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
-----
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!