Naan Bread

Ingredients

• 250g strong white bread flour
• 250g normal plain flour
• 10g yeast (we recommend Doves Farm Quick Yeast)
• 5g baking powder
• 5g salt
• 5g sugar
• 30ml vegetable oil
• 300ml warm water
• about 3 teaspoons of onion seeds
• 100g butter

Preparation Time: 15 minutes (+ 1 hour proving)
Cooking Time: 2-5 minutes
Serves: 6 naans

Method

1. Weigh out all the flour, yeast, baking powder, salt and sugar into a large mixing bowl. (If your yeast needs activating in water, follow the instructions on the packet and subtract whatever water you need to use from the 300ml water listed above. Then add it with the rest of the water in stage 2.)
2. Mix them together, then pour in the oil and water and stir it until it has all come together. Then tip the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead it until it has become smooth and elastic. If the dough is still sticky after about 3 minutes of kneading, add some more flour.
3. Shape the dough into a ball, grease the inside of the mixing bowl with some vegetable oil and put the ball of dough back into it.
4. Spread a small amount of vegetable oil onto the top of the dough, then stretch a piece of cling-film/plastic-wrap over the bowl and leave it to stand somewhere warm for 1 hour.
5. If you have a pizza stone, put it into your oven on a middle shelf, turn on your oven to as hot as it will go and allow it to heat up completely (about 1 hour).
   
   If you don’t have a pizza stone, we highly recommend you get one (a marble paving slab, available from any reputable DIY store, works extremely well, just remember to measure the size of your oven to make sure it will fit), but in the mean time, put an up turned baking tray into your oven on a middle shelf and heat it for about half an hour.
6. When the dough has doubled in size, take it out of the warm place and remove the cling-film/plastic-wrap.
7. Cut the dough into 6 equally sized pieces, then roll the pieces of dough into balls.
8. Cover them with with a piece of oiled cling-film/plastic-wrap and leave them for 15 minutes.
9. After 15 minutes, flour your work surface, put one of the balls of dough onto it and lightly dust the top of the dough with more flour.
10. Hold one side of the ball of dough with one hand and, using a rolling pin in the other hand, roll out the dough into a longish oval shape.
11. Then stretch the oval to make it slightly wider and sprinkle about half a teaspoon of the onion seeds over the shaped naan and gently press them into the dough.
12. Then put the butter into a small sauce pan and heat it until it has melted.
13. Turn your oven onto the grill setting (if you can).
14. Put 1 or 2 of the naan straight onto the pizza stone or baking tray and cook it for 2-5 minutes. Keep watching it, you should remove the naan from the oven when the bubbles on top of the naan have turned medium-dark brown.
15. Take the naan out of the oven, put them onto a large sheet of foil and then, using a pastry brush, paint it with the melted butter before wrapping them in the foil.
16. Keep them in the foil until they are needed and then serve.

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Useful Information

Can it be frozen? Yes.
Can it be prepared in advance? Yes, it can be finished and kept in the foil for up to 2 days (reheat them in the foil).
Will leftovers be nice? Yes, for up to 2 days.

Notes