I love Naan bread and have baked some many times. I have tried several recipes, some better, some not so great. This one is one of the best. It is very easy to make and I thought it tastes a bit like pancakes, like really thick, ‘bready’ pancakes. I found the recipe somewhere on the web, some blog, unfortunately I forgot to write it down where and now I cannot remember it anymore. If I ever find it again, I will write it down.
The original recipe calls for the flat breads to be sprinkled with cumin seeds, I have done that but didn’t like it so I scraped them all off again at the table. You could try it though, might be you like that more than I did.
I love cooking different food from different countries and sometimes I just pick a country and look for recipes. In the next days I will post the recipe for Afghan braised pumpkin, which will be served along side this naan bread and also a dessert, I will just have to find a recipe first. If anyone reads this and actually has a nice Afghan dessert recipe, I would be happy to hear about it.
Afghan Naan Bread
Serves: 10
- 400 g/ 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 30 g/1/4 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 ¼ teaspoons dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 230 g/1 cup water
- 60 g/¼ cup yogurt
- 1 tablespoons oil
- cumin seeds (optional)
- 3-4 tablespoons ghee or butter
- Mix the flours, yeast, syrup, salt, water, yogurt and oil in a food processor, which is able to knead and knead for about 5 minutes or until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. If you do that by hand, you will have to knead a bit longer. The dough should be soft but not too sticky, if it is too sticky just add a bit more flour a little at a time.
- Form a ball, place in an oiled bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place. I just put the bowl in the oven and turn on the oven light. Leave it for about 1 hour until double in size.
- Divide the dough into 10 portions, form small balls, cover and let stand for another 15 minutes. Roll the balls into discs using a small rolling pin, and give the dough the typical naan bread form. Melt a little bit of the butter or ghee in a non-stick skillet, add 2 or 3 of the dough pieces and fry for 1 minute. Flip and cook the second side for about 4 minutes, until the underside has brown spots. Melt another small piece of butter and repeat with the rest of the dough.
- Place on a cloth and brush with a little more butter or ghee. Keep covered in cloth until serving.
Afghan Naan
