Naan

SkySaw

I used Peter Reinhart's recipe for making whole wheat naan tonight. I prepped the Large with plate setter legs up and a 650º Egg. I could have heated the plate setter longer, but these turned out very well. The family gobbled them with chana masala. Part of the trick with naan is let the dough rest between stretching it out. First roll to 4-5 inch rounds, then rest for 5 minutes and then use hands to stretch to 8 inches, rest for another 5, then stretch to 10-12 inches. They cooked in just over a minute each.


 

Chubbs

Nice. Any chance you could share your recipe? I am looking for one. Any reason why cooked in the plate setter and not a stone?

Little Steven

This is an old post but it turns out great every time.

This is the best I've been able to do.

SkySaw

Steve those naan look professionally done! I wanted to make mine from whole wheat and wanted to avoid the butter (or any other oil) on top.

@Chubbs - I wanted to get the plate setter really hot, and I figured that if I went legs up it might get the naan close enough to the fire for the radiant heat would cook the top as well. I see no harm in flipping the naan to make sure both sides are nice and toasty.  I might try next time Little Steven's idea of getting hot and as high into the dome as possible. I'll pm you the recipe.

QingEsq

Looks great and I second the request for a recipe.  SWMBO and I were at an Indian grocery store today when it dawned on me that the egg should be great for naan so perfect timing on the post.

SkySaw

Rather than pm, I'll just post the recipe here. It's from Peter Reinhart's book about cooking whole wheat breads.

Dough

3½ cups whole wheat flour

1½ tsp salt

1tsp instant yeast

1½ cups plus 2 tbsp soy milk or almond milk.

1½ tbsp olive oil 

Using the paddle attachment at low speed on your mixer, combine the 3½ cups of flour and salt, yeast, almond milk, and olive oil for 1 minute to bring all the ingredients together into a ball.  Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium-low for 3-4 minutes until the dough is smooth.

Roll the dough in flour to coat, then knead by hand for 3-4 minutes. Form the dough into a ball and let it rest for 5 minutes while you lightly oil a clean bowl. Knead for another 2 minutes and then put the dough ball into your bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Place the dough ball on a lightly floured surface and divide into 5 pieces. place the pieces on parchment paper and loosely cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for 60 minutes or until the balls are roughly 1½ times their original size.

There are several ways to replicate tandoor cooking in a ceramic cooker. I prepare the Egg with the plate setter legs up to get it close to the fire, and heat the Egg to at least 600º; I like to cook these at 650º. Let the plate setter get good and hot.

Roll each ball of dough out on a lightly floured work surface to about a 4-5 inch diameter. Dust the disks with flour and let them rest for 5 minutes. Then hand stretch the dough to roughly 8-inch diameter disks, dust and rest again for 5 minutes. Finally, stretch the disks to 10-12 inches, transfer a disk to a floured pizza peel, and pierce with a fork in several places to prevent the naan from  developing a large air bubble like pita bread. Slide onto the hot plater setter and cook until nicely browned. If the top doesn’t brown, flip the naan once the bottom is browned and cook for another 30 seconds.

These have a great naan flavour as is, but if you want, brush with olive oil, garlic butter, or whatever oil you like, and eat warm.