# Naan Bread



## justpassingthru

Saturday I was working on perfecting my ranch style beans and while they were cooking I was cruising through different BBQ sites and stumbled across a post of Don Marco’s.  Mrs JPT was watching over my shoulder at the spread he produces and saw the naan bread he is always cooking.  We were talking about what to have with the beans and decided to try some naan bread.   I googled it and came up with several recipes that were at lot of work, then I read the comments on one of  them and they made it in their bread machine, voilà.  I threw  the ingredients in the machine and 1 ½ hrs later it was ready, cooked it on the Weber Genesis E310 at 400° for 2 minutes each side, it was too hot and too long and was a little dark.

  Here is the only pic I took, at the suggestion of Mrs JPT, with a bowl of beans.


Sunday I decided to try it again, here it is on the grill.


Turned over.



  Plated, …Friday night I tried TasunkaWitko’s chicken and garlic, ‘poulet au quarante gosse d’ail,’ it was very good, cooked it in French CI in the Genesis, so I split the naan bread, reheated the leftover chicken in chicken broth and stuffed the naan with poulet and some of the leftover garlic, all I can say is oh la la.  Next time I add some Moz to the sandwich.



Naan Bread
  2 teaspoons dry yeast                                                                                                                   
1 ¼ cup warm water (110°) thermapen works great for this                                                        
¼ cup white sugar                                                                                                                        
3 tablespoons dry milk powder                                                                                                           
1 egg, slightly beaten with fork                                                                                                    2 teaspoons salt                                                                                                                                   
3 ½ cups unleavened flour

  ¼ cup melted butter to be used for grilling

Place in bread machine, wet ingredients first, then dry and lastly yeast, set machine on dough cycle.

  Add end of cycle remove dough and place in oiled bowl, flour hands and pinch of golf  ball sized balls of dough, flatten with hands and place one on top of another, using two dough balls to make one bread, continue this until all of the dough is  used.  (As you can see some of mine were larger than golf balls.)  Cover with a towel and let rise 30 minutes.
  Preheat grill, spread ½ of the melted butter on the top side of the bread, when the grill reaches 250° use a spatula and place bread on grill, butter side down.

  Coat the uncooked side with melted butter, after about 1 ½ -2 minutes check underside for a slightly brown color, bread will be puffy, turn over and cook about 1 ½ minutes and check color, it cooks very fast so be careful.

  This bread is very quick, hassle free, tasty and the possibilities are endless, as an accompaniment, stuffed like a pita, or as DM does, slice it and place a slice of beef on top with cheese and serve as an appetizer.

  Thanks for looking at my Q-view and I hope you like naan bread as much as we do,

  Gene


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## mballi3011

What country did this bread originate in. My wife just started making bread again some of her first loafs were very hard and dence. She has contuied with it and now we can eat it more like real bread. This bread you are naking almost looks like a flatbread like in mexico or like a pita. Thats why I'm wondering where it came from.


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## rivet

Excellent looking sandwich and breads! Congratulations


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## mike91mr

Although I don't know exactly where it originated from, it is somewhere in Asia and is very common in parts of the Middle East.  Generally speaking, it is pretty common in places where they don't use forks, they just grab their food with the bread.  I was in Pakistan, and it was served with just about every meal, so I'm guessing it is popular in India and Afghanistan too.  When I've been further South into Asia (off the mainland), I don't remember seeing it as much or at all.


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## tasunkawitko

excellent-looking meals and the naan bread loks really nice! thanks for sharing the recipe!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





hope you don't mind, but i "borrowed" the recipe ~


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## downstatesmoker

Naan is originally from India but I have seen it served with middle eastern food as well.

The second batch looks just about perfect.  Thanx for the qview!

-Chris


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## beer-b-q

Bread Looks Great, Thanks For the Recipe...


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## justpassingthru

Thank you all for the kind words, the recipe said it was from India.

Gene


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## chefrob

naan is a term used for almost any flat bread cooked in a tandoor. there are many different styles from region to region.


