Naan

With summer here- and a half acre garden...well, I have seem to have gotten a bit too busy to keep up on the blog.  I feel a bit caught up in the garden for a while and am back!

Even though my family is primarily GF.  We do from time to time make a traditional flour bread.  This is the only bread we make.  If you are not familiar with Naan- it is an Indian flat bread.  Traditionally it is cooked in a Tandoor (clay oven) but I find cast iron works best for me....that- and I break the clay ovens I make too easily:)

What you need:

1T yeast
2 cups warm water
1/2 cup sugar
(mix above 3 ingredients and let rest for about 10 minutes to proof the yeast)

In a separate bowl-
2 eggs
6T milk
2t salt

In a large bowl-
8 cups flour

After the 10 minutes is up- combine the liquids and fold into the bowl holding 8 cups of flour.  Mix until it becomes a cohesive dough and kneed for 2 minutes on a lightly floured surface.  If the dough is sticky- lightly add a bit more flour to the kneading surface.  Once it no longer sticks- I stop kneading.
Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a damp/wet tea towel
Allow to rise in a warm location until it doubles in size- usually about 2 hours.

After it has risen, punch down and roll into balls about the size of racqueteball. If I am planning on using this for a savory dinner, I will add a few cloves of minced garlic at this point and fold in the dough 2 or 3 times then roll out the balls. We alter the size according to what we want to use the Naan for.  Place the dough on oiled trays and cover with a damp tea towel and allow to rise for 30 minutes.

Flour your surface and begin rolling the dough out until 1/4" thickness.  You will soon figure out how thick or thin you prefer by tasting the end result.  I roll mine thinner if I need them for tacos.

Place the rolled dough on a cast iron griddle with medium/med high heat.  You can use the oven at 350* and watch until they expand like a large bubble and turn a bit brown.
Cook until bubbles appear then flip.  Some times I give the turned cooked side a swipe with melted butter and sprinkle a bit more salt on it.