Naan Bread

For those of you who have never heard of naan bread it is a flat bread commonly served in Indian restaurants. Very yummy! I found this recipe HERE and decided to try making it at home. What I did not realize, all those times I've had it at Indian restaurants, is that it's a yeast bread. That made me a little hesitant to try making it but since it IS a flat bread it seemed like a less risky recipe for cooking with yeast for the first time in I think 12 or more years. After all, if I accidentally kill the yeast and it doesn't rise, who will notice - it's a FLAT bread! All worries aside, the dough rose beautifully and the bread tasted wonderful!

1/4 cup butter or 3 Tbsp ghee
1/3 cup warm milk, 100 to 110 degrees F
2 tsp sugar
1 pkg active dry yeast
6 oz plain yogurt
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups all purpose flour

If using butter, it will need to be clarified. To clarify the butter, melt over low heat without stirring.

Once it is melted, drain off the clear (clarified) butter, leaving the foamy looking part in the pan. This will yield about three Tbsp. Set the clarified butter aside and dispose of the foamy butter. When warming the milk you want to make sure you do not overheat it. If it is too hot it will kill the yeast and your dough will not rise. If it's too cold it will take longer to rise. If you do not have a cooking thermometer a good rule to go by is to test a drop on the inside of your wrist. If it feels hot on your wrist you want to let it cool down, it should feel lukewarm. Once your milk is warmed to the right temperature in a medium bowl combine the milk, sugar and yeast. Let stand for five minutes or until foamy. (If it does not foam the yeast did not activate, either the milk was too hot or something was wrong with the yeast.)

Once it is nice and foamy add yogurt, clarified butter or ghee, salt and baking powder. Stir in the flour till dough forms a ball. On floured surface knead dough for five minutes or until dough is smooth, sprinkling additional flour if dough begins to stick to your hands or the surface it's on. Place dough into grease bowl and cover with clean cloth.

Allow dough to rise for one hour or until doubled in size. Divide dough into eight equal portions.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 20 minutes. Determine how many six-inch flat-breads will fit on your baking stone (I used my pizza stone, it held four). Place baking stone on lowest rack of oven. Preheat oven to 475 degrees, 450 for RV ovens.

On lightly floured surface roll out balls of dough and place on heated baking stone. Only roll out the number that will fit on the stone, leaving the remainder under the plastic.

Bake for two to three minutes or until brown. Turn circles over and continue baking one to two minutes or until brown and slightly puffed. Remove from oven and wrap in foil to keep warm. Repeat with remaining dough.

Serve warm and enjoy!

The leftover naan bread is a great crust for breakfast pizzas:

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Food on Friday, Bread Recipes - Carole's Chatter