Homemade Naan

Ah, naan. So scrumptious, and perfect for sopping up creamy Indian food goodness. It also makes a pretty good personal pizza if I do say so myself! I've made this recipe a number of times, and it's way easier then you would think! There's very little kneading, so no need for a stand mixture, and only one rise at 45 minutes!

There are a few things I've learned over time with this recipe:

-I've found that the naan cooks better when using a cast iron skillet. I used non-stick when I made this in China, and far prefer the cast iron. If you don't have one...get one. Not only do they cook food beautifully, they're good for your health too! I use cast iron about 90% of the time in my cooking.

-When rolling out the dough, roll it thinner than you would think! The thinner it is the more bubbly it gets, and trust me, that's a very good thing (fun to watch too)!

-Make sure your pan is hot before putting the first one on, otherwise it won't bubble as well as it should. When this happens, the first one turns out okay, but the second is perfect. The pan should sizzle and crack when you splash a little water on it.

-Keep your towel over the individual balls of dough while cooking one. This will keep in the moisture, and they'll be easier to shape into balls when the time comes.

So there you have it. Not too bad, right? Trust me, once you make naan yourself, you'll never want to buy the stuff in the store again! Next time, I'm going to give garlic naan a try. If I'm successful, it could be dangerous!

Homemade Naan

Ingredients

2 teaspoons instant yeast 

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup water

2 1/2-3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup olive oil 

1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 large egg

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the yeast, sugar and water. Stir to dissolve then let sit for a few minutes or until it is frothy on top. At that point, stir in the oil, yogurt and egg until evenly combined.

In a medium sized bowl, combine 1 cup of the flour with the salt. Next, add the bowl of wet ingredients to the flour/salt mixture and stir until well combined. Continue adding flour a half cup at a time until you can no longer stir it with a spoon (about 1 to 1.5 cups later).

At that point, turn the ball of dough out onto a well floured counter top. Knead the ball of dough for about 3 minutes, adding flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking. I ended up using a little less then 3 cups of flour total. The dough should be smooth and very soft but not sticky.

Loosely cover the dough with a tea towel in a warm (cozy!) spot and let it rise until double in size (about 45 minutes). After it rises, gently flatten the dough and cut it into 8 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a small ball by stretching the dough back under itself until the top is smooth and round. Leave the towel over the dough until ready to use.

Heat a large, heavy bottomed skillet (cast iron baby!) over medium heat and spray lightly with non-stick spray. Working with one ball at a time, roll it out until it is about 1/8-1/4 inch thick or approximately 7 inches in diameter. Place the rolled out dough onto the hot skillet and cook until the under side is golden brown and large bubbles have formed on the surface. The bigger the bubbles, the better. Flip the dough and cook the other side until golden brown as well. Brush with melted butter, and serve.

Recipe Source: adapted from Budget Bytes