What can be said about naan bread? Yes I am fully aware that naan / nān is the Persian word for bread, so its like saying 'Bread Bread' - akin to Pin Number or Chai Tea but there we are... What I can say, is that I LOVE it! Its so easy to prepare and makes areal statement, your guests will be so impressed with homemade bread, I mean naan!
The ones in the photo are finished with butter and nigella seeds but you can add almost anything, either to the dough or as a topping or even as a filling - I must get round to experimenting... Naan is the perfect accompaniment to any Indian dishes and brilliant to wipe your plate clean or to load up with curry or dal and shove in your face!
When I think of naan, memories of curry nights with my uncle and garlic naan come flooding back and make me smile!
Ingredients. Makes 6 small naan
250g Plain White Flour
1tbsp Nut Oil
2tbsp Natural Yoghurt
1tsp Sugar
1tsp Salt
7g Dried Yeast
140ml Milk, at room temperature
Butter and Nigella Seeds to finish
Method
1. Sift the flour into a large bowl and make a well in the middle. Add the oil, yoghurt, yeast, salt and sugar and give it a good mix
2. Slowly add the milk, mixing as you go with your hands. It's good to get a little mucky some times...
3. The dough will be quite sticky at this point but keep going, scrape the mixture onto a floured work service, and get kneading, for a good 5 minutes until smooth and not sticky
4. Why were the bakers hands brown? Because he kneaded a poo
5. Put the dough, in a nice neat ball into a clean bowl and coat in a little oil. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and put in the airing cupboard or on top of the Aga, somewhere nice and warm
6. It should take about an hour for the dough to double in size. Remove from the bowl and divide equally into six. Roll each into mini balls then flatten using the palm of your hand or rolling pin
7. Unless you have tandoor oven, set a heavy, wide bottom pan over a medium heat. Add the naan, two at a time, if they fit and leave for about 2 minutes, checking they don't burn, if you are lucky it might start to puff up! Flip them over and cook for another couple of minutes, or until you are happy with the colour
8. When cooked, I brushed mine with butter and added a sprinkling of salt and nigella seeds. You can do as you please...
9. Heaven!
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