Topic: Pacman's/Pete's Naan Recipe

[Cory Ander]

Posted by George:

Quote from: Rai on June 03, 2007, 05:16:28 PM
Please can you supply a link to pacmans naan recipe?  I cant seem to find it?

I hope neither of the original people involved will mind me reprinting it here. I'd saved it to my computer months or years ago. I can't remember. I searched on key words just now and can't find it again at this forum, so here it is. I said the search for BIR standard naan is over because this recipe turned out so well. Well I probably can't resist the temptation to try variations (other recipes) which include ingredients like yoghurt but  this recipe will be a hard act to follow.

I cooked the naans under the gas grill on the highest level (nearest the flame). It took a lot less than 2 or 3 minutes for them to cook.


Naan bread
From Pete - here is a very good recipe from Paul Cleary (Pacman):-

Naan bread mix at the restaurant

This is the mix I was taught by the tandoori chef it is used in both restaurants
This quantity is approximately 1/3 of the portion done in the restaurant
And is what I make up at home.

Part 1
Mix this in a measuring jug
0.25 pint of semi skimmed milk straight out of the fridge
0.75 pint of cold water
1 large egg including yolk
1 teaspoon black onion seeds
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon level of any baking powder not soda and do not be tempted to add more
2 tablespoons caster sugar
0.25 teaspoon salt

whisk this up for 15 to 20 seconds

Part2
Get approximately 800 g /900g self raising flower and put it in a mixing bowl and add half the mixture. Mix this up quickly. Now add the mixture and kneed quickly until you get a good dough. This process should not take more than 2 minutes.The dough should be sticky but when pulled should leave the bowl without leaving any behind. You will have some of the mixture left at the end so
Don?t pour it all in. Discard any left over mixture.
Now pour veg oil . about 2 teaspoons. on your hands and quickly kneed this over the surface of the dough. This will take about 5 seconds it is merely to oil the exterior.

Part3
Let stand for one hour in the kitchen. The dough will not change size notably

Part 4
Wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge overnight . The restaurants all do this.
You can use the dough now but it is not as good as when it returns to room temperature.

Part 5
Take out of the fridge about 4 hours before use. The dough must return to room temperature. It will be marshmellowy and light when you take the clingfilm off


FOR PLAIN NAAN ONLY

The chef will take a piece of dough . around a sixth to an eighth of the completed dough and lightly dust it with self rising flour. Then roll it into a ball
He will now flatten the dough to about 4 inch in diameter.
Now he will dip his hand in oil and cover one side only of the bread with it.
Pushing the oil across the dough and making it about 5 inch in diameter.

Now here is the tricky bit. The plain naan bread is never rolled out and the restaurant
Style bread is achieved by tossing the dough between the hands until the dough becomes about 3 mm thick. You can also achieve this by spinning and pulling the edge of the dough until it stretches out. The tandoori chef will usually take about 30 seconds to achieve this. It takes me slightly longer. The secret here is that some of the dough will be thicker than others giving the bubbly effect when tandoored. If any holes develop doing this don?t worry about it, it takes a while to perfect. If you desperately wish to roll the dough press a few areas down afterwards to give it an uneven effect and finish it off by pulling it. The teardrop shape is NOT achieved  by the bread falling lower into the tandoor but by the chef pulling one end into that shape.

The bread is then stuck on the side of a low heated tandoor by its dry side and is cooked in around 2 minutes. The bread will start to develop lots of bubbles in around ten seconds.

For your first attempt it is best to get the dough down to about 1 - 2 mm as the bubbling will occur more when the dough is thinner.

If no tandoor is available then you will need to heat an iron griddle or similar until it is piping hot . Place the dough on this oil side up  and place under a grill. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Do not put in an oven or you will end up with a giant scone.

If the dough does not bubble then the griddle is not hot enough OR the dough is too thick.

Once cooked lightly coat the bread with hot melted normal butter using a pastry brush.

[Cory Ander]

Posted by Haldi

Haldi
 This is another cr0-sourced BIR recipe which can almost be 'signed-off' as far as I'm concerned...no further work required. Many thanks for bringing the Pacman recipe to my attention and thanks to Pacman himself, of course, hoping he reads this. Do you still use it as your preferred naan recipe?
Regards
George

This recipe is definitely my favourite, I now use it every time I cook naans
I have tried many other book recipes, but Paul's was the best
Paul (Pacman) worked at an indian restaurant and the recipe is 100% genuine

[George]

Cory

Thank you for moving the recipe here where it may be more easily found in future. Your naan recipe (recently presented with photos) was the next recipe I was going to try. There are similarities and some differences, like flour types and use of yoghurt, but which recipe do you prefer?

Also, the water quantity in 'part 1' of the recipe above has ended up as a question mark. Please edit it to read 0.75 pint of cold water.

Regards
George

[Curry King]

Also, the water quantity in 'part 1' of the recipe above has ended up as a question mark. Please edit it to read 0.75 pint of cold water.

Done!

cK

[George]

I'd reduce the quantity of ingredients in the first place rather than make more dough than you need. I've reduced 900g flour to 450g and 225g with all other ingredients pro-rata and the end results are all the same. But if I was to freeze anything, it would certainly be the dough, rather than the baked naans. The naans are best straight out of the grill and into one's mouth!

Regards
George

[Cory Ander]

Hi Greg,

I've never tried freezing naan dough, but I imagine it would be ok (normal dough freezes just fine)?

I usually make a whole load of naans (because it's quite a chore getting everything together for only a small number).  I then wrap them in foil (packs of 2) and freeze them.  They come up just fine (i.e. nice, soft and pliable) if you stick them in a microwave (still frozen, but removed from the foil, obviously), on high, for a minute or two.  At least this is true with my naan recipe. 

I've tried this recipe, but I find that naans from recipes containing baking powder can become a little too (or very!) hard!  It could just be me, doing something wrong, of course!

So....take your pick and freeze what you chose to freeze! 

[joshallen2k]

Very impressed with these. 90% there. I do have question I'm hoping someone can answer. The "self-raising" flour I have (Iive in Canada) says "includes baking powder and salt" on the packaging. Is this the same as in the UK? I added the tsp of baking powder, and the outcome although delicious was a little brittle on the outside. Would reducing the additional baking powder help me with this?

J

[haldi]

Very impressed with these. 90% there. I do have question I'm hoping someone can answer. The "self-raising" flour I have (Iive in Canada) says "includes baking powder and salt" on the packaging. Is this the same as in the UK? I added the tsp of baking powder, and the outcome although delicious was a little brittle on the outside. Would reducing the additional baking powder help me with this?

J

I've just checked the flour I use
The only ingredient is "wheat Flour"
So it might be worth trying a naan mix without adding baking powder or salt

[joshallen2k]

Thanks Haldi! That might be it. Will try and report back.

[Unclebuck]

you know i cant remember seeing this post! this is the next naan bread recipe to try