Topic: UK School of Artisan Food Naan

[Peripatetic Phil]

Are cheese naan served in the Antipodes, Livo ?  The only naan I have ever encountered in the UK (apart from plain, of course) are Peshwari and keema.

** Phil.

[livo]

Sure is Phil and it is very popular as well. Almost all restaurants and T/As have it on the menu and it is often listed as Shahi Naan.  Searching for Shahi Naan does not find cheese naan recipes though so this name is a bit at odds.  A Google video search for "Cheese Naan" provides many matches for it. I've just watched another 2 tawa cooked versions and one guy flips his over but only cooks it inverted for a short time (probably not done) while a lady just flips the naan and cooks both sides on the tawa.

I found the best cheese to use is a 50/50 mix of cheddar and mozzarella.
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[Naga]

A big thumbs-up from me for posting this naan bread recipe link, livo! I followed the recipe under the video (almost!) to the letter by preparing the ferment and then combining the rest of the ingredients the following day.

I did a test run last night using one dough ball on the gas hob using a shallow non-stick Tefal crepe pan and a blowtorch to char the top, It was an complete success - the best naan bread I have ever achieved! It was light, fluffy and very tasty.

Obviously, given the prep it's not the sort of recipe one can rustle up for an instant flatbread, but it's certainly worth making it in advance.

I misread the recipe describing the ferment and added 5g of yeast instead of the recommended 0.5g, but it didn't do any harm at all. I still added the recommended amount of yeast in the second-stage and everything worked out perfectly. Maybe I've just got old yeast! I also used fermented milk rather than buttermilk, but for all I know, it may be virtually the same thing anyway.

I didn't take any photos, and I still have to perfect my dough stretching technique as I didn't fully achieve the 'teardop' shape. I'll be making some more today and I'll maybe try the inverted-tray-in-the-oven technique this time, although my oven only does 230C rather than the 260C in the video.

I can see I'll have to invest in a pizza paddle as I'll be making these naans again and again. Highly recommended!

[livo]

I rate this recipe. Worth the effort and you don't really need to do the ferment if you don't want to.  It does produce a flavoursome bread.

[Bobdylan]

For your ratings scale Naga are you comparing this recipe with Indian restaurant Naan bread, or store brought Naan bread? Please will you post photos with a cross section so we can all see the results please.

[livo]

Naga, the first stage of fermentation with yeast is growth, so putting too much in really isn't too big a problem. If you had put the correct amount in, the yeast colony would have grown anyway during the pre-ferment initial stages.

I've now made this recipe using both short and long pre-ferment (4 hours and over 24 hours refridgerated) as well as just doing a full ingredient batch without any pre-ferment (as shown in the video).  They were slightly different in flavour profile but all 3 made naan that is fluffy, soft, flexible, well-coloured and tasty.  As I've said previously, this naan recipe is the closest I've ever come to making naan that is like the ones bought in restaurants and takeaways (here in Australia).  It is my go to recipe from now on.  Only one other recipe I've tried is comparable. but I won't say any more than it is a full dairy, + egg, SR flour and fresh yeast, UK Deluxe Naan. No water. 

The 3 times I made this as mentioned above, I used actual buttermilk, but I've now also made this recipe using milk and yogurt instead and the results are equally as good.  Buttermilk is just cultured milk anyway so there is very little difference. 

As for time frame, H4ppy Chris' video instruction spans 24 hours or so if followed to the T.  I think you could get this UKSoAF naan down to about 5 or 6 hours and still achieve very good results.  From my last batch I had 4 leftover doughballs in the fridge and cooked one on day 5, The dough was just starting to get spots (didn't put my glasses on to examine further) but it cooked and tasted fine.  The next day the remaining 3 were rubbish.

BobDylan, in my experience "store bought" packaged naan are dreadful.  There is no comparison to a fresh one.  This recipe may not be what you buy in your local Takeout over there, but it is very good. Give it a try and tell us what you think.  This recipe produces naan like the ones I buy in Takeaways over here.  You will find plenty of anecdotal evidence in this forum that Australian Indian Restaurant and British Indian Restaurant food are not the same, but this recipe is like the ones we get out here.

[Naga]

Thanks for sharing your experiences, livo. It's a real time-saver when others describe their methods in detail and avoids a lot of grief pursuing goals down a dead end.

Sadly for me, the second attempt using the batch dough I refrigerated didn't work out as well as the initial trial. My oven just can't achieve the temperatures required to cook the naan quickly enough to stimulate internal air bubbles and surface charring before actually burning - as the photos will demonstrate.



I pre-heated a metal baking tray in the oven at it's maximum temperature of 230C, and tried the 4 naans in both the centre and top of the oven. Cooking times varied between 6 and 10 minutes. The naans failed to bubble up and remained flat throughout, browning rather than charring on the tops. This compares against cooking on a pre-heated skillet on the gas hob where the naan bubbled up almost instantly. The downside is that the base was more charred than desirable, but, as Garp observed previously, a lttle crispness is ok and not at all unpleasant.

I couldn't compare my best effort to a proper restaurant or takeaway naan - it's a different beast altogether - but it was certainly much better than most supermarket offerings I've tried.

Anyway, although the resulting oven-baked naans didn't turn out as I would have hoped, they were still quite light and did their job in mopping up curry! I think I'll be sticking to the stovetop method though.

[livo]

I've had no joy with any naan in an oven. The pizza cooker works to a point but the tawa is good. Now I have a tandoor oven I have to learn to control the heat to get even cooking.

[Peripatetic Phil]

I believe (it is almost certainly mentioned in a much older thread somwhere) that some people "jailbreak" pyrolitic ovens so that they can add and remove naans (etc) when the oven is in pyro mode ...

Cf. https://forums.egullet.org/topic/103127-hacking-pyrolytic-ovens-to-utilise-high-heat/, from 2007.

[Bobdylan]

Hi thank you for displaying your trials Naga, I can see the dough is quite dense in comparison to British restaurants Naan. The issue with lack of bubbles is at a guesstimate more down to the ingredients, bread flour is heavy when combining with yeast as is buttermilk. True British Naan should hardly weigh anything when cooked,with a light crispy crunch and bubbly interior.