Naan Bread and Pizza!
I found a Naan bread recipe on Allrecipes.com but ended up changing a bunch of it around, partially because the measurements were crazy wrong and partially because there was too much fat being used.
I love Naan, Mom and I have been buying premade naan and using them for mini pizzas and I thought my goodness how hard can it be? We the answer to that is not hard but rather time consuming, so here is my altered recipe. I have also included a link to the original recipe if you want to give their version a try.
Naan
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/naan/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=naan%20bread&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e13=A%3aSearch%20Results-List%28control%29&e7=Home%20Page
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast or 2.5 teaspoons of bread machine yeast.
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons salt
2 3/4- 3 cups bread flour + ~1/4 cup extra for kneading
2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional)
Olive oil
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 5 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in volume.
Punch down dough, and knead in garlic.** Pinch off handfuls of dough about the size of a base ball.*** Roll into balls, and place on a tray lined with plastic wrap.* Cover with more plastic wrap, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
*Another option is instead of hand shaping take the dough and put it on a silicone or plastic mat and cut it to size with a pastry knife before second rise.
**Adding the garlic before the second rise, if using garlic is a must. If you added earlier it can actually inhibit the yeast from working as well and you dough will not rise as much.
***For more naan make the balls smaller but if you want to make these more like the size you get in a restaurant the larger ball is closer to what you will want. I did mine a touch smaller, tennis ball size, and they were all a touch too small for what I really wanted.
During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat. Or for oven baking take a pizza stone or other stoneware pan and place in a oven and preheat to 400°.
At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle or rectangle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with oil, turn over and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.
For oven method remove preheated stone pan and lightly brush with oil. Do a light coating of oil on your hands and place balls of naan dough and spread out into a 6-8" patties or larger if you want a thinner piece. Bake for about 3-4 minutes then flip and cook for another 3-4 minutes. This version does not get as dark as the grilled version but it does cook thoroughly.
The grill method was MUCH harder to get a nicely shaped piece of naan bread as you really could not shape it until it was in the pan and the heat oil etc, could be dangerous. Using the oven method gave me more time to shape the bread as I wished and was less hazardous. It may not have baked as dark as traditional naan but it tasted the same and was also faster.
To use for pizzas just pick you favorite toppings, sauce etc and put on the naan bread and bake or use a toaster oven until the cheese is melted. I tend to not really use sauce or just a tiny bit spread over it with lots of veggies like shredded brussel sprouts, chopped broccoli, mushrooms, onions, caramelized onions are tasty too, sun-dried tomatoes, you can use any kind of cheeses, we have used goat cheese as well as the more traditional Italian pizza cheese, I also did a Gouda pizza with mushrooms sun dried tomatoes and fresh tomatoes.
I love Naan, Mom and I have been buying premade naan and using them for mini pizzas and I thought my goodness how hard can it be? We the answer to that is not hard but rather time consuming, so here is my altered recipe. I have also included a link to the original recipe if you want to give their version a try.
Naan
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast or 2.5 teaspoons of bread machine yeast.
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons salt
2 3/4- 3 cups bread flour + ~1/4 cup extra for kneading
2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional)
Olive oil
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 5 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in volume.
Punch down dough, and knead in garlic.** Pinch off handfuls of dough about the size of a base ball.*** Roll into balls, and place on a tray lined with plastic wrap.* Cover with more plastic wrap, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
*Another option is instead of hand shaping take the dough and put it on a silicone or plastic mat and cut it to size with a pastry knife before second rise.
**Adding the garlic before the second rise, if using garlic is a must. If you added earlier it can actually inhibit the yeast from working as well and you dough will not rise as much.
***For more naan make the balls smaller but if you want to make these more like the size you get in a restaurant the larger ball is closer to what you will want. I did mine a touch smaller, tennis ball size, and they were all a touch too small for what I really wanted.
During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat. Or for oven baking take a pizza stone or other stoneware pan and place in a oven and preheat to 400°.
At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle or rectangle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with oil, turn over and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.
For oven method remove preheated stone pan and lightly brush with oil. Do a light coating of oil on your hands and place balls of naan dough and spread out into a 6-8" patties or larger if you want a thinner piece. Bake for about 3-4 minutes then flip and cook for another 3-4 minutes. This version does not get as dark as the grilled version but it does cook thoroughly.
The grill method was MUCH harder to get a nicely shaped piece of naan bread as you really could not shape it until it was in the pan and the heat oil etc, could be dangerous. Using the oven method gave me more time to shape the bread as I wished and was less hazardous. It may not have baked as dark as traditional naan but it tasted the same and was also faster.
To use for pizzas just pick you favorite toppings, sauce etc and put on the naan bread and bake or use a toaster oven until the cheese is melted. I tend to not really use sauce or just a tiny bit spread over it with lots of veggies like shredded brussel sprouts, chopped broccoli, mushrooms, onions, caramelized onions are tasty too, sun-dried tomatoes, you can use any kind of cheeses, we have used goat cheese as well as the more traditional Italian pizza cheese, I also did a Gouda pizza with mushrooms sun dried tomatoes and fresh tomatoes.
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| Tennis ball sized dough balls during second rise |
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| Baked on a pizza stone, lighter color than grilled but easier to shape. |
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| Stack of naan this recipe made 11 pieces.... |
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