Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, my first naan!
The first time I ever heard the word naan I thought of the song “Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye”. I had never tasted naan until Christmas last year. We were in Austin celebrating Christmas and awaiting the birth of our grandson. We did a lot of cooking while there for the week, but one night everyone wanted to go for Indian food.
Our kids have been trying to get us to try Indian food for years and we have always said, “we don’t like curry”. So, being Christmas and all, we gave in and went to the Clay Pit that night. We knew right away upon entering that we were going to like it. The aroma was unbelievable.
We had three kinds of naan that night. I don’t remember what they were or what we dipped in them but they were wonderful. I do remember having a coconut dish for my entree that was really good.
So this week I have decided to make Naan to go along with that, my fabulous White Bean Hummus which I like better than traditional hummus. I’ll be posting that recipe soon.
There’s a story behind why I don’t like chickpeas in hummus. When my husband and I first got married, we went out to eat on our honeymoon and there was a very large salad bar. Coming from a very small town in Missouri, we had never seen a salad bar. Anyway, we were filling our plates and what I thought was croutons were chick peas. So I piled them high on my salad. Insted of biting into something nice and crunchy I bite into the soft chick peas. I have never liked them since. Kind of makes my stomach flip just thinking about those little chick peas rolling all over my salad. So when I started making hummus, I made it with great northern or navy beans.
The mixing is pretty quick for the naan. Then you are going to knead it for about 10 minutes. Just flatten, fold over, push, flatten, fold over until you have a nice smooth piece of dough. Make it into a ball and put in oiled bowl.
After it has risen in the bowl you will make 9 balls and put on waxed paper or parchment to rest about 5 minutes.
This recipe calls to bake the naan in the oven. My first batch was grilled outside on a cast iron gridde and we got them too brown. So for this batch, I cooked them on a griddle. Also I may try using it as a pizza crust for individual pizzas.
Garlic and Oregano Naan
Ingredients
- 2 c. plain flour
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. dry yeast
- 2 tsp. sugar
- 3 cloves garlic chopped fine
- 5 oz. warm milk
- 2-3 tsp. dried oregano
- 2 Tbsp. oil plus more for oiling bowl
- 5 oz. Fage Greek Yogurt
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 1/2 stick butter
- 2 cloves finely minced garlic
Instructions
Sift the flour, salt, baking powder, yeast and sugar in a bowl and and pour in the warm milk, oil, yogurt, chopped garlic, and the beaten egg. Mix all together to form a ball of dough.
Place the dough on a clean surface and knead for about 10 minutes until it is smooth and satiny.
Pour about 1/4 tsp. oil into a large bowl and roll the ball of dough in it.
Cover the bowl with a piece of plastic wrap and set aside for about an hour until it has doubled in size. I put mine in my convection oven with the “proofing” cycle on.
Preheat your oven to 450°. Put your heaviest baking tray in the oven to heat.
Punch down the dough and knead it a few times and divide into 9 balls. Let rest about 5 minutes.
While working on 1 ball, keep the remaining balls covered. Flatten the ball using your hands or rolling pin into a 4″ x 7-8″ length. You may need to rub flour on your rolling pin and on the surface you are rolling out on. Brush top with melted garlic butter and sprinkle with the dried oregano. I mixed my garlic and oregano in the dough and then brushed with plain butter.
Remove the hot baking tray from the oven and grease it well with melted butter or oil. Place the naan on the baking tray and brush the naan with some of the melted butter. Put it into the oven on top rack for 2-3 minutes. It should puff up. Turn over and bake a few more minutes on the other side. You can get about 4 naan on a half sheet pan. Or, you can grill these on a griddle. If you don’t want them very brown just don’t bake as long.
5 Comments
Viviane Bauquet Farre / food & style
September 23, 2009 at 6:46 amHave you tried baking the naans on a stone, in the oven?
I adore naans too and you’ve inspired me to try making some… If you ever come to NYC try Tabla they make them right in front of you at the bread bar! It’s unbelievable. http://www.tablany.com/
Viviane
La_Bella_Luna
April 8, 2010 at 9:14 pmLOL….I love it! you went into a naan bread feeding frenzy! I can’t blame you I do too. I’m from Perryville Missouri (southeast Missouri just north of Cape Girardeau) what part of MO are you from?
Sherry
April 9, 2010 at 5:49 amMy husband and I both are from Caruthersville (high school sweeties still going after 40 years :)) We live in Texas now (for the last 20 years) — Sherry (aka rosemaryandthegoat)
Sherry
June 10, 2010 at 8:15 pmLived in Caruthersville growing up but now in Texas.
White Bean Hummus – Rosemary and the Goat
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