Naan, No Fuss

Naan is a traditional Middle Eastern Bread...

We have naan every night with dinner. I pull the dough bowl out of the fridge and pull off a couple apple sized pieces of dough with floured hands. Roll them out and "bake" them on my cast iron griddle on top of the stove with the lid on. My husband has fallen in love with this bread. There are many variations of flours and additives.
Sometimes I  make it with all unbleached white flour, sometimes with combinations of flour and grains like oats, buckwheat, barley flour, rye flour cracked grainery flour etc. Just make sure that at least half of it is unbleached white or white whole wheat for the right taste and texture.

What you will need...

3 cups lukewarm water
1 Tablespoon sea salt
1 1/2 Tablespoons granulated yeast
2 pounds of flour (6 to 6 1/2 cups)                      
*you can mix different flours and grains.

*note: I use King Arthur flour and usually end up having to add 1/4 to 1/2 cup more water to get the right consistency.

Put the water, salt and yeast in a bowl and stir to mix.
Add about a 1/3 of the flour and stir till smooth
Keep adding the flour till you have a wet dough.
Put in a tall cylindrical container to rise.
I use a stock pot....

Cover and let rise till it falls or flattens out on top.

Put in refrigerator to get cold.
I usually just scrape the dough out of the pot into a large
plastic container that has a lid. Cover it and put it in the
fridge. 2 to 3 hours is usually enough time to chill the
dough, although the longer it sets the better it tastes.

To make the Naan
Flour your hands and pull off about an apple sized piece of dough for each piece of bread you want to make.
Roll into a ball and roll out into a circle with a rolling pin. About 8" is good.

(You don't have to wait for the dough to warm up or rise)

Lay on a hot griddle that has been oiled with a little olive oil and butter. Put a lid over the bread and let steam bake for a few minutes, turn over and let cook the rest of the way.

My husband and  I like to dip our bread in various vineagery things like marinated vegetables or beans, and I make a fruit sour dip by taking dried figs, dates, cranberries, raisins and maybe other dried fruit and mix it with half cup vinegar half cup olive oil, half cup sugar and/or honey to taste. After it sets a few days I will grind it all together in the food processor, of course you can leave the fruits whole if you wish.





*adapted from recipe in Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day.