Topic: Pacman's Naan Bread Recipe (supplied by Haldi)

[Cory Ander]

(Originally Pacman's recipe, supplied by Haldi and moved to this section by CA)

I usually make the dough in a bread making machine
I give it about 15 minutes kneeding :-

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
1/4 pint of semi skimmed milk straight out of the fridge
? 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
? 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.

[George]

(Originally Pacman's recipe, supplied by Haldi and moved to this section by CA)


Part 1
Mix this in a measuring jug
1/4 pint of semi skimmed milk straight out of the fridge
? 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
? teaspoon salt

This recipe is rendered useless by the three question marks in place of quantities.

[Razor]

Hi George,

I think the ? represent 0.5!  It seems that a while back cr0 script didn't support 0.5 if written as a fraction, although, you can clearly se 0.25 in fraction form for the quantity of semi skimmed milk required.

Of course, it could also represent any other fraction such as 1 5th or 1 8th, but it seems likely to mean 0.5.

Hope that helps!

Ray

[gazman1976]

you should have known that george with all the time you are on here slagging people off !!!

[George]

you should have known that george with all the time you are on here slagging people off !!!

I guessed it was 0.5 but the question marks don't help others who spend less time on here and/or don't slag people off, does it? According to your twisted logic.

[rhodriharris]

Guys, Guys!lol. ;D

[George]

Of course, it could also represent any other fraction such as 1 5th or 1 8th, but it seems likely to mean 0.5. Hope that helps!

Your thinking is the same as mine was, last week, when I made this recipe for the first time in a few years. I recall thinking it produced very good results the first time, back then, but disappointing results this time, which led me to wonder if my guess of half a pint of water was correct.

[Stephen Lindsay]

I might try this at the weekend - am wondering given George's comments about the water could it be 1/4 pint, i.e. the water and milk in equal proportions?

[haldi]

(Originally Pacman's recipe, supplied by Haldi and moved to this section by CA)

I usually make the dough in a bread making machine
I give it about 15 minutes kneeding :-

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
quarter pint of semi skimmed milk straight out of the fridge
three quarters 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
quarter teaspoon salt

whisk this up for 15 to 20 seconds

I dug out the hard copy

[Stephen Lindsay]

cheers Haldi!