about the best bread ever? It has long been one of my favorites and why i can no longer go to Indian restaurants even though it is my favorite food :-)
Yours is exceptional tasty looking. Some Sag and I'm all set!
That is sad to hear dabrowny. Is it for health reasons, or you just can''t handle the spice anymore? If you ever come up this way, I will NOT tempt you with our many amazing 'hole in the wall' indian restaurants.
It is up there on my list as well, even cook it at home a lot. I was lucky to have many East Indian/Punjab neighbours in my time who were happy to share recipes and techniques. I even learned to make some of the more popular indian dishes using olive oil in lieu of ghee or butter. Let me know if you are interested in them. Much healthier than when using ghee.
As a Brownman, I grew up on the really hot stuff. It's vindaloo all the way for me. Sadly, diabetes and great wihite bread doesn't work for me anymore when you eat 4 double orders of Naan at the restaurant for lunch while hand slap anyone else reaching for it - with a fork.
As luck would have it, the years I spent in Saudi where many of out employees were Pakistani, I learned to cook ir very well with all of their wives on the weekend. The men thought i I was crazy and they were OK with it as long as i told them I really was crazy. We have a great Pakistani restaurant here called Curry Corner and i recommend the goat but the curry isn't bad either.
Then when I came back to the states and started building refrigerated warehouses like I did in Saudi, I met an Indian guy who a refrigeration engineer who worked for Vilter, a refrigeration manufacturer - a vendor. I learned to cook Indian from his wife. One of things he got me was a naan oven like the one his wife used . I have it out in the garage since I don't use it enough to keep it out. It is a lot of work like a WFO
Before I retired I would treat my Indian friend, to Mexican food on Tuesdays, when I was in town, and he would treat me to Indian food on Wednesday. I miss that and his company. Have to give Mody a call. and see if he wants some hot Mexican, it was hard for him since he was vegan :-) We still make home made paneer for home made Indian food - ithout the huge piles of naan
It all makes sense now. I am sorry to hear that you had to make some sacrifices in eating for health. I guess we all have to do that. I look at it this way, if it wasn't for the changes you had to make, you probably would never have discovered how amazing those whole grains and rye breads really are. Can you still eat Roti? 100% whole wheat?
Just last week, we watched Diners Drive-Ins and Dives and saw the Curry Corner! We made a pact that next year we HAVE to go to it.
Hole in the wall, dive joint in Tempe. Great food. Perfect for Triple D. Wonder how Guy found out about it? Another great place ruined :-) Have to catch it on the rerun this week. We love roti and stuff it with all kinds of stuff. Perfect grill food with a CI griddle hot as snot - same with naan. I did a post on a Mexican flour naan kind of flat bread on the grill not too long ago using a CI skillet.
like a parantha, which I like too, but put stuff in the dough that normally wouldn't be found in roti. I make naan that are 25-50% whole grain too, Nothing like a healthy bread covered in butter for a finish:-)
I nwas taught that naan needs to retard in the fridge for 2 days to be right but I can't ever wait that long.
If your technique involves anything other than a traditional tandoor oven, I am fully impressed. I have long searched for a process that will deliver authentic naan without using a tandoor oven of some sort. Tried sticking to the side of my grill top inner wall, but would never stay stuck during the baking process.
Hi All................. never thought I would get such a reaction...............
Evon Hi, You have written "you really love Naan bread" should that read "I really love Naan bread" because you like it? and the seeds are Nigella seeds.
Dabrownman Hi Sorry to hear of your troubles but hey I'm diabetic too and I eat Naan and other white bread just keep an eye on the blood sugar levels, I know it's a bummer but you have to keep living and have a smile on your face, are you on meds or insulin?
Stuart Boken Correct................
Song of the BakerHi John Well you better believe it NO tandoor, I use an Indian tawa (tava) If your stuck I'll post a photo, slape the dough on that till it bubbles then straight under a HOT gas grill, needs to be pretty close to flames and you need to watch very carefully as they will suddenly puff up and burn, once done brush with butter.
trying to sty off insulin but then loast the battle. So rather than goon insulin lost 60 pounds, walk 4miles miles a day, limit but still eat whole grain foods, eat lots of veg, limit potato and rice and eat lots of fresh fruits. Now I don't take any meds but it isn't all peaches and cream either.Will Probably lose this battle some day too but then i can back on the meds......
