I Can Naan

This month the Bread Baking Babes are baking naan, an Indian flatbread that is quick and easy. Lynn of Cookie Baker Lynn is the hostess kitchen this month. Her post is full of naan-sense puns and also the recipes.


One of the advantages of naan is that is is ready to eat so quickly...well quickly for a yeasted bread anyway. I started it this morning and Sweetie and I enjoyed it with our lunchtime spinach soup.

I made the curry and golden raisin version, except I left out the curry and added the caraway seeds from the plain version. Those flavors went really well with the soup. I'm not a curry kinda girl, even a small amount, so this also allowed me to get enthused about making these yummy breads. The outer texture was slightly crusty, with nice browned parts. Inside the bread was puffy and soft and moist with soft golden raisins and the occasional caraway seed.

When making the dough I needed to add more water than in the recipe, but I added the dry yeast without proofing, so that's where the need for extra moisture came from I believe. Usually I have my stand mixer do kneading, but I did it by hand for this and really enjoyed the contemplative aspect of kneading.

Thank you Lynn for choosing this wonderful bread! There is so much of Indian food that I find too spicy or too curry, but this kind of Indian food is easy to make and easy to enjoy.
I'm sending this over to Susan at Wild Yeast for the weekly Yeastspotting round up. If you haven't visited her blog lately do head over. She has lots and lots of wonderful bread ideas for you.

Here is the recipe as I made it:

Naan Bread
from Paul Hollywood's 100 Great Breads - makes 6 naan

scant 4 cups white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
1-1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp olive oil, plus extra for frying
instant or dry yeast - about 1-3/4 tsp active dry yeast
1-1/4 cups water (I added another ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons)
generous 1/2 cup golden raisins
1 teaspoon caraway seeds

1- Put the flour, salt, oil, curry powder, yeast, and water into a bowl and mix together for 2 minutes. Tip out onto a lightly floured counter and knead for 5 minutes, or until the dough is soft and pliable. Let rise for 30 minutes.

2- Line a baking sheet. Incorporate the golden raisins and chutney into the dough. Divide the dough into six pieces, then put on the baking sheet and let rest for 1 hour.

3- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and, using a rolling pin, flatten each piece into a circle, 25.5 cm / 10 inches in diameter. Put back on the sheet and let rest for 5 minutes.

4- Heat a skillet to medium heat and add a splash of olive oil. Shallow-fry each dough until browned on both sides, then set aside to cool slightly before serving.