Naan Bread - A MUCH Better Recipe

A few years ago, I posted a naan bread recipe. It was okay. Just okay.

I have a new recipe for naan that will make (in my opinion) naans that are as good as the naan bread on offer in the local curry house. You can make them fairly easily without the trouble and expense of getting a tandoor installed.

This recipe makes about six naan bread.
You will need:

1 sachet active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup white sugar3 tablespoons milk
1 beaten egg
2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2 cups flour
melted butter for brushing on the just cooked naan (very optional)

A flat skillet or griddle with a handle.

Dissolve the yeast in the cup of warm water in a measuring jug, add the 1/4 cup of sugar and stir. Let this sit until the yeast starts to go all frothy. Add in the milk, beaten egg and salt.
Put two cups of the flour in a large mixing bowl and add in the measuring jug of wet ingredients. Stir it until it is a smooth goo. Stir in the remaining flour until you have a nice dough. Scrape the dough out onto a clean floured surface and knead it until it is smooth. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with cling film or a clean kitchen towel and leave to rise. Depending on the temperature of the kitchen this can take as little as an hour or much longer. If you are making this dough ahead of time, cover in cling film so that the dough doesn't start to develop a dry skin. In the winter my kitchen is cold. I turn on the oven before I start making the dough and turn it off after kneading. I then open the oven and place the bowl with dough in the warm but-not-hot-enough-to-cook oven.

After the dough is risen and you are ready to cook the naan, divide the dough into what I can only describe as small handfuls of dough and on a surface that has been dusted with flour roll the dough portions into a smooth ball and roll them out until they are just about 1/4 of an inch thick. I never actually measured the thickness of the dough 1/4 inch is a guess. You don't want it as thin as a pie crust. Think American pancake or British drop scone thickness.
This is my griddle.

Heat a skillet or griddle and your oven's grill or broiler up and one by one place the rolled out dough on a skillet. Leave it to cook until you see small bubbles forming on the surface. Then WITHOUT TURNING the dough over, stick the whole thing, skillet and all under the grill/broiler. Naturally you have common sense and will leave the handle of the skillet or griddle sticking out and away from the grill/broiler element so that you can remove it when the naan is finished. DO NOT WALK AWAY from the bread at this point. You will have to watch it as it cooks very quickly. The bread will puff up. If the puffed bread touches the grill/broiler element, it will burn and you'll have to move the rack down a notch for the next one. When the bread is done on the top, it will be done on the bottom.

Tip the naan off onto a dish and put the skillet/griddle back on the flame to to do the next one. Brush with melted butter at this point if you want. Do this one by one until all the dough has been cooked into naan bread.

I make these just before I serve a curry so that they're still warm when we sit down to eat.

Brioche!!

I wanted to get this recipe in while my house still smells like a patisserie.This recipe is not for the beginner or the cook who likes a short cut. You have to begin the night before as the dough requires refrigeration overnight. It also takes one entire 250 gram block of unsalted butter. Don't even try to make a light version of this as you really are kidding yourself if you think there is a diet version of this exquisite bread.As I like the process of making food, this recipe pushed all my buttons.

The butter isn't mixed in until the dough has already been made. It will be a major pain in the neck, you'll have to have a good sized working space that is scrupulously clean, but this method results in fabulous brioche that you would not be ashamed to present to the snobbiest of food snobs. I have a lightweight electric beater and I know the old motor would go so I do this by hand. You can always TRY using that expensive mixer that you have gathering stylish dust in the corner or your kitchen. I don't have one so you'll have to let me know if it works.

This recipe makes two loaves

400 grams white flour
50 ml milk1 packet of dry yeast
4 large egg PLUS three yolks50 grams sugar
1 teaspoon salt
250 grams unsalted butter

The night (or even day) before you need to bake the dough:Pour milk into a glass measuring jug and heat it in the microwave until it is boiling. Remove milk from microwave and set aside to cool for a few minutes (you may need to top it up with more milk so that you have exactly 50 ml). When it is no longer scalding hot, stir the yeast into the milk.

Measure out 400 grams of flour. Steal two tablespoons of flour from the bowl and add it into the milk and yeast mixture and stir until it is a smooth paste. Cover the measuring jug with a small plate and let it prove for 30 minutes.
Cut the 250 gram block of butter into cubes. I separated the cubes onto a dinner plate so that they'd soften better. As it is still cold in the kitchen I will confess to popping the plate with the butter cubes into the microwave for 10 seconds. This softened but not melted the butter. I could pick up the butter cubes very gently.

Once that has started to get active, beat the eggs, yolks, sugar and salt together in a mixing bowl, and add in the yeast milk paste. I used my electric hand mixer for this to get it blended nicely. Add in the rest of the flour and stir it until a rough dough has formed. Then cover the bowl and leave it alone for another 30 minutes. That's right, don't knead it. It's too sticky anyway.