I was diagnosed with vasculitis (Wegener's granulomatosis) in 2005 so they pumped me full of steroids 135mg per day plus a load of other meds, 31 pills was my morning dose, and that pushed me into Diabetes as the Weggies attacks the joints exercise is hard to do, they have since put me on Chemo and that at the second attempt seems to be doing the trick my steroids are down to 6mg per day and my other meds have slowly come down and just for fun I have a tumor behind my left eye and scaring on one of my kidneys so any of that could grab me and I'll be off to that bakery up there or maybe down there ........ lol........ I'm impressed with the way you are attacking it brownman and long may it continue.
bringinf on my health poblems with a poor lifestyle and eating habits that eventually led to permanent damage to my health. But there was something that i could do about it to mediate my condition to some degree and I decided that it wasn't too much of a sacrifice to get healthier.
In your case there isn't anything you could do and your health problems aren't the result of poor choices. Hopefully your doctors can sort this all out and keep you far away from the bakery in the sky but I'm guessing whole grain breads will help in that regard too ! Best of luck to you in fighting off your health conditions and Happy Baking.
I have tried this method before and you just don't get the traditional results. It passes as a decent enough naan bread, but if you want to replicate exactly how it is traditionally made, you would need either a tandoor oven, or tava. I have seen some chefs also get good results using a forno oven, but of course, oven is at 800 degrees plus.
Hello tgrayson, I wonder if it would work.................;
I doubt it, its not just the initial heat but the continuous heat on the bottom of the Naan, the heat inside a Tandoor is around 700°F so that gives you an idea of what you are trying to achieve, I'm sure it will cook the Naan but I don't think it will cook it correctly to get that soft & fluffy bread.
There again I don't cook pizza on a pizza stone, my oven came with a steel tray as well as a rack I just turn the tray upside down & turn the oven to it's highest setting and boy does it get hot (Butane) I slide my pizza straight onto the tray and it's done in 5 minutes same with my breads, not tried the Naan in there might just give it a go. I am building a wood fired bread / pizza oven be interesting to see what results I get once that's built.
Why not give it a go yourself and let us know how you get on.
The people using metal plates inside the conventional oven have reported temperatures in that range. They expose the plates to the broiler before dropping the dough on. Obviously there would be a temperature drop on adding the dough, but I don't know how much.
I haven't ever had authentic Naan, so I wouldn't be a good judge to how close the reults would be.
There are going to be very few domestic ovens that can get that hot (700°F) most ovens go to 450 - 480°F
When dough is placed on the wall of a tandoor the top of the bread is cooked by the heat coming off the embers hence the reason why the bread bubbles up and gets slightly chared..
As a refrigeration engineer I worked in dozens of Indian restaurants so saw how they made and cooked many Indian dishes including the breads, I have eaten lots of Naan prior to making my own and I've tried many ways of cooking Naans and apart from a tandoor I find this is the best way of cooking it.
Hmmm, no. The broiler coils are glowing red, indicating a temperature in the 1,000 degree F range. Whatever food you put near them will experience heat far in excess of what the dial of the oven is set for.
I found your last post confusing, so looked back at your posts and you have not asked before, you do say you have cooked naans before so I would have guessed you had a recipe for them but if you would like my recipe here it is ....
