Naan Bread

Mike and I both love Naan bread..it just tends to be expensive enough that I usually avoid buying it, except on odd occasions. I thought about trying to make it on my own but in my imagination it seemed a little intimidating. A couple of weeks ago I finally mustered up the ambition to give it an attempt and to my surprise it was not only easy but we're addicted. The recipe hardly lasted us more than a week so this morning I whipped up another batch. I am really impressed with the recipe, it being the first one I tried. (I did make a few minor adjustments to suit my own preferences and past experiences with yeast doughs.)                                                                                                      

Check out the smile -That's one happy piece of naan - caught on camera by accident

Naan Bread Recipe
Makes about 14 pieces



3 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup white sugar
3 Tbsp milk
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp salt
4 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup better, melted
 

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water (110-115 F). Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft, but firm dough. Kneed for 6-8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. 
2. Place dough in a well-oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and set aside to rise. Let it rise about 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume. 
3. Punch dough down and kneed in the minced garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of golf balls.
4. Roll into balls and place on a tray. Cover with towel and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
5. Preheat pan on medium-high heat. (These are ideally supposed to be done on a grill but I fried them in my panini pan and they turned out great...maybe in the summer I will try them on the grill.)
6. Roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle (quite thin because they do puff up when they are fried). Very lightly brush one side with melted butter. Place buttered-side down on the heated pan, cook for about 2 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter and turn over, cooking until browned, another 1-2 minutes. Remove from from pan and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

(This recipe is adapted from an original which is found here.)

WHERE IT FITS ON THE MENU:

• Panini it - stuff it with all sorts of goodness
• Pizza it - use it as the base for pizza (we tried this and really liked it)
• Side it - use it as a side to pasta, curry dishes; or really, anything
• Dip it - in spinach dip, salsa, etc.

I froze 1/2 of the recipe after rolling it into balls and before letting it rise a second time. 

This way I will be able to pull out a few at time, thaw and let rise, and make it fresh for a meal or two in days to come.