Naan!

Teh:

Last weekend i tried to make Naan. I was quite impressed with my first attempt. The naans turned out to be good, soft and flavourful. Best eaten immediately when it is ready. I used my own convectional oven for baking. There was no need for a tandoor oven or a baking stone whatsoever. As you can see from the picture, it turned out quite decent!

Naan

Here is the website i learned how to make the naan from. There is a video for easy reference too! - http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/2007/05/22/naan-bread/

Here is the recipe from the website which i tweaked a little:

Ingredients:

• 280g of All Purpose flour (i used more flour than the recipe said because my dough turned out to be very watery! More like a batter instead. So 280 - 300g should be fine. Some extra for the rolling later!)
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Pinch of baking soda
• 2 tablespoons of oil
• 2 1/2 tablespoons yogurt (I used the normal plain yogurt)
• 180ml of water (initially warm water is used to dissolve the dry active yeast. But if you are using instant yeast, you do not need to dissolve the yeast in warm water)
• 1 teaspoon of clear butter or ghee to butter the Naan (the recipe called for this but i omitted it as i didn't see the point in buttering the naan. But i think its done so that the naan will not dry out if you don't consume it immediately.)

Method:

1. Add yeast, sugar, salt and baking soda to the flour. Mix well.
2. Add the water, oil and yogurt. Mix/Knead until the dough is smooth. Cover the dough (i used a cling wrap to cover the bowl) and keep in a warm place 1 hour or until it double in volume. (It is ok to let the dough sit for a few hours if you are not ready to cook it. I even put my left over dough in the fridge and baked the next day. It was even more delicious with all the yeast flavour infused! Be sure to let the dough come to room temperature before attempting to roll and bake it)
3. Heat the oven to 250 degrees celscius with the baking tray in the middle rack. The tray need not be greased.
4. Knead the dough for about two to three minutes and divide the dough into six equal parts. The lady in the video oiled her hands before separating the dough. I did the same so that the dough will not stick to my hands. (Some dough still got stuck though!)
5. Take each piece of dough, one at a time, and roll into 8-inch oval shape. Dust lightly with dry flour to help with the rolling.
6. Before putting the Naan in oven, lightly wet your hands and take the rolled Naan, and flip them between your palms and place onto your baking tray in the oven.
7. The Naan will take about 2 to 3 minutes to cook, depending upon your oven. After the Naan is baked it should be golden brown color on top.
8. Take naan out of the oven and brush lightly with clear butter or ghee. (Can be omitted)
9. Wait 2 to 3 minutes before baking the next batch of naan. It gives oven the chance to get heated again to max.

Initially i made this naan to eat with the Butter Chicken i wanted to make. The Butter Chicken didn't turn out well. Hence i'm only posting the recipe for the naan. I will make this again when we are having curry at home!