Naan

Ingredients

Dough

• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup water (room temperature)
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1/4 cup flaxseed (milled)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup full-fat plain yogurt
• 3/4 cup whole milk (room temperature)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

For frying

• 1/4 cups olive oil
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Optionally

• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• parsely (in a shaker)

Instructions

Dough

1. In a small bowl, combine the yeast, sugar and water. I slightly mixed it, and let it sit for 10 minutes.
2. While the yeast mixture is giving off some co2. In a large bowl (it might just be a stand mixer bowl) add the flour, wheat germ, flaxseed, baking soda and baking powder– stir it a little.
3. After the timer for the yeast mixture has eclipsed add it along with the yogurt, and milk to the flour bowl and whisk together (this will be a little sticky and you might need to use a flat edge to get stuff out of the whisk). At this point, you can either kneed with your hands or use the standmixer. I’ve done both, and I prefer the latter. Mix for about 2 minutes, at this point it should turn to a ball.
4. Drizzle the olive oil to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 2 hours, it should roughly double in size.

Frying

1. In a bowl, mix the olive oil and salt, along with garlic powder if you desire.
2. Heat fry pan on medium.
3. On a floured surface, place the dough and knead it a little and quarter. Then cut those quarters into thirds. I did not set out for a goal of making them round, they may even be intentionally triangular!
4. With a rolling pin, flatten your separated pieces of dough until they are between 1/8-1/4 inch in thickness. Using your hands for this part just does not cut it, use a rolling pin, I’ve tried!
5. Before putting dough in the fry pan, brush oil on one side from your bowl. While it is cooking the first side, oil the top side, in addition, using the parsley shaker, shake some parsley (I believe traditionally cilantro is used, I do not usually have any). Flip after about one minute on the first side, you will notice that it should bubble. Let cook for about another minute then remove from pan.

Inspired by

I started with this recipe. I followed the dough pretty closely, except I used olive oil while the dough rose. However, I fried it slightly differently, once again I used olive oil.

Closing

I am just going to say straight out, that I make no claim on knowing how to make proper naan. With that said, whenever I go to an Indian restaurant, it is one of my favourite parts to my meal. So, naturally, I want to try my hand at it. I tried this a few times before I finally got it to the point that I enjoyed it. Heck, one time, I even tried baking it on a pizza pan! Needless to say, that did not pan out (pun intended).

The last time I made it, the dough actually kept pretty well in the fridge over night and I had made it the following day. It tasted really good. So, if you do not wish to make the entire batch in one sitting, do not feel you need to!

If you’re looking for more garlic flavour, try adding some minced garlic during the dough preparation.

Another option is to use ginger instead of garlic (or maybe both) for your frying oil.

I found, that if you fry with butter, it is going to taste like a chewy pancake, and that is not something I am interested in. Nothing against pancakes, I like myself a good pancake!

Serve this with a curry dish, it it s a great compliment!