Before you start the next step is recommended that you fill the sink or washing up bowl with warm soapy water. You'll be so glad you did this in a few minutes.

Now for the messy part. Have a scraper or rubber spatula handy. Scrape the sticky dough out onto your clean (NO flour) work surface. You are now going to blend the butter into the dough. Start working the butter piece by piece into the dough with your hands. Stretch it out and flop the dough back on itself adding in a cube of butter from time to time. You'll have to use the scraper to keep all the dough in the one area unless you're a very tidy person. Stretching the dough back and forth until all the butter has been mashed into the dough. When there are no more lumps, scrape the dough back into a bowl and go wash your hands. Now cover the bowl with cling film and place it in the refrigerator. The dough can be refrigerated for up to two days before baking.

Baking:
Butter two loaf tins. Divide the dough into two and shape each half into a cylinder. OR if you prefer, roll it into a ball and put the ball on a buttered baking tray. It's your call. I did one ball and one loaf. I floured the work surface VERY lightly to get the dough into the shapes I wanted. Once in the tin (or baking tray) cover with a clean cloth and set somewhere to rise for a couple of hours or until doubled in height. Heat the oven to 220 C - brush the top with beaten egg and bake for 15 minutes. I garnished mine with sugar crystals. Reduce the heat to 180 C and continue baking for 20 more minutes or until your loaves have the wonderful golden brown of a real brioche.
Remove from the tin or baking tray and place on a cooling rack. How long will you wait until you slice into it? I could only wait 10 minutes.Congratulations! You've just made brioche! Doesn't it smell great?! It tastes even better!!

Cinnamon Rolls

There is nothing more comforting on a cold winter morning than a still-warm pan of cinnamon rolls with extra icing melting between the layers.

4 to 4 1/2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour
1 packet of dried yeast
1 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
- - -
3 tablespoons of melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
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optional loveliness
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped pecans

1. In your large mixing bowl combine 2 cups of the flour and the packet of yeast; set aside. In a small saucepan warm the milk, along with the 1/3 cup sugar and the 1/3 cup butter until the butter is almost melted. -(It is not a crime if the butter melts completely) Add this warmed milk mixture along with the eggs to the flour mixture and beat with an electric mixer until it is smooth. Stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

2. Turn the dough out onto a clean and floured work surface and knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic. Shape the dough into a ball, and put it in a lightly buttered bowl. Turn the dough once or twice to ensure that the dough is lightly buttered as well. Cover and let it rise in a warm spot until it has doubled in size.

Preheat your oven to 375 F or about 220 C.

3. Punch the dough down (when my boys were little somebody always begged to be the one to punch the dough) and turn the dough back out onto your lightly floured kitchen surface. Let it rest a few minutes. While it is resting, grease a baking pan.

4. Roll the dough out into a nice big rectangle on your kitchen work surface. Brush the melted butter onto it and then sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar over the buttered dough. I must confess that at this point, I have never measured the amount of sugar and cinnamon that I sprinkle on. I keep a jar of cinnamon sugar in the kitchen for cinnamon toast and I just sprinkle this on until I think there is plenty on there. Sprinkle raisins and chopped nuts on with the cinnamon and sugar if you want them.

5. Beginning at the long side of your dough, start to roll the dough. In the end you will have a large log of dough with swirls of cinnamon and sugar inside. Don't try to pick the log up or handle it too much. It will start to unroll and just make a mess. Slice the log into 12 equal pieces and place the slices onto your greased baking pan.

Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until the top of the rolls are golden in colour.

You can make some icing by putting in a cup of powdered or icing sugar in a bowl with just enough water to make it spreadable (you just need a few teaspoons). Drizzle this over the still warm rolls and enjoy them!

Dobos Torte

Dobos Torte, Dobos Torta or even Dobos Cake is a Hungarian delight introduced to me by my dear friends while in Budapest earlier this month.

As with all things, I have to try to recreate things in my own kitchen. For a first attempt, I don't think I did all that badly. Naturally the commercial version in the top photo is much prettier than mine but I like to think that my version is much more generous.

Please read the whole recipe through before starting. It isn't a particularly difficult recipe, but it does take a long time. The other thing about this recipe is that it calls for LOTS of sugar and butter. Don't try to "cut back" on any sugar or substitute low fat spread for butter. This is not a cake for dieters. If you're watching your weight or if your making it for somebody who is a calorie counter, make something else. Trying to convert Dobos torte to something healthier is going to waste your time and deny you the true pleasure of this wonderful desert.I found a very good recipe for Dobos torte at Allrecipes.com This seems to be a delightful recipe site geared for cooks at all levels of competence. As this particular recipe deals with melted sugar, you have to have your wits about you. In fact, I don't recommend leaving the kitchen once you've begun until you've finished making this cake. The last layer can be made much later after the rest of the cake has been built. It gives you a chance to get some of the mess cleaned up. I stuck an audio book in the DVD player in the front room and cranked up the volume so it could be heard in the kitchen and had a really nice afternoon's baking.

