Naan | #BreadBakers

Unexpected weather patterns unfurl every year. This year, we entered summers directly from winters. The Spring hardly stayed and the temperature rose abruptly. The fields remained dry and parched. Not too many wildflowers and vegetation made an appearance. It was a bleak start to the summers. But nature has its own ways of restoring balance. For the last two days, it has been raining. The scent of rain drenched earth, cool breeze and a sudden drop in temperature has changed everything. Bunches of rain lilies have emerged in the corners of the fields. The dry lawn is a carpet of green. It is soothing to sit in the Sun and everything looks clean, bright and beautiful.

While our daily chores are going on, yeasty aroma of naan bread permeates the air. Our lunch is naan with chickpea curry.  Some finely chopped onions and green chilies along will make a perfectly pleasant day lunch.

Naan is a yeast-risen, yogurt enriched tender, soft and fluffy Indian flatbread.  Traditionally, Naan is made in a tandoor which is actually a cylindrical clay oven. Small pieces of dough are shaped with hands and slapped against the walls of the tandoor. Naan bakes over a burning fire. This gives naan a unique charred flavour of the clay oven.

Homemade naan is generally cooked in a cast iron skillet or a non-stick pan. It does miss out the charred flavour of the clay oven but is soft and very tender, blistered here and there and very delicious. It goes very well with soups, curries and Indian-style curry dishes with gravies.

Naan

Ingredients

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup yogurt
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon instant dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon oil
• Some oil for greasing the pan and for cooking naan
• Some butter to brush naan.

Instructions

1. Mix sugar and yeast in warm water. Cover and keep for 10 minutes or until frothy.
2. Mix flour and salt in a large plate. Make a well in the center. Add yogurt, oil, yeast mixture and knead till the dough becomes smooth, supple and shiny. This will take about 10 minutes.
3. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and leave it to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until double.
4. Divide dough into 8 pieces. Work on one piece at a time. Cover the rest.
5. Heat up a cast iron skillet or a non-stick pan. Brush the surface with oil. Roll out one piece of dough into an oval or a round naan. Brush the rolling surface with oil if the dough is sticking.
6. Place the rolled dough in the hot pan.
7. When it puffs up and bubbles appear on top and brown spots appear on the bottom, flip it over and cook the other side.
8. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.
9. Brush hot naan liberally with butter. Serve.

Linking to Bread Bakers.

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. 
This month, the Bread Bakers are baking flat breads with yeast or starter. Our host is Sonia from the blog Sonlicious. Sonia's blog has a collection of great recipes. 

Here are some flat breads baked by the talented members of the group.

  

·         Bacon and Leek Flamiche from Food Lust People Love

·         Chole Kulche Delhi Style from The Mad Scientist's Kitchen

·         Creamy Garlic Flatbread Pizza from A Day in the Life on the Farm

·         Detroit-Style Pepperoni Pizza from Karen's Kitchen Stories

·         Foccacia Bread from Cook with Renu

·         Gözleme from All That's Left are The Crumbs

·         Manakish Za’atar from Herbivore Cucina

·         Methi Naan from Mayuri's Jikoni

·         Naan from Ambrosia

·         Nángbĭng from A Shaggy Dough Story

·         Paneer Kulcha - Indian Flat Bread from Sonlicious

·         Quick Beer Crust Pizza from Cook’s Hideout

·        Sourdough Flatbread from Sneha's Recipe

·        Tajik Non from The Schizo Chef

·         Yemeni Malooga Bread from Gayathri's Cook Spot