Yeasty Indian style naan flatbread stuffed with green garlic, the foodie harbinger of Spring, easily made at home.
Garlic Naan Bread
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
This month for #BreadBakers the topic is on flat breads made with yeast or starter. I decided on garlic naan then almost missed out since I forget to add my title to the group since I have been having a few bad days with sciatica.
I was excited to make it since being Spring, I have lots of access to the types of green garlic (chives or scapes) used in this. Normally I might have to settle for parsley blended with regular chives to add more color and additional garlic instead. But I love the early scapes, which are the garlic version of green onions, with the chive part growing out of the top of the garlic, ending in a flower bud similar to chive blossoms or allium flowers.
Naan is excellent as a flat bread. The first kind I encountered, besides pita bread, was the Persian nan-e-taftoon which is really sort of a thicker lavash (but those get very thin). In many cultures, bread like this predates the use of forks and spoons to scoop up food, especially still in African nations where chapati is eaten widely (which is more like tortillas) and also injera, which is very spongy, like a thick pancake.
As part of menu planning, breads can be eaten instead of rice, but to be truthful, I have never seen a Persian dinner table without rice on it.
In India, naan is often made in a tandoor, which is a stand alone oven that can reach in excess of 750°F, which is marvelous for quickly baking bread, where the dough is slapped against the side of the oven. Imagine the difference in quality- which is like the difference in home pizza versus wood-fired, or coal-fired pizza with the wonderful crust.
While most homes don’t have anything like that, we can settle for putting our pizza stones on the bottom rack and cranking up the oven heat. I’ve also heard tips of putting the dough in the panini machine (although the temp on that is not very high), and you could also try putting the naan on the grill for very high heat although it is very easy to burn that way, so be careful.
Some of the things I like serving with naan are saucy curries (I made some chicken korma to go with this one). I also like making tandoori chicken on the grill in summer, and then I love having a big bowl of raita, which is sort of the Indian version of tzatziki sauce with cukes and yogurt. I am also partial to smearing some chutney on it the way I might dip a little salsa onto a tortilla. My favorite chutneys are tomato chutney and coconut chutney. Sambar, which is a bit of vegetable soup, is also good for dipping, although I usually have that with dosa. You can also make pizza on naan very easily as it is nice and sturdy. I keep hoping I’ll find time to post my fav version of Indian pizza that I do at home.
It keeps being pushed offshore. You know what they say: so many recipes, so little time.
Don’t forget to scroll past the recipe print for the recipe linkup. We have several kinds of naan as well as some others I am chomping at the bit to look at. #BreadBakers has such a great group of bloggers who just love baking day and night. We are baking obsessed.
~s
Garlic Naan Bread
Special Equipment: baking stone or pizza stone
Ingredients:
- 1 (1/4 ounce) package dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 3/4 cup warm water, divided
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup plain thick yogurt, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1/2 cup chopped garlic chives, garlic scapes or green garlic (flower buds removed if necessary)
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
Method:
- In a small bowl, stir together the yeast and sugar with 1/2 cup warm (115°F) water and let rest until foamy.
- Add flour, baking soda, salt, olive oil, yogurt, yeast mixture and the remaining 1/2 cup warm water to an electric mixer and running with the dough hook until the dough becomes a smooth ball, adding a little water or flour to adjust if necessary.
- Turn out dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise 2-3 hours or until doubled.
- Preheat oven to 450°F. with baking stone set on the lowest rack.
- Turn dough out onto silpat or a lightly floured surface, pat down, and knead chopped garlic into dough.
- Cut dough into twelve pieces and roll dough into a ball, then roll out thinly.
- Sprinkle some green garlic pieces onto the top of the dough then run a rolling pin across to press it in.
- Drop rounds of dough onto heated baking stone and bake on each side until golden brown, 4-5 minutes.
- After baking, lightly brush tops of naan with melted butter.
From the kitchen of palatablepastime.com
Flat Breads with Yeast or Starter
- Amritsari Paneer Kulcha – Indian Flat Bread from Sonlicious
- Bacon Leek Flamiche from Food Lust People Love
- Chole Kulche Delhi Style from The Mad Scientist’s Kitchen
- Creamy Garlic Flatbread Pizza from A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Detroit-Style Pepperoni Pizza from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Foccacia Bread from Cook with Renu
- Garlic Naan Bread from Palatable Pastime
- Manakish Za’atar from Herbivore Cucina
- Methi Naan from Mayuri’s Jikoni
- Naan from Ambrosia
- Quick Beer Crust Pizza from Cook’s Hideout
- Sourdough Flatbread from Sneha’s Recipe
- Yemeni Malooga Bread from Gayathri’s Cook Spot
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme.
We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.
Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.
Sue, these sound so good. I’ve pinned this to my special “must make” board.
I’m glad you were able to join us Sue. Hope you are feeling better soon. Sciatica is a real pain in the behind!!!