Naan for you

There has been a suspicious lack of knitting lately. I'm blaming work for taking up my time and making me drive all over the state.  But I have finished the Ruffles scarf and even wore it yesterday. It's amazingly soft next to the skin and is perfect for the not-so-cold days we've been having. No pictures yet, but soon. I promise.

Instead I wanted to share the recipe for naan I use because it is both delightfully easy and delicious. And I'm chewing on some right now and it sounded like the right thing to do.

It's a bit time consuming, as breads are, due to the rise time. But it's weeknight friendly because it only rises for an hour and a half and you can still eat dinner around 7ish if you start it right when you get home.

My original recipe said to cook them on the grill, and I'm sure you can, but I'm always looking for things I can cook on my electric griddle, and these babies are perfect. You roll them out as flat as you can, then toss them on the hot pan. They puff up as they cook and start to look a bit like pancakes.

And who doesn't like pancakes?

I made plain naan this time, but I usually throw in some garlic when I'm rolling the dough into balls. I'm thinking some compound garlic butter rubbed on them as their cooking would be good, too. Or just allowing diced garlic to sit in melted butter for half an hour before using. I'd suggest using garlic salt, but that's just crazy talk induced by my obsession with the stuff.

I ate my naan last night (and leftovers for lunch - still delish) with chicken and vegetable tikka masala. I coped out here a bit by using a jar of sauce I got at Cost Plus World Market. I added a bit of tomato paste, greek yogurt, and some spices to zip it up a bit and the naan was great to mop up extra sauce.

Naan

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 package)
1 cup very warm, but not hot, water
1/4 cup white sugar, divided
3 Tablespoons milk (or yogurt)
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons salt
4 1/4 cup all purpose flour
minced garlic (optional)
2 Tablespoons butter, melted

Add yeast to warm water and allow to "poof."  Add 1 Tablespoon of the sugar and allow to proof for 5 minutes.  Add remaining sugar, milk, egg and salt.  Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until a soft dough forms. You may only need 4 cups. Knead dough for 6 to 8 minutes until smooth.

Place dough in oiled bowl and cover with damp towel.  Allow to rise in warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in volume.

Punch down dough. Knead in garlic, if desired.  Roll dough into small balls, approximately golf ball sized, or according to desired size of cooked naan.  Cover with damp towel and allow to rise for approximately 30 minutes.

Heat griddle to 350 degrees.  Stretch or roll out dough very thin and place on griddle (thin is subjective, but I like mine very thin because they puff up while cooking).  Brush uncooked side with melted butter.  When cooked side is golden brown, flip and cook.  Brush other side with melted butter, if desired.  Remove when both sides are golden brown.

Keeps well in the fridge in ball stage for up to 4 days.

Enjoy!