Tandoor Naan on a Tawa
350g plain flour (not bread flour) 175 ml lukewarm Milk 2 tbs oil 125 ml plain yoghurt 1 tsp sugar 1 tsp dried yeast or instant yeast ½ tsp salt Butter
To a bowl add yeast, sugar and warm milk mix cover and let stand for 10 / 15 minutes now add yoghurt and mix and then add flour mix a little then add salt (if using instant yeast mix dry ingredients in a bowl then add yogurt) the dough will be sticky if needed add a little flour and kneed for 10 minutes put a tbsp of oil in a bowl and smear around place dough in bowl, using your hand spread the other tbsp of oil over dough, place bowl in a plastic bag. If you need dough within 2 hours place bowl in a warm place, if not place in fridge remember to remove from fridge 1 hour before needed. When needed pull off a piece of dough about the size of a lime using some flour roll into a ball then start to form to the shape you want with your fingers you can use a rolling pin but be gentle you don't want to push the bubbles out of it. Cook in your tandoor or on a tawa then under the grill (broiler). Brush with butter before serving.
Sadly no. I plan to try my faulted system out again by sticking to the side of my grill hood top. I will have to clean it up well and be more careful so it doesn't fall off during the bake. I will then take your advice. After it is done on one side, I will transfer to finish up the other side face down on the grill over the flame.
Do u have a skillet. a heavy skillet is better than even tava. u can use a heavy iron skillet or a heavy bottomed pressure cooker . I use a heavy bottom aluminium skillet which has a slightly flat bottom. just don't use anything non-stick : )) as the naan wont stick to it.
I have given some links from indian food blogs that have detailed recipes/pics for cooking on tava or skillet. once the naan is rolled out some ghee/butter/ garlic/ corriender is plaved on the top and pressed into the naan. Then I wet the other side with water and put the wet side on hot skillet cover the skittle and cook for some time till bubble appear, remove cover cook for 20-30 seconds more till bottom is brown and naan easily gets removed from the skillet. then i just turn the naan and cook the other side of the naan for some time on the skillet. Then its done and I put more ghee./butter on the top or put it on both sides (as u like). I like my naan charred so sometimes I cook it after removing from skillet on top of my gas burner till it gets charred. u can place ur oven rack (http://www.kingdametal.com/Racks-and-Shelves/Stainless-steel-toaster-oven-rack-968-1.htm) on the burner and then put naan over it to grill it . one of the links below shows this method.
this is what I use I think these are called skillets/sauce pan in US in india we call it kadhai. U can something with similar shape - just make sure the bottom is heavy so it retains heat and cooks the naan without burning it.
Am I guessing correctly that your talking about a bbq here ? if it is I doubt that the hood top is hot enough, as you say you need to remove the naan to then lay it face down on the grill, if it was hot enough it would stick to the hood and cook without having to move it to the grill, I can see what you are trying to accomplish but I don't see it happening, I tried lots of different ways before I ended up doing what I do, can you not get hold of a tawa they are not expensive I'm sure someone must import them to the states.
Happy baking
PS. don't buy a non-stick one you want a steel one
I've made pita in the oven and stovetop. Now I want to make Naan as I eat a lot of flat breads. I have to watch white flour and sugar also, not diabetic, but I have to watch, so I will incorporate whole grains into my breads. I had good results with making pita on top of the stove in a cast iron griddle, so I'll try the Naan since it's still summertime and I don't want to light the oven.The pic at the top, is that black sesame seeds as mentioned or nigella seeds?
you really love naan bread.. this is lovely with black sesame seeds. did you bake in a normal oven or a tandoor grill ?
evon
about the best bread ever? It has long been one of my favorites and why i can no longer go to Indian restaurants even though it is my favorite food :-)
Yours is exceptional tasty looking. Some Sag and I'm all set!
That is sad to hear dabrowny. Is it for health reasons, or you just can''t handle the spice anymore? If you ever come up this way, I will NOT tempt you with our many amazing 'hole in the wall' indian restaurants.
It is up there on my list as well, even cook it at home a lot. I was lucky to have many East Indian/Punjab neighbours in my time who were happy to share recipes and techniques. I even learned to make some of the more popular indian dishes using olive oil in lieu of ghee or butter. Let me know if you are interested in them. Much healthier than when using ghee.
John
As a Brownman, I grew up on the really hot stuff. It's vindaloo all the way for me. Sadly, diabetes and great wihite bread doesn't work for me anymore when you eat 4 double orders of Naan at the restaurant for lunch while hand slap anyone else reaching for it - with a fork.
