Hello friends, and not yet friends,
Welcome back to Mary's Test Kitchen where I've been teasing you with naan for ages without
dropping a dedicated video (the nerve!) so today, I'll do just that. It's an incredibly
simple and easy recipe using just water, flour, yeast and salt. My favourite kind of naan
is puffy and soft, stretchy as you pull it apart, with some browning on the outside so
there are crispy bits as well.
So to make this kind of naan
Start with warm water in your bowl, or in my case my food processor bowl with the dough
attachment on.
Then instant yeast.
And flour. Regular all purpose flour. Sorry, gluten-free flour will not work for this recipe.
Then mix everything together. It looks like I forgot to add salt when I filmed this but
it'll be in the printable recipe which is linked in the description. Just add the salt
after the flour before mixing.
Process for one minute in your food processor.
Or if you're doing this by hand, mix until the dough comes together then knead it for
5 to 10 minutes to develop the gluten a bit.
Then, cover it and let it rise. I let it proof right in the food processor for at least 30
minutes or if you're in no hurry, wait for an hour or until the dough has doubled in
size. That makes the naan come out chewier and nicer.
For even better flavour, you can leave it overnight in the fridge to slowly ferment.
When you're ready, move the dough to your lightly floured work surface and knead it
a bit. This will break up the gas pockets inside produced by the yeast doing it's thing.
Continue kneading to smooth out the dough just a couple minutes.
Shape the dough into a log which will make dividing the dough easier.
How many pieces is really up to you. I'd say eight to ten from one batch to make some good
individual sized servings.
Then knead each piece a couple times before rolling them into balls.
When you have your balls, start with the one you made first shape the dough flat, gently
pulling along the whole piece to stretch out for a rustic look.
This dough also makes great pizzas by the way.
I usually try to make them between a half and a quarter inch thick. Somewhere in between
there.
Not to thin, not too thick.
When you have all your pieces flat, preheat your pan.
I'm using a nonstick grill pan over medium high heat.
To make sure the pan is hot, just drip a couple drops of water on there and if it sizzles
and evaporates right away, you know it's hot enough.
Then you can stick the dough right in the pan.
It will start to puff up in half a minute or so.
Flip it.
Give it another half minute and flip again.
You might get some bubbling in the middle. That's nice because it kind of separates the
naan like a pita. But with a barely proofed dough like this, it doesn't always happen.
I have this habit of pressing down the bubbles. I don't think you have to. It's just fun.
Be really careful though as the bubble might have a hole or two in there and hot steam
might vent when you do this.
Cook a little longer and flip a couple more times just making sure you get the browning
you want.
Place the naan on a clean cloth and cover so the heat and moisture stay in.
As you cook the next pieces, you might find they cook faster so turn the heat down if
you feel like they are charring more than you'd like.
Soon, you'll have a pile of hot, steamy soft naan!
Obviously, I had to have a piece for quality control.
Then, since this it was lunch time, I made a sandwich.
With roasted garlic spread.
Some store bought seasoned pressed tofu. It's similar to smoked tofu in texture but it isn't
smoked. They add soy sauce and other stuff to it.
Fresh roma tomato.
And half of a perfect ripe avocado.
That was one great sandwich. I love me a simple avocado tomato tofu sandwich but that roasted
garlic sauce just takes everything to the next level.
What would you eat with this naan? Perhaps use it to scoop up some of my cheater butter
chicken with no butter and no chicken.
Or spicy bean vindaloo. Spicy heat optional.
Or homemade stranger wings pizza?
Let me know in the comments below.
By the way, you might be wondering, where's the yogurt. Yogurt is sometimes added to naan
to enrich the dough and add a bit of flavour. You can certainly add a couple tablespoons
of plain vegan yogurt to this dough, just add it with the water first. And you'll need
a few tablespoons of extra flour as well.
I hope you liked this recipe. If you did, please give this video a thumbs up and subcribe
if you haven't already for more easy vegan recipes. Plus don't forget to get the full
printable recipe at marystestkitchen.com and if you make this recipe, take a pic and tag
me on instagram! I love seeing these recipes out in the wild, and by that, I mean in your
kitchens. It really makes my day.
For more bread recipes, check out my vegan milk bread which is basically the cake of
bread. It's such a treat.
Also, burger seaon is coming up so you might want to make these flax hamburger buns. Which
are puffy buns with the added goodness of ground flax seed. Sturdy enough to hold up
to the juiciest of burgers.
Speaking of which, you could add one of my mushroom bean burgers in there.
Or for the more adventurous, try making my best vegan burgers which are made of seitan
and are actually juicy. I could go on and on...but I won't.
Thank you so much for watching to the end, my friend. I really appreciate it.
Until next time, bye for now!