Topic: CA's Naan Bread (Illustrated!)

[King Prawn]

Yup - This one's a keeper. Well done CA.

All I needed was a little more salt and a lot more sugar to make it more like the restaurants around here do them, but very, very good all the same.

KP(V)

[xPatx]

I'm starving now !
I tried the Naan bread from the you-tube video but didn't seem to come out like the video!
I used bread flour and yeast, but will be giving this a try after work tomorrow.
I did add the onion seeds to my previous efforts and they did make a great differnce to the taste even if they didn't rise !

Cheers Cory.                      Pat

[spicysarsy]

  Yep Well Done Cory on a great post and presentation.

[Mark J]

One alternative way to cook these as I do is get a grill really hot, then heat up the tava until it is stupidly hot on a gas ring, slap the bread on the tava and put it under the grill

[Cory Ander]

One alternative way to cook these as I do is get a grill really hot, then heat up the tava until it is stupidly hot on a gas ring, slap the bread on the tava and put it under the grill

Yep!  Quite right Mark......as stated in Step 17 of the method 

The alleged advantage of this method is that it better replicates what happens in a tandoor.  i.e. the tava represents the wall of the tandoor (upon which the Naan is stuck) and the grill represents the side facing away from the wall of the tandoor (i.e. towards the middle of the tandoor and in air).  Seems to make some sense! 

PS:  One advantage of this is that the blisters that form, on the top side of the naan (see photo 12), don't collapse like they do when you flip the naan on the tava 

Regards,

[Mark J]

Doh!  ;D

[haldi]

Background:

This is my recipe for naan bread.  It produces light, supple and tasty naans, without the use of a tandoor.  It involves cooking the naans on a very hot ?Tava? (i.e. flat, side-less, pan).  Although they are not as good as those cooked in a restaurant tandoor, this method, nevertheless, produces perfectly acceptable home-cooked naans.

2.     I?m not particularly fond of the sour taste of yeast and I therefore do not use it.  The dough, therefore, does not need proving and it will not rise appreciably.  I think it is also highly unlikely that BIRs use yeast either.

6.      I highly recommend brushing the naans with melted butter ghee (i.e. clarified butter) in Step 16.  It imparts a particularly nice flavour, yellow colouring and a crispness to the surface of the naan

I made some naans last night
I was using a recipe that "Pacman" gave us a few years back
And guess who forgot to put egg in it?
I used the tava/grill method and it works well.
The first two naans weren't as good because I rolled them slightly too thick
They shrink on the tava, don't they?
I have mentioned this using "yeast" idea to a couple of takeaway chefs, and they seem almost shocked at the idea.
Funny thing is that an Asian friend, of my wife, gave her a recipe for naans and it does have yeast.
So maybe the omission is solely "restaurant"
Well, although the use of yeast, may be controversial, the use of egg isn't.
Definitely poorer without it
I brush the naans with veg oil
That's how the takeaways round here do it
I used to use ghee but find it's got a bit of a unappetising smell when cold
I tie all my naans in a supermarket carrier bag
I think they are softer and better the next day
One by one they magically dissapear!!

[Cory Ander]

Hi Haldi,

Thanks for your comments Haldi, some great points! 

They shrink on the tava, don't they?

I don't actually find that they do Haldi?  But I do find that they can contract quite a bit after the dough has been shaped.  I think there are maybe three things (there may be more, of course!) that help prevent (or help reduce) this from happening:

• adding some ghee (or oil) to the dough (as in this recipe)
• ensuring that the dough isn't overly stretched when shaping
• immediately brushing the surface of the naan with ghee (or oil) after it has been shaped
  

.

I brush the naans with veg oil
That's how the takeaways round here do it

Yes, I accept what your saying Haldi.  I remember you, I mean Pete  , mentioning this before and I tried it.  However, I found that, although it helps stop the dough from contracting (see above), it makes the naans taste very, well, oily!  I didn't like it. 

I used to use ghee but find it's got a bit of a unappetising smell when cold

Maybe you had some duff ghee Haldi?  I've had some rancid ghee in the past (without really realising it), and vowed never to use it again!  But, use fresh stuff (you can smell if its off or not) and I find the taste is superb...hot or cold.  It also helps make the surface of the naan a little crispier than the inside.  Personally, I'd now think twice about making naans without it! 

One by one they magically dissapear!!

Haha!  Too true Haldi!  I made over thirty, when I posted this recipe a month ago, and they've all gone already!

Regards,

[Cory Ander]

Doh!  ;D

.....or did you mean "Dough!" Mark!

[DARTHPHALL]

lol  ya nutcase ;D ;D