As luck would have it, the years I spent in Saudi where many of out employees were Pakistani, I learned to cook ir very well with all of their wives on the weekend. The men thought i I was crazy and they were OK with it as long as i told them I really was crazy. We have a great Pakistani restaurant here called Curry Corner and i recommend the goat but the curry isn't bad either.
Then when I came back to the states and started building refrigerated warehouses like I did in Saudi, I met an Indian guy who a refrigeration engineer who worked for Vilter, a refrigeration manufacturer - a vendor. I learned to cook Indian from his wife. One of things he got me was a naan oven like the one his wife used . I have it out in the garage since I don't use it enough to keep it out. It is a lot of work like a WFO
Before I retired I would treat my Indian friend, to Mexican food on Tuesdays, when I was in town, and he would treat me to Indian food on Wednesday. I miss that and his company. Have to give Mody a call. and see if he wants some hot Mexican, it was hard for him since he was vegan :-) We still make home made paneer for home made Indian food - ithout the huge piles of naan
It all makes sense now. I am sorry to hear that you had to make some sacrifices in eating for health. I guess we all have to do that. I look at it this way, if it wasn't for the changes you had to make, you probably would never have discovered how amazing those whole grains and rye breads really are. Can you still eat Roti? 100% whole wheat?
Just last week, we watched Diners Drive-Ins and Dives and saw the Curry Corner! We made a pact that next year we HAVE to go to it.
John
Hole in the wall, dive joint in Tempe. Great food. Perfect for Triple D. Wonder how Guy found out about it? Another great place ruined :-) Have to catch it on the rerun this week. We love roti and stuff it with all kinds of stuff. Perfect grill food with a CI griddle hot as snot - same with naan. I did a post on a Mexican flour naan kind of flat bread on the grill not too long ago using a CI skillet.
Stuffed roti, meaning Parathas? One of my fave things to make. Potato, peas and cilantro. Oh man, you're getting me in the mood for Indian now.
John
like a parantha, which I like too, but put stuff in the dough that normally wouldn't be found in roti. I make naan that are 25-50% whole grain too, Nothing like a healthy bread covered in butter for a finish:-)
I nwas taught that naan needs to retard in the fridge for 2 days to be right but I can't ever wait that long.
And the recipe and technique for this naan is........................
If your technique involves anything other than a traditional tandoor oven, I am fully impressed. I have long searched for a process that will deliver authentic naan without using a tandoor oven of some sort. Tried sticking to the side of my grill top inner wall, but would never stay stuck during the baking process.
Please do share.
John
Hi All................. never thought I would get such a reaction...............
Evon Hi, You have written "you really love Naan bread" should that read "I really love Naan bread" because you like it? and the seeds are Nigella seeds.
Dabrownman Hi Sorry to hear of your troubles but hey I'm diabetic too and I eat Naan and other white bread just keep an eye on the blood sugar levels, I know it's a bummer but you have to keep living and have a smile on your face, are you on meds or insulin?
Stuart Boken Correct................
Song of the Baker Hi John Well you better believe it NO tandoor, I use an Indian tawa (tava) If your stuck I'll post a photo, slape the dough on that till it bubbles then straight under a HOT gas grill, needs to be pretty close to flames and you need to watch very carefully as they will suddenly puff up and burn, once done brush with butter.
Happy baking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
trying to sty off insulin but then loast the battle. So rather than goon insulin lost 60 pounds, walk 4miles miles a day, limit but still eat whole grain foods, eat lots of veg, limit potato and rice and eat lots of fresh fruits. Now I don't take any meds but it isn't all peaches and cream either.Will Probably lose this battle some day too but then i can back on the meds......
Hi dabrownman
I was diagnosed with vasculitis (Wegener's granulomatosis) in 2005 so they pumped me full of steroids 135mg per day plus a load of other meds, 31 pills was my morning dose, and that pushed me into Diabetes as the Weggies attacks the joints exercise is hard to do, they have since put me on Chemo and that at the second attempt seems to be doing the trick my steroids are down to 6mg per day and my other meds have slowly come down and just for fun I have a tumor behind my left eye and scaring on one of my kidneys so any of that could grab me and I'll be off to that bakery up there or maybe down there ........ lol........ I'm impressed with the way you are attacking it brownman and long may it continue.
