Naan - Indian Bread

I have been obsessed with Indian food as of late. I posted that Channa Masala recipe and had made it twice since then. Morgan, my 7 year old, does not like indian food BUT, she loves naan, which is a type of bread that is served with indian food. She begged me to find a recipe for it and so I went on a search. I found this recipe and tweaked it a bit. So good and you really can serve it with just about anything.

1 package active dry yeast

1 c warm water

1/4 c white sugar

3 tbsp milk

1 egg, beaten

2 tsp salt

3 1/2 c flour

2 tsp minced garlic

1/4 c butter

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water with 1 tbsp sugar. Let stand 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt and flour. This should make a soft dough. If you need to add more flour, do so but don't add so much that the dough is hard. Once it is a soft dough, take it out and knead it on a floured surface for 6-8 minutes or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour or until dough has doubled in volume.

Punch down dough. Pinch of small handfuls of dough, about 1/2 the size of a golf ball, join the them together and roll into a ball. Place on tray and cover with a towel. Allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

During the 2nd rising, preheat the grill to high heat.

Roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Add garlic to melted butter. Brush one side of dough with butter/garlic mixture and place on grill and cook 2-3 minutes, until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter and turn over. Cook another 2-3 minutes. Remove from grill and continue to cook until all has been prepared.

This recipe makes A LOT of dough. After the first rising and I had made all the dough balls, I froze half of them in the freezer for another day because it made so much.

As far as the grill goes, I used a George Foreman grill and just cooked these on it with the top open. I did read that another good thing to do is to use a baking stone instead of the grill and you can bake them at 600 degrees for 2 minutes. My baking stone is packed away in storage so I couldn't use that option but feel free to let me know if that option works well!!

One more thing, I made mine into cheese naan. When I was making the dough balls, I cut pieces of sharp cheddar cheese and put it in the middle of the balls. You can add anything you want in the middle: garlic, onion, cheese, pecans, raisins, whatever floats your boat. The cheese worked out well, but I think I will try shredded cheese next time rather than just pieces of cheese.

Enjoy your naan!!!