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## natdiamond

My friend, I love Indian food and I am constantly looking for authentic recipes. From the pictures you sent, the Naan looks way too thick. They should be as thin as pita bread. If made properly, it's much fluffier than pita though, not as dense. I know you mentioned you passed up on some more labor intensive recipes, as have I many times too. But because of the unique properties of naan, it's virtually impossible to nail a restaraunt quality bread without going through all the steps, unfortunately. And remember, in India and Indian restaraunts, they do use the tandoor oven. It's a large round clay oven with the heat coming from the bottom. When they make the round flat naan, they actually stick it to the sides of the tandoor! I've tried grilling it, but oven baking is always closer to the real thing.
Also, any Punjabi will tell you that naan has yogurt in it, dont skip it. It adds acidity and a creamyness to the bread.
After many recipes, here is the one I personally find to be closest to the real deal. Obviously, not bread machine easy, but worth the effort.
Also you need lots of ghee. Which is basically clarified butter, but a little more cooked. Just take 4 sticks of butter, throw it in a hot pan, melt it and simmer just until it turns golden, not brown. Remove it from the heat, put it in a measuring cup. Let it cool. Then skim off the milkfat and you have ghee. A major component in 90% of Indian cooking. AND, it works better than cooking spray in a pan!

NAAN BREAD:
Ingredients:
2 tsp Active dry yeast
3 TBS Warm Milk
1 TBS Sugar
------------------
4 C all purp flour
1/2 C milk
1/2 C plain yougurt (Regular not "lowfat")
1 egg
1 TBS ghee
1/2 tsp salt
**optional cumin and cilantro**

Basic steps: 
-Proof
-mix
-knead
-rise-
punch down
-portion
-rise
-roll out
-bake
-eat.

1) Mix yeast, warm milk and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Cover and let rest 10 min to activate yeast.
2) Add flour to yeast. Make a well in the middle of flour. Beat milk,yogurt and eggs together well, THEN add to center of the flour along with ghee and salt.
3) If using a mixer, beat with dough hook about 10 minutes until smooth. If mixing by hand, mix with fork and knead 10 minutes until smooth.
4) Form a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size. approx 1-2 hrs.
5) Punch down dough with your fist and knead lightly. Cut into 8-10 equal portions and roll into balls. Cover and let rise again until doubled in size in a warm place.
6) Preheat oven (WITH A BAKING SHEET OR PIZZA STONE INSIDE) to 500°
7) Roll dough into oblong circles 1/4" thick. Brush with ghee.
***this is where you can sprinkle cumin and cilantro on the dough and roll it into the dough. I make some with and without. But without is traditional***
8) Bake in batches on hot stone or pan about 5 minutes until golden brown. I usually flip them when the top gets just past golden, almost a little tint of brown and puffy. You need to keep an eye on them and decide for yourself if you like them a little more raw and doughy or a little more toasty. But not to the point where the naan is stiff, it should still be a floppy bread you can pull apart, not crumble like toast.

Good luck and enjoy, It seems like a lot, but it really isn't, it just needs 2 rises.
I dont own a "BIG GREEN EGG" Grill, but I've always wondered if these could be made by sticking it to the ceramic sides of a hot egg grill??

P.S.   Indian Onion chutney on Naan is the bomb diggity:
1 large white or yellow onion diced
1tbs of each of the following
red chilli powder
cumin
vinegar
salt
lemon juice
ketchup
**tamarind paste or tamarind juice or prune juice (all optional)
Mix all in a glass bowl and put in fridge for at least 2 hours to overnight. Depending on how spicy you like it, you can actually add 2 tbs of everything to the 1 onion.


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## gnubee

I grill mine over a very hot charcoal fire. I have the girll lowered to almost on the coals. It doesn't take very long. When it shows signs of scorching turn it over. My Buddy does his right on the coals then brushes off the ashes. Not for me. I like the grill method far better.


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## stircrazy

actualy Naan from  india isn't as flat as a pita, I was over there last year and which I agree that the bread the OP showed is to thick to be an indian Naan, it is the same thickness as naan's from other places witht he exception of the middle east, I had there version of Naan wich is called Roti as instead of being cooked in a tandoor it is cooked on a metal dome.  

for the OP try the recippe above, it looks like a good one and Natdimond is right make a good one and it will be worth it.  I would say try to make some of your bread about 1/4" thick as that was about the most common size I had when I was in India for a month. 

Steve


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## justpassingthru

*Natdiamond*, thanks for the recipe, what I meant was the recipes took too long for the time I had on that day, also I had never actually seen or tasted naan bread, just saw the photos on another BBQ site and incidentally they were cooked on a Big Green Egg.  

Your recipe sounds good, especially the yogurt, I have added it to my collection of bread recipes, with the tips you gave I'm sure it will be good, now I know how to make it "authentic."

Thanks,

Gene


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## natdiamond

I had to update this because I have found what I believe to now be the best naan recipe. As well as the video to go with it. Apparently the secret is to have the sticky dough for the softest naan. I've made it several times in the oven and it is definitely restaurant quality!  Funny, no yogurt.