All the very best................. Happy baking
bringinf on my health poblems with a poor lifestyle and eating habits that eventually led to permanent damage to my health. But there was something that i could do about it to mediate my condition to some degree and I decided that it wasn't too much of a sacrifice to get healthier.
In your case there isn't anything you could do and your health problems aren't the result of poor choices. Hopefully your doctors can sort this all out and keep you far away from the bakery in the sky but I'm guessing whole grain breads will help in that regard too ! Best of luck to you in fighting off your health conditions and Happy Baking.
I wonder if cooking this like pizza would work? Hot pizza stone under the broiler.
I have tried this method before and you just don't get the traditional results. It passes as a decent enough naan bread, but if you want to replicate exactly how it is traditionally made, you would need either a tandoor oven, or tava. I have seen some chefs also get good results using a forno oven, but of course, oven is at 800 degrees plus.
John
Hi John,
I could not have put it better.....................
Hello tgrayson, I wonder if it would work.................;
I doubt it, its not just the initial heat but the continuous heat on the bottom of the Naan, the heat inside a Tandoor is around 700°F so that gives you an idea of what you are trying to achieve, I'm sure it will cook the Naan but I don't think it will cook it correctly to get that soft & fluffy bread.
There again I don't cook pizza on a pizza stone, my oven came with a steel tray as well as a rack I just turn the tray upside down & turn the oven to it's highest setting and boy does it get hot (Butane) I slide my pizza straight onto the tray and it's done in 5 minutes same with my breads, not tried the Naan in there might just give it a go. I am building a wood fired bread / pizza oven be interesting to see what results I get once that's built.
Why not give it a go yourself and let us know how you get on.
Happy baking
"the heat inside a Tandoor is around 700°F"
The people using metal plates inside the conventional oven have reported temperatures in that range. They expose the plates to the broiler before dropping the dough on. Obviously there would be a temperature drop on adding the dough, but I don't know how much.
I haven't ever had authentic Naan, so I wouldn't be a good judge to how close the reults would be.
There are going to be very few domestic ovens that can get that hot (700°F) most ovens go to 450 - 480°F
When dough is placed on the wall of a tandoor the top of the bread is cooked by the heat coming off the embers hence the reason why the bread bubbles up and gets slightly chared..
As a refrigeration engineer I worked in dozens of Indian restaurants so saw how they made and cooked many Indian dishes including the breads, I have eaten lots of Naan prior to making my own and I've tried many ways of cooking Naans and apart from a tandoor I find this is the best way of cooking it.
Happy baking
re: most ovens go to 450 - 480°F
Hmmm, no. The broiler coils are glowing red, indicating a temperature in the 1,000 degree F range. Whatever food you put near them will experience heat far in excess of what the dial of the oven is set for.
Good Morning tgrayson
Hmmm YES........................... most domestic ovens go to 450 - 480°F
"The Broiler coils" which if I remember correctly is the American word for "Grill" is NOT baking it's grilling
Don't nit pick we are here to help one another
Happy baking
So how about that formula? ;)
John
Hello John
is this "So how about that formula? ;)" directed at me?
Happy baking
Yes, just thought I would ask again for it. You have me in the mood for indian food and was hoping to try it out this week :)
John
Hello John
I found your last post confusing, so looked back at your posts and you have not asked before, you do say you have cooked naans before so I would have guessed you had a recipe for them but if you would like my recipe here it is ....
Tandoor Naan on a Tawa
350g plain flour (not bread flour)
175 ml lukewarm Milk
2 tbs oil
125 ml plain yoghurt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried yeast or instant yeast
½ tsp salt
Butter
To a bowl add yeast, sugar and warm milk mix cover and let stand for 10 / 15 minutes now add yoghurt and mix and then add flour mix a little then add salt (if using instant yeast mix dry ingredients in a bowl then add yogurt)
the dough will be sticky if needed add a little flour and kneed for 10 minutes put a tbsp of oil in a bowl and smear around place dough in bowl, using your hand spread the other tbsp of oil over dough, place bowl in a plastic bag.
