To yeast or not to yeast that is the question

1. Do you use yeast in naans or no yeast

2. Do you prefer the taste of naans with yeast in to those without

3. Do the majority of takeaways use yeast or no yeast

best, Rich

I use a drop of baking powder in my naans as the raising agent,never used yeast,always works fine for me.To be honest I'm not sure whether I could taste the difference between those with yeast in and those without.

I'm pretty sure most places don't use yeast,I'm sure I read somewhere that the reason for this is that if the dough is left in the warm kitchen for too long the naans will rise too much when cooked.I asked the assistant in Az's kitchen what goes into his dough mixture when he was cooking our naans.He didn't use yeast,he used baking powder.This is a really good thread on naan bread...

https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=1448.0

I use both yeast and baking powder in mine and I can't taste the yeast.
Being a home brewer, I have a distinct pallete that can taste a yeasty flavour from afar, and can tell differences of yeasts used in beers as each strain of yeast offers different flavours in the finished product.
I have used Tesco's bread yeast mostly, but last week I had ran out and used a good pinch of my Youngs wine yeast with no off flavours.

Next time I make a brew up I might try using a bit of the beer slurry for the yeast input and see how that fairs.

Hi Michael.t - I also use yeast and baking powder combination, I've been making stovetop naan with this recipe for a while now, it turns out very nice if eaten straight away:

http://www.greatcurryrecipes.net/2011/10/31/a-stove-top-naan-recipe-that-is-easy-and-delicious/

Might make a batch to have with my Saag Panir this afternoon 

I'm also a brewer, I guess that bread yeasts are designed to be very fast workers as opposed to beer yeasts that should be more slow and steady, but worth a try if you run out. Kingfisher Naan??? 

Quote from: loveitspicy on March 08, 2012, 02:34 PM
To yeast or not to yeast that is the question

Should this thread be moved to the section on naan breads?

Your opening post is a good question and another fine example of what appears to be an almost total lack of consensus amongst members. As a result, you're almost back where you started, with no conclusion! I know the type of naan I rate most highly at the BIRs. Other members will probably disagree. I experimented with baking powder and several different types of yeast before deciding what works best for me in terms of the ingredients but I still can't get the ultimate 'crater with bubbles' look so I think my cooking method still needs extra work.

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