INGREDIENTS

• 9 egg whites
• 8 egg yolks
• 200 g white sugar
• 60 ml milk
• 6 g lemon zest
• 1 g salt
• 8 ml vanilla extract
• 190 g sifted all-purpose flour
• 60 g shortening
• 200 g white sugar
• 1 recipe chocolate buttercream
  

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Have ready two 10 inch cardboard circles. Generously grease a 9 inch springform pan with soft butter, and dust with flour.

1. Beat the egg whites until frothy, and gradually add 1 cup sugar. Beat just to soft peaks. In another bowl, beat the yolks with the milk, lemon peel, vanilla, and salt. Fold this into the egg whites. Sift the flour over the egg mixture, and fold in.
2. Spread 1 1/3 cups batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 5 to 9 minutes, or until small, brown spots begin to appear on cake. Remove the cake from the oven, and remove layer from pan with a spatula. Dust the cake lightly with flour, and place on a rack to cool. Grease pan again, and repeat this process until all of the batter is used, about 5 times more. Place the layers between wax paper, and cover with a towel. Chill layers for a few hours. Make the Chocolate Buttercream.
3. Layer the chilled layers on one of the cardboard rounds with the buttercream. Start with one layer; cover with the buttercream, and then press down with another layer to make a good seal. Repeat this with the remaining layers, but reserve one layer. Wrap the cake in plastic, and chill for at least 6 hours along with the remaining buttercream. Grease the other cardboard round with the shortening, and place the last layer on it.
4. Place 1 cup sugar into a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Allow sugar to cook until the edges look melted and brown. Begin stirring with a wooden spoon. Cook until the sugar become an amber color, and is smooth. Carefully pour the caramel over the top of the last layer, and spread to the edges with an oiled knife. Quickly, using an oiled knife, indent the top of the caramel into 16 wedges. Allow to cool slightly, and then retouch the indents with the knife again. Place layer onto a counter top dusted with sugar, and allow the caramel to cool completely.
5. Place some more buttercream on top of the chilled torte, and top with the caramel round. Frost the sides with the remaining buttercream. Chill the torte before serving.
   

Chocolate Buttercream

INGREDIENTS

• 336 g bittersweet chocolate
• 455 g unsalted butter
• 1 g salt
• 2 eggs
• 480 g confectioners' sugar
• 5 ml vanilla extract

1. Melt the bittersweet chocolate, and allow to cool slightly.
2. Place the butter or margarine, salt, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Beat with a mixer until very light and airy, about 4 minutes.
   
3. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time while beating on low speed. Mix well, and beat on medium speed for about 4 minutes.
   
4. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat for 5 minutes more.
   
5. Add the melted chocolate, and beat 4 minutes.

My Note: If you add in the ingredients in a different order, it doesn't matter much.
You just have to ensure that it is all blended and fluffy at the end.

The recipe is hard on your electric hand mixer and the kitchen will look as though a bomb hit it (a powdered sugar bomb) but the effort is worth it!

My Notes: I am sure it would be easier if I had lots of baking tins and could bake more than one layer at a time. As the layers you are baking are thin, please keep a sharp eye on them. They bake quickly.

The chocolate buttercream does not handle well when refrigerated. I got all the layers built and the sides iced before I even thought about refrigerating.

If the molten sugar goes over the edge of the top layer, don't panic. You will be able to snap off the overspill and nobody will be any wiser.

Root Beer

As I have used an extract rather than cooking up my own proper recipe, so this is more like instructions for making root beer at home rather than a proper recipe.

One can try boiling down sassafras root and making your own flavoring for root beer but sassafras isn't the only thing that goes into root beer. Wintergreen and possibly dandelion root go in there too. You really have to be a pharmacist to the right mix. In any case, I left the mixing to the experts and used some root beer extract.

Sadly, Hires Root Beer extract form is no longer available. I remember Hires root beer extract being in the cupboard when I was a child. Every once and a while, I'd unscrew the cap a little tiny bit so I could get a sniff. Thanks to my dad's generosity, I used Gnome brand root beer extract. He brought some over during one of his visits. It is as close to good old fashioned root beer taste as I can ever hope to achieve.

Making root beer requires some essential equipment most of which can be picked up at a shop that specializes in home brewing or on-line.