If you need dough within 2 hours place bowl in a warm place, if not place in fridge remember to remove from fridge 1 hour before needed. When needed pull off a piece of dough about the size of a lime using some flour roll into a ball then start to form to the shape you want with your fingers you can use a rolling pin but be gentle you don't want to push the bubbles out of it.
Cook in your tandoor or on a tawa then under the grill (broiler).
Brush with butter before serving.
Happy baking
Thank you so much for this formula! Sorry to confuse you, I guess I wasn't clear enough on what I wanted you to share...
"... Tried sticking to the side of my grill top inner wall, but would never stay stuck during the baking process.
Please do share."
Take care.
John
Hi John do you have a tawa?
Sadly no. I plan to try my faulted system out again by sticking to the side of my grill hood top. I will have to clean it up well and be more careful so it doesn't fall off during the bake. I will then take your advice. After it is done on one side, I will transfer to finish up the other side face down on the grill over the flame.
Hope this will work!
John
Do u have a skillet. a heavy skillet is better than even tava. u can use a heavy iron skillet or a heavy bottomed pressure cooker . I use a heavy bottom aluminium skillet which has a slightly flat bottom. just don't use anything non-stick : )) as the naan wont stick to it.
I have given some links from indian food blogs that have detailed recipes/pics for cooking on tava or skillet. once the naan is rolled out some ghee/butter/ garlic/ corriender is plaved on the top and pressed into the naan. Then I wet the other side with water and put the wet side on hot skillet cover the skittle and cook for some time till bubble appear, remove cover cook for 20-30 seconds more till bottom is brown and naan easily gets removed from the skillet. then i just turn the naan and cook the other side of the naan for some time on the skillet. Then its done and I put more ghee./butter on the top or put it on both sides (as u like). I like my naan charred so sometimes I cook it after removing from skillet on top of my gas burner till it gets charred. u can place ur oven rack (http://www.kingdametal.com/Racks-and-Shelves/Stainless-steel-toaster-oven-rack-968-1.htm) on the burner and then put naan over it to grill it . one of the links below shows this method.
http://www.ecurry.com/blog/breads-buns-rolls/naan/
http://www.indiansimmer.com/2011/01/homemade-naan-with-malai-kofta.html
http://www.ticklingpalates.com/2012/01/homemade-naan-recipe-without-yeast.html
this is what I use I think these are called skillets/sauce pan in US in india we call it kadhai. U can something with similar shape - just make sure the bottom is heavy so it retains heat and cooks the naan without burning it.
http://www.tradeindia.com/fp29527/Sauce-Pan-With-Lid.html267
http://www.theasiancookshop.co.uk/karahi-flat-based-steel-indian-karhaikadai-5912-p.asp
Hope i make some sense and have helped.
Hi John
Am I guessing correctly that your talking about a bbq here ? if it is I doubt that the hood top is hot enough, as you say you need to remove the naan to then lay it face down on the grill, if it was hot enough it would stick to the hood and cook without having to move it to the grill, I can see what you are trying to accomplish but I don't see it happening, I tried lots of different ways before I ended up doing what I do, can you not get hold of a tawa they are not expensive I'm sure someone must import them to the states.
Happy baking
PS. don't buy a non-stick one you want a steel one
I've made pita in the oven and stovetop. Now I want to make Naan as I eat a lot of flat breads. I have to watch white flour and sugar also, not diabetic, but I have to watch, so I will incorporate whole grains into my breads. I had good results with making pita on top of the stove in a cast iron griddle, so I'll try the Naan since it's still summertime and I don't want to light the oven.The pic at the top, is that black sesame seeds as mentioned or nigella seeds?
Hi taurus it's nigella seeds
Stephen
Pleasure sachin
Happy Baking