Mummy tore a recipe for grilled naan out of the Oregonian a few weeks ago and, the day before I left for camp, Dad and I made a half batch. The dough is super easy to make and if you can’t find whole milk yogurt (which I couldn’t) just use whatever plain yogurt you have lying around (lazy, lazy yogurt). Once you’ve got your easy dough done you get to fill it with some cilantro and mint (although some chicken, curry or just about anything else would be equally tasty) and then you just pop it onto a hot grill for a few minutes and you’re done! It winds up tasting a little bit like an un-fried samosa. The bread is warm, a little smokey, and has a nice layer of tangy, herby bits in the middle. They were pretty good this time, and I think I can raise them to the “hella good” level next time.

I only did a half batch and wound up making four fairly large breads (about 8 inches across). I could only finish one, and Dad ambitiously broke into one and a half, so these are hefty little guys once they’re all done and baked. I’d definitely cut back on the cilantro next time, even to the point of doing the naan plain without any filling. I added some lemon rind and juice to the filling, and I didn’t have any cashews so I did chopped almonds instead and I couldn’t find any fresh ginger to save my life… so powdered it was. I also tossed in some cardamom to the mixture. If anything, this should show you how totally flexible this recipe is. You can go anywhere from just a little thin filling that just adds a hint of something something to the bread, or you can go all out and fill it with savory things like meat and curry to turn it into something like a calzone. Or you can just take the bread recipe and make yourself some more traditional naan… or as traditional as you can get.

Grilled Cilantro-Mint Naan

From the Oregonian Food Day

-MAKES 10 BREADS -

Ta dah! Very tasty, especially when you pair it with asparagus from the farmer’s market.

This bread recipe made it’s way to me from the NY Times a while ago and I just got around to making it yesterday. The reason it took me so long is that it prefers to be baked on a baking/pizza stone (you don’t have to, but I wanted to) and that just seemed like alot of effort… booorrriinnnggg! But that’s the only other white bread recipe I had hanging out in my links folder so I decided to give it a whirl anyway.

It should really be called the “No kneed chewy inside/crunchy outside bread” because that’s essentially what it is. The dough is SUPER loose when you stirr it together… more like an incredibly sticky blob which later grows to be an enormous blob. You don’t kneed it so you can’t really ever get it under control. It stays messy and sticky the whole time until it’s safely out of the oven, baked into a hard shell. Ok, so here’s essentially how easy it is. You mix together the four ingredients (wow, I know, FOUR whole ingredients!? How will you ever manage? Heehee..) and let them hang out in a warm place for two hours, then you take 1/4 or 1/2 (I just made two larger loaves instead of the four the recipe wanted me to make) and kind of roll it into a ball between your hands, let it rest another 40 minutes then pop it onto a preheated pizza stone for 30 minutes with a bucket of water sitting in the bottom of the oven. While I’m writing this, it sounds to me like this dough is going to a baking spa with an itinerary something like: 10:00- get stirred 10:15-12:15- rest in warm place 12:15- get rolled and patted down with flour 12:30-1:45- rest in warm place again 1:45-2:15- loll around on hot stone and GET BAKED! Baking spas sound like my kind of deal… bake and relax…

Recipe: Simple Crusty Bread

Recipe from NY Times

1. In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).

2. Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.

3. Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.

4. Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.

Yield: 4 loaves.

Variation: If not using stone, stretch rounded dough into oval and place in a greased, nonstick loaf pan. Let rest 40 minutes if fresh, an extra hour if refrigerated. Heat oven to 450 degrees for 5 minutes. Place pan on middle rack.

Oh Bread & Honey, you are the source of all things delicious. Today I made a half batch of their Country Crust bread. I’ve made it before and it was wonderful THEN. Now it’s downright amazing because I’ve gotten it turn out golden and puffy TWICE. It’s a record. I like that you can (in theory) stick the dough in the fridge for up to four days… so I could do all the work one day and reap all of the benefits several days later. That’s my kind of style!

A few glamour shots. This load deserves it.

Can a loaf of bread pose for a camera? I think so.

Now, for the good part!

Country Crust Bread
From Bread & Honey

Ingredients:
2 packages active dry yeast
2 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
6 to 6 1/2 cups bread flour
soft butter or margarine

Directions:
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in sugar, salt, eggs, oil, and 3 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn dough onto lightly floured board; knead until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl; turn greased side up. (At this point, dough can be refrigerated for 3 to 4 days.) Cover; let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour (Dough is ready if impression remains.)

Punch down dough; divide in half. Roll each half into a rectangle, 18×9 inches. Roll up, beginning at short side. With side of hand, press each end to seal. Fold ends under loaf. Place seam side down in greased loaf pan. Brush loaves with a little oil. Let rise until doubled, about another hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place loaves on lower oven rack so that the tops of the pans are in the center of the oven. Pans should not touch each other or sides of oven. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until deep golden brown and loaves sound hollow when tapped. Remove from pans. Brush loaves with butter; cool on wire rack.

Makes two loaves.