Big 5 gallon bucket
a funnel
enough plastic bottles with screw caps OR
glass bottles and a bottle capper to bottle it all when you're finished

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8 cups of white sugar (more or less to taste)
brewers or champagne yeast
root beer extract
4.5 gallons of water

When making root beer everything must be scrupulously clean. I didn't sterilize anything but I did wash everything that came into contact with the root beer in very hot soapy water, rinsing with hot hot water. Some instructions for making root beer say to sterilize the bottles. That's probably a good idea. I re-used some plastic bottles that wouldn't take the heat of sterilization so I just got them as clean as I could and I added a cap full of bleach to the wash water.

Pour one sachet of the yeast into a measuring jug and add in warm (not hot) water. Stir the yeast and water to dissolve the yeast completely and let it stand for 15 - 20 minutes or so.

In your big bucket, dump all the sugar in and add some warm water. I ensured that all the sugar is dissolved before I had the root beer extract. Add in the root beer extract and stir. Add in the yeast and top up the water level until it reaches 4.5 gallons (just don't go over the 5 gallon mark).

Now start bottling the stuff. When filling bottles (glass or plastic) make sure you leave a bit of head space at the top. Don't fill the bottles to the brim.

Wipe off the bottles and set them somewhere out of the way to cure.

In about 3 days, check the carbonation levels by opening up a bottle. Do this in the sink in case you get a gusher. When the carbonation levels are about right, refrigerate the bottles to stop the yeast.

You now have a lot of root beer to drink. I'm planning to make a batch in the summer for a root beer float picnic party.


There are lots of other root beer recipes on line. I've just given you mine.
Root beer float!

German Chocolate Cake - with Coconut Pecan Icing

This is one of my all time favourite cakes. It has gone out of fashion in the past few decades which is a crying shame.

Should you choose to fire up the oven in your own home, I highly recommend trying this recipe sometime. It's wonderful.

Preheat your oven to 350 F or 180 C

1 1/2 cups plain flour
3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces of sweet baking chocolate (use good chocolate if you have it)
3/4 cups shortening (vegetable fat)
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 buttermilk or sour milk


Grease and flour your baking tins and set aside. I use two 8 x 1 1/2 inch round cake tins.

In a small saucepan melt the chocolate with 1/2 cup water over LOW heat until the chocolate is completely melted and you've got a lovely smooth chocolate sauce. Then set it aside to cool.

In a mixing bowl beat the shortening with an electric mixer until fluffy and then add the sugar and beat some more. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat this until completely smooth and combined. Stir in the chocolate mixture and finally add the buttermilk or sour milk.

Now sift the dry ingredients into the bowl and mix completely until it is smooth and free of lumps.

Divide the batter into your cake tins and place in the centre of your oven to bake for about 35 minutes.

When the cakes are done baking, remove them from the oven and turn the cakes out onto a wire cooling rack. You can frost them with any icing but nothing beats the coconut pecan icing below.

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Coconut Pecan Icing

In a heavy medium sized sauce pan lightly beat one egg with 5 oz of evaporated milk. Stir in 2/3 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup butter. Stirring over a moderate heat, cook the mixture about 12 minutes until it is thick and bubbly. Remove from the heat and stir in 1 1/3 cups dessicated or flaked coconut and 1/2 cup chopped pecans until they are all mixed completely. Cover the pan and cool thoroughly. When it is cool, use this to ice the cake.

Glazed Doughnuts

1 cup scalded milk

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk, beaten

2 envelopes active dry yeast

4 cups sifted flour

Cooking Oil - In the US, blue label Crisco is best. In the UK use Pura or Trex. If you use liquid vegetable oil, the doughnuts will absorb too much oil and be greasy (ick!).

In a large mixing bowl, pour scalded milk over the butter, sugar and salt. Stir until the butter is melted. Cool slightly and add the beaten eggs. Then add the yeast. Let mixture stand for 5 minutes. Blend in the flour a little at a time. Mix into a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead gently for about 2 minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl, turning to coat all sides. Let rise for 1 hour. Punch the dough down and divide in half. On a lightly floured board roll each section to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter. Place on waxed paper. Set in a warm place. Let rise for 30 minutes.

In a deep skillet or fryer heat cooking oil to 375F . Gently slip each doughnut into the oil. Fry for 2 minutes or until golden brown, turning once. Drain on paper towels.

In another mixing bowl, blend 3 cups sifted confectioners or icing sugar, 1/8 cup warm water and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. Stir the glaze until all lumps are gone. If the glaze is too thick, carefully add more water - drop by drop. If it is too thin, add more icing sugar.

I find that if you place a cooling rack over an empty bowl then dip the doughnuts in the glaze and let them drain on the cooling rack, letting the empty bowl catch the drips, you get much better glaze coverage.

My youngest boy suggests rolling the doughnuts in granulated sugar instead of glazing them is much easier. It is. You can also try adding a bit of cinnamon to the granulated sugar before rolling the doughnuts in it. Yum!