Naan Bread
Adapted from Aarti Sequeira's recipe on the Food Network
These are ideally suited to being cooked in a very hot tandoor oven, but they work on a stove top too.
Ingredients
1 tsp (7g) dried Yeast
2 tsp Sugar
3/4 cup warm Water (about 40°C)
2 cups Bread Flour (plus more for kneading and dusting)
1 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Baking Powder
3 Tbsp plain Yogurt
2 Tbsp Oil
1 tsp Nigella Seeds
Melted butter
Method
Mix the yeast, 1 tsp of the sugar and the warm water in a bowl. Place it in the oven at 40°C until it's frothy (10 to 20 minutes).
Meanwhile, in the bowl of a stand mixer, add flour, salt, remaining teaspoon of sugar and baking powder.
Once the yeast is frothy, add the yogurt and oil and stir to combine.
Pour the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients with the Nigella Seeds and gently mix the ingredients together with a fork.
When the dough is about to come together, use the stand mixer to knead until it transforms into a soft, slightly sticky and pliable dough.
As soon as it comes together, stop kneading. Cover the dough with a damp tea towel and let it sit in the 40°C oven for 2 to 4 hours.
When you're ready to roll, make sure you have two bowls on your counter: one with extra flour in it, and one with water. The dough will be extremely soft and sticky-this is good!
Separate the dough into 6 equal portions and lightly roll each one in the bowl of extra flour to keep them from sticking to each other.
Using a rolling pin, roll each piece of dough into a traditional teardrop shape. Once you've formed the general shape, you can also pick it up by one end and wiggle it; the dough's own weight will stretch it out a little.
Repeat this method with the rest of the dough.
Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat until it's nearly smoking. Make sure you have a lid large enough to fit the skillet and have a bowl of melted butter at the ready.
Dampen your hands in the bowl of water and pick up one of your naans, flip-flopping it from one hand to the other to lightly dampen it.
Gently lay it in the skillet and set your timer for 1 minute. The dough should start to bubble.
After about 1 minute, flip the naan. It should be blistered and somewhat blackened, don't worry - that's typical of traditional naan!
Cover the skillet with the lid and cook 30 seconds to 1 minute more.
Remove the naan from the skillet, brush with a bit of butter and sprinkle with a little coarse sea salt.
Place the naan in a tea towel-lined dish and repeat with the rest of the naans and serve.
Notes
Nigella Seeds (kalonji) are not traditional, but add an onion note to the naans. Also great with a few fennel seeds thrown in for a mild liquorice flavour.