Sunday, March 17, 2013

Whole Wheat Naan

I wanted naan to go with the Dal Indian Stew/Black Lentil Stew I was making. Since I am on a whole food plant based diet, I wanted a recipe that didn't use white flour or refined sugar. I found this recipe from www.cheekykitchen.com. They turned out fantastic, and really pretty thanks to the griddle pan that I have. I have decided that naan is to be a regular staple in my diet. A double batch should be sufficient for one batch of the stew.

Ingredients:
  • 2.5 tsp of yeast (yeast does not need to be doubled if the recipe is doubled)
  • 1.5 cups warm water
  • 1.5-2 tbs maple syrup (I used about 2 tbs in a double batch)
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
Directions:
Mix the first three ingredients in a large bowl and let sit for about 5 minutes. Add the salt and the flour. Stir until combined. Add more flour if necessary and lightly knead until a ball forms. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (30 minutes to an hour). Once the dough has risen, deflate and form the dough into dough the size of one or two golf balls (I used larger size dough balls to fit my larger griddle pan). Flour your surface if necessary and roll the balls with a rolling pin until about 1/4 of an inch thick- mine looked like rectangles with rounded edges. If you can get them thinner than that, I think that would be good too. The naan I have had in Indian restaurants is usually pretty thin. Heat a non-stick pan to medium or medium high heat and place the sheet of dough on the pan. The dough will begin to bubble. Flip over with a spatula or tongs after about a minute and cook for a minute more (I had a better time with the spatula, mine wanted to tear with the tongs). There should be some nice grill marks if you used a griddle pan or some dark spots if you used a regular pan. Do not squish the bread while it is cooking. Serve with Indian food or hummus. I thought about using these to make naan pizza or paninis as well.

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