Sunday, January 24, 2010

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.

14 comments :

  1. ooh nice! I wish I had added the raisins.

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  2. Wow, that looks good! When you look at how it's made in India, in those special ovens, it makes you think that it can't be done in a conventional oven. We've got a pizza stone, though, so we'll be trying this! Thanks!

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  3. Looking very good, this interior of your naans are really great. Never had spinach soup before... sounds very good too! Thanks for baking with us.

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  4. ADDICTIVE looking. Yum.

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  5. Mmmm , they look great !
    Thanks for baking with us , Buddie.

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  6. I like your choice - I'm not a huge curry fan, but I think the raisins are terrific. Well done!

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  7. Indian or not, this truly is perfect for soup.
    The raisins are so fabulous in this aren't they?
    Love the looks of that soup too!

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  8. That looks so very yummy. I'm reading through all the Baking Buddy entries and it's making me hungry!

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  9. Oh, when I read your post I remembered what I wanted to mention in my post: that I needed to add way more water because the dough was so stiff. I used fresh yeast, so I don't think it had anything to do with the yeast. Anyways, will add that in my post. Enjoyed your post.

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  10. Elle lovely choice in flavors! Thanks for joining us this month

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  11. Great looking naan! Perfect with soup.
    Thanks so much for baking with us this month!

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  12. Nicely puffy naan.

    Spinach soup sounds intriguing.

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  13. I am so, so impressed that you made Naan! Superb effort! i've only ever seen them made in a Tandoor (Clay oven) and never thought you could do it without! Just Superb!

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  14. I love naan so very much. It has the best texture! Yours looks spot on.

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