Homemade Naan Bread

     I'd like to preface this post by saying that even if you have no idea what naan is, you should still give it a try! It's an Indian flatbread, similar to pita but better, and it's great to have with dinner or just to snack on. I'm not really a huge fan of Indian food, but I've only tried it once, so I don't dislike it either. However, this bread was my favorite part of that meal. It's flat, but somehow fluffy at the same time, and if you make it yourself, you can't beat that kind of freshness. I have to admit that I have attempted to make homemade bread a few times before and have failed miserably. Getting bread to rise a skill that I have yet to master. I should probably start by getting some bread flour and yeast that's actually in code, but the beauty of this recipe is that it's not nearly as temperamental as I have found regular bread to be. You can use regular all-purpose flour, and although you do need yeast, it's not entirely dependent on it rising a lot. If you've never made bread before, naan is a great place to start. Plus, it's super cheap and only takes about an hour and a half (as opposed to about double that for most regular breads.) So try it and I think you'll be surprised by how simple it is.

INGREDIENTS:
1 packet of quick-rise yeast
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a small bowl, stir the sugar and warm, but not hot water into the yeast and let it sit someplace really warm for a couple of minutes to get a little bubbly.
2. Next, mix the oil, egg, and yogurt into the same bowl. Make sure to return it to the warm place after adding cold ingredients. Setting it on the hot stove works well for me.

3. In a larger bowl, mix the salt into 1 cup of the flour. Then add in the bowl of wet ingredients and stir well with a spoon. I love the Kitchen Aid, but this is actually fun to make by hand. At this point, the dough will still be very wet.

4. Now add more flour a little at a time until the dough clumps together and gets too hard to stir very much. I added another 1 1/4 cups, bringing the total to 2 1/4.

5. Form the dough into a ball. It's ok if it's still a little sticky to the touch, but if pieces of it stick to you, then it needs a little more flour. You should be able to work it together so that it looks and feels smooth, but it's better for it to be slightly sticky than to have cracks from too much flour.
6. Working on a floured surface, knead the dough for a just couple of minutes, then re-form it into a ball.
7. Spray a large, clean bowl with Pam, set the dough ball in it, cover it with a dish towel, and put it back in a warm place to rise for about 45 minutes. Try not to peek, it doesn't like to be disturbed while it's working.

8. After 45 minutes, the dough should double in size, but don't worry if it's not quite that much. Move it to a floured surface, and gently pat it down a little, but don't flatten it. Then, take a sharp knife, and cut it into 8 triangular wedges.

9. Take each wedge and roll it into a ball. It's normal for the top to feel dryer and the middle to feel sticker after rising. If you have to add more flour to your hands or your surface, try to use it sparingly at this point.

10. Use your hands to gently flatten each dough ball into a 6-8 inch circle, about 1/4 inch thick. No rolling pin required.

11. Heat up a large frying pan over a medium flame. If you're confident in the nonstick coating of your pan, you don't need to add anything to it. If you're not so confident, spray it with Pam. When it's hot, put  the first batch of dough circles into it and cook for about 3 minutes per side. The side facing up will start to form bubbles, but you just have to check the cooking side every minute or so to know when to flip it. Think of this process as toasting, rather than frying. You want a few spots on each side to get dark, but not too dark before flipping. Time for a visual aid:

They're done when they look like that, but I found that each side of mine had a slightly different pattern than the other side.
12. Finally, melt the butter in the microwave and brush a little bit onto just one side of each piece of naan. Serve it only while it's still fresh and warm and enjoy!

     I just love it when my little experiments actually work! I served these with de-kabobbed kabobs over rice and some fresh veggies with yogurt dip, but I can already tell that in the future I'll be making these in bulk to freeze and eat all the time. It's very addictive stuff!