Naan Bread - Mixing and Kneading the Dough

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Edward Hamann

http://www.mysweetindia.com

Edward Hamann grew up in California and credits his grandmother for his early love of cooking as well as the abundance of fresh local produce found in the region. Inspired by the regional cuisines of India during his teenage years, Hamann later found himself traveling extensively throughout India collecting local recipes wherever he could and learning tips and techniques from street vendors, housewives and restaurant chefs.

He studied beside Julie Sahni at The Julie Sahni School of Indian Cooking in NYC and worked closely with Chef Sahni on a variety of events, including some for National Geographic Traveler, and has been teaching others to cook for over ten years.

Hamann’s international travels have greatly influenced him in his culinary pursuits and have given him deep appreciation for the plethora of spices that are available to the home cook but not widely understood or utilized. Through his instruction Hamann hopes to demystify cooking with spices and open up the cuisines of other cultures, such as Mexican, Persian and Afghan, to his students. As Hamann states “Cooking can be a different kind of journey, by preparing the foods of other countries in our own homes we can taste the memories of trips we may have taken or perhaps taste the dreams of trips we hope to take someday.”

Edward Hamann spent the last 4 years as Culinary Manager for Sur La Table Cooking School and was responsible for managing the cooking class program, recipe development, setting curriculum and teaching classes at Sur La Table in Arlington, Virginia.

Naan Bread - Mixing and Kneading the Dough

This video will show how to mix and knead the dough for naan bread.

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Tags:

Dough

Indian

Food

Seed

Naan

Bread

Side

Dish

Butter

Bake

Oven

Shape

Traditional

Recipe

Homemade

Naan Bread - Mixing and Kneading the Dough

Ingredients

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (about 14 ounces), plus additional for dusting
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup plain yogurt, at room temperature
½ cup boiling water
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1 large egg
¼ cup melted unsalted butter, plus additional for brushing
Vegetable as needed
½ - 1 teaspoon nigella seeds (kalonji)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl mix the flour, salt, and nigella seeds. Set aside.

2. In another small bowl whisk together the yogurt and boiling water. Add the yeast, sugar, egg, and melted butter and mix well. Pour the yogurt mixture onto the flour and mix just until a soft and sticky dough forms. Wash and dry your hands.

3. Place a few tablespoons of vegetable oil in small bowl and keep it next to your work surface. Oil your hands then knead the dough, either in the bowl or on an oiled surface, until smooth and elastic, oiling your fingers as needed to prevent sticking, about 10 minutes.

4. Cover and let stand in a warm place for about 4 hours, or until well risen.

5. Place a baking stone on the upper middle rack of your oven and preheat to 550°F or its highest temperature. Allow the oven to heat for at least 30 minutes.

6. Punch down the dough, then knead again for about 1 minute. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions and set aside on an oiled baking tray loosely covered with plastic wrap.

7. Working with two balls at a time; roll out each into a 6-to 7-inch round, dusting with flour to prevent sticking. Using your hands, stretch the round into a teardrop shape 10-to 12-inches long.

8. Lightly dust a wooden peel or rimless baking sheet with flour. Carefully transfer the breads one at a time onto the peel, setting them side by side. Brush the breads lightly with melted butter. Sprinkle a pinch of nigella seeds over the bread and press lightly to help them adhere.

9. Slide the breads off of the peel onto the baking stone and bake for 3 to 5 minutes, or until they begin to puff and lightly brown in places. Remove and, if desired, brush with additional melted butter. Keep the breads in a covered towel lined dish until ready to serve.

As an alternative, the naan can also be baked on baking sheets. Arrange them in a single layer on lightly oiled baking sheets and bake in the center of the oven. The cooking time remains the same. You may want to place the breads under the broiler briefly to help brown the tops.

Transcripts

Edward Hamann: Hi! I am Edward and we are here at Sur La Table Cooking School in Arlington, Virginia and today we are making Naan Bread. Right now, I am going to show you how to make and knead the naan dough.

So we have our three cups of unbleached all purpose flour. We are going to take our salt and mix that in with the flour. Then we are going to take a half a cup of yogurt and we are going to pour a half cup of boiling water into the yogurt and we are going to mix that well with the whisk. Then we are going to add our one teaspoon of active dry yeast and then two teaspoon of sugar and we are going to mix those well. Then we will add our four tablespoons of melted unsalted butter and a one large egg. Whisking again to mix it all really well.

Now we are going to take our liquid mixture and we are going to pour it into our flour. Then we are going to mix just until a soft dough forms. You can use a spoon or your hands for this much. Once the soft dough has formed, you can wash and dry our hands to remove any dough that is stuck on them and then we will take a small amount of vegetable oil in a small bowl and keep it next to our work surface.

You can knead this dough right in the bowl or on a smooth oiled surface such as a marble pastry board. So I will turn this out on to our smooth surface. Naan dough is a very soft, very sticky dough and we are not going to use flour to knead the dough. We are going to use small amount of oil by dipping our hands into the vegetable oil. Getting it nice and coated with the oil and then kneading the naan dough. Dipping the hands in the oil as needed and really use our scraper as needed to keep the dough off of the surface and we will knead by pushing and folding. Dipping hands in oil as needed.

You are going to continue kneading your dough for at least ten minutes. The naan dough is ready to rest when it is smooth and elastic. You will feel the a little bit sticky. This is a very sticky dough. So don't get discourage by that. We are going to take our dough and put it into a clean bowl that has a little dip of oil in it, about half to one teaspoon and turn it in the oil and we are going to cover this and set it aside in a warm place for about four hours until it doubles in volume. Coming up next, we are going to shape and bake our naan bread.