Recipe of  Naan  *Ingredient Name**Unit**Quantity*  All purpose flour
cup
3
Instant dry yeast
tsp
1
milk (optional)
cup
1
Oil
tsp
1
Salt
to taste
1
sugar
tsp
1/2
Water to knead approx
ml
50
Directions | How to make Naan    
Sieve the flour 
Now add 1 cup warm water into dry yeast and set aside.
Add sugar, oil into salt and mix well with yeast and water.
Now add water little at a time to make a soft dough.
Rest for 20 min
If dough sticks to hand too much then use little bit of oil on hand and then punch into dough. .
Now to make naan, set oven at broil and roll oval shape out of dough. Then place it into oven and flip it after 2 min. after taking it out apply some butter on them. And they are ready to eat.
          make better nan on stove top
 


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## smokinhusker

Looks good! Thanks for the recipes all.


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## thoseguys26

I have a bunch of that guys you tube videos bookmarked. He's awesome and hilarious!


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## smokin relaxin steve

I love Naan Bread... but honestly, it is 1000x better when cooked in a tandoor... I have an Indian resturant near my house that i will go just for fresh out of the tandoor Naan bread... it melts in your mouth... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

This looks pretty good also, for on a grill... nice job


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## moikel

I am with Steve on the tandoor thing,its a great product done in them. There is a bakery in a suburb I  go to from time to time thats has an Afghani bakery.Hazari people( ethnically different) who came here to escape the Taliban .They have a sort of goose neck version of a tandoor,it takes a sort of 30degree turn where top meets chamber. They slap the bread on the walls with a handheld thing that looks like a cushion.Turn out those flat breads in 4 versions,cost is stupidly cheap. Great product.If I can remember I will take a photo on my phone next time I  get  out there. Great thread BTW.


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## africanmeat

Moikel said:


> I am with Steve on the tandoor thing,its a great product done in them. There is a bakery in a suburb I  go to from time to time thats has an Afghani bakery.Hazari people( ethnically different) who came here to escape the Taliban .They have a sort of goose neck version of a tandoor,it takes a sort of 30degree turn where top meets chamber. They slap the bread on the walls with a handheld thing that looks like a cushion.Turn out those flat breads in 4 versions,cost is stupidly cheap. Great product.If I can remember I will take a photo on my phone next time I  get  out there. Great thread BTW.


Hi  Moikel  . you can do the naan bread in your pizza oven you the walls just us a pillow and a glove.

or take a wok and turn it up side  down over coal and place the naan on top.


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## moikel

Yes Ahron  I could do that I have most of the skills BUT I like the fact that there is folk here that can do it as  almost 2nd nature. I  dont eat enough bread now a days to be bothered .Doctors keep pestering me about stuff so I  cut out a lot of carbs now.  In a funny way I want other people to do it because they were born to do it & because it gives them a start in this country. I can do breads but  cant get motivated when there is traditional artisan stuff around me.


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## natdiamond

Here is a video where Alton Brown makes a home made Tandoori oven with a clay pot that gets up to 835°


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## supercenterchef

fascinating topic...been wanting to try this for a while now...thanks for the recipes guys!!


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## jus256

Natdiamond said:


> Here is a video where Alton Brown makes a home made Tandoori oven with a clay pot that gets up to 835°


video was removed.  Too bad.  I wanted to take a look at it.


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## jus256

I've made NAAN a couple of times.  I use Peter Reinhardt's recipie from his book on whole wheat bread recipies.  I'll try to post it later.  I made it on my Weber Genesis.  The first time I made it, I didn't use a stone.  I took a sheet pan and placed it directly on top of the flavorizer bars after removing the grates.  That got me the amount of direct heat I was looking for.


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## scarbelly

I just copied these recipes to use in my pizza oven - gonna be fun


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## natdiamond

As far as the home made Tandoori, Alton brown used a 4" diamond blade on an angle grinder and cut the bottom off of a large terra cotta garden pot. Then he put it upside down on the terra cotta pan it would normally sit on. So the smaller bottom was now facing up like a volcano. Then he  Loaded the bottom with coal and there's the Tandoor oven.


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## jus256

Thanks


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## abhisheksawant

Naan is one of my favourite breads. Not only because it tastes amazing but also the availability of varieties of naan. I always look for garlic naan whenever I visit any restaurant and 1 whole naan is enough for me. Living foodz has shared the best naan recipe which I followed to make it at home.


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