However I was making tandoori chicken and only thought about 45min before supper that some naan would be nice, so I threw this together. I've seen, and made, flatbreads leavened with baking power, soda (like irish soda bread) or of course yeast. So thinking about my options to get puffy bread fast, I thought I'd try to find a middle-ground to speed things along a bit.
I started as typical, to rehydrate the yeast, but with less water:
- third of a cup of warm water
- a tsp of sugar dissolved into it,
- two teaspoons ( you could use half a packet ) of yeast sprinkled into it.
- a cup of flour
- a teaspoon of baking powder
- a healthy pinch of salt
Then I combined
- a couple of tablespoons of yoghurt
- with a beaten egg
- and a couple of TBSP of olive oil
Mix that wet stuff into the flour, and oh, hey, the yeast is foamy now, so dump that in too.
How's the consistency? A little wet? We'll work in some more flour. A bit dry? Work in a bit of milk, by the tablespoon, until it's a soft, slightly sticky/shaggy ball.
Now sprinkle a handful of flour on your counter and turn out the dough onto it, and start kneading. Just fold it onto itself over and over and press with the heel of your hand. It should get nice and silky and smoothly blended in just a few minutes. Work in a bit more flour if necessary, but a bit tacky still is okay. It should be springy to your touch.
Divide into two balls and flatten into paddle shaped pieces. Consider the size of your non-stick frying pan for guidance. Thinner is better in terms of the thickness. Their thickness should be closer to pita-bread (though not that thin) than they are to buns.
Set aside for 10min, with plastic and a damp towel covering them. We're cheating a bit here, but it's okay. This is where we would normally let a bread rise once for 30-40min, then punch down and form then. We can cheat a bit because of the baking powder, but if you have the time, certainly do it.
In about 8minutes, get out a big, non-stick pan and heat it up super-hot. Flick a drop of water off your fingers onto it, it should sputter and disappear right away.
Now grab one of your formed naan's and throw it onto the dry, hot pan. Leave it for a minute or two with the lid on, then check for nice darkened surface. It will only be darkened where the irregular surface touches the pan. That's good, that's how naan always looks from being in a tandoori oven.
Flip it over and give it another minute or two, uncovered now. Keeping the heat in initially encourages the initial puff-up. When it's browned on the second side, pull it out, wrap in a clean towel to keep warm, and do the same with the other one.
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YUM it was so good.
A buttery surface, soft, tear-able (as opposed to terrible) thin bread. Seemed a lot like authentic tandoori-oven naan - and believe me, I've eaten my fair share.
The picture shows it on the plate with the rest of supper. If I knew it would work out so well, I'd probably have photographed it a bit more for bragging rights.
On the plate is tandoori chicken, potatoes and spinach, saffron rice and the naan. Yay - isn't that authentic looking?
If you give it a try, let me know. They pivotal part is probably ensuring the dough is a soft pliable consistency - not sticky like porridge, but not hard and dry like a volley-ball, and of course forming it thin enough. But if you want to make naan, you've probably eaten it a lot yourself, and will know what the result should look like.
