads and bake on an ungreased hot skillet or griddle.  Flip when bubbly. Keep warm until serving time. Can be made ahead and rewarmed.