TWD - Baking with Julie: Oasis Naan

The Tuesdays with Dorie baking group chose Oasis Naan for our recipe this week!  If you have ever had a desire to bake some flatbreads, I recommend this recipe.  It  was fairly simple and came together pretty easily!  I will admit that my naan does not look the way it is supposed to look.... it is supposed to be flat in the middle, not puffy like mine.  We'll get to that later.  Regardless, they tasted great!  You should try Oasis Naan!  The recipes can be found on Maggie's blog Always Add More Butter and on Phyl's blog Of Cabbages and King Cakes.

As it seems many of these TWD recipes are, this was a two-day process for me.  It didn't have to be, but it was for me.  Don't get me wrong, both days were REALLY EASY, so there is no stress involved with this recipe, there is simply some advance planning needed!  You start by making the dough of a recipe of what the Baking with Julia book calls "Persian Naan".  No mixer needed, friends.


Mix some yeast and water in a bowl (picture 1).  Start to add 3 cups of flour, 1 cup at a time (picture 2) while you stir in one direction with a spoon 100 times.  This apparently helps develop the gluten.  Huh.  Interesting.  Then you add more flour until the dough is too stiff to stir anymore (picture 3).  Take it out of the bowl and knead the dough for 10 minutes until the dough is nice and smooth (picture 4).  If you didn't get in a good arm workout recently, this is where you can make it all up!  Ten minutes of kneading feels longer than it should!  Plop the bread in an oiled bowl, stick some plastic wrap over it, and into the refrigerator it goes overnight.  Done with Day 1!  Now, you could just let it rise on the counter for about 2 hours and forgo the refrigerator, but I made the bread part at night so I could do the rest the next day and not have to budget extra time into that day.  And since this recipe is nice and flexible like that, into the refrigerator it went!  If you use the refrigerator option, make sure you budget in some time to let the dough come to room temperature before you work with it again.

When you are ready to bake your naan, divide the ball of dough into 8 portions, roll them into balls, and flatten them a bit.

Roll them out into circles about 5-6 inches across and 1/4 inch thick, sprinkle them with water,and then VIGOROUSLY poke them with holes.  Here is where I think my problem came.  I do not own a dough stamp, which the recipe suggests, or a pastry docker.  The recipe does say you can use the tines of a fork, but maybe those holes are not big enough so they just grow back together in the oven.  Regardless, you need to poke a bunch of holes in the dough to flatten out the middle.  Theoretically the middle then STAYS flat and the dough around the outside puffs up, hence the term "flatbread"!!  Mine poofed up anyway, but oh well!

Anyway after you poke them with holes, sprinkle on some course salt (I used kosher salt), cumin, and chopped green onion.  Into a HOT oven they go, onto a hot baking stone.  I cooked 4 at a time, as that is what my stone allowed.  They only cook for a few minutes, so hold on to your patience just a little bit longer!

They were great!  I would totally make them again, regardless of the poofy-ness!  I can not imagine that the poof hindered the taste and the tasted was great!  And you could use all sorts of different toppings, too!  Maggie of Always Add More Butter did some with cinnamon-sugar on top and said it tasted like a hot pretzel with cinnamon sugar like you might get at a shopping mall!  YUM!  The dough itself is sort of pretzel-y.  It does have a bit of a saltier taste, but not so salty that you actually THINK about salt.  It only occurred to me when I read Maggie's blog and she mentioned her cinnamon sugar variation!  The next night, I sprinkled some parmesan cheese on top, heated them under the broiler and ate them with spaghetti and meatballs!

We made Butter Chicken to go with the naan.  Yum.  I say "we" because though I found the recipe and decided that is what we should eat, Mr. Clever Mom actually made it.  I am lucky to have a husband that cooks!  The recipe has a bit of spice but not so overpowering that my almost-4 year old wouldn't eat it.  She and I are both somewhat wimpy when it comes to spicy food but this recipe was a hit!  The bowl above is actually half eaten!  The second batch of naan came out of the oven after we started dinner and these got a nicer brown color to them! 

Easy Indian Butter Chicken
adapted from allrecipes.com
1/4 cup butter, divided
1 onion, minced
1 TB minced garlic
1 (15) ounce can of tomato sauce
1 can evaporated skim milk
1 tsp. cayenne pepper (we used only about 1/4 tsp.  It still had heat, just not too much!)
1 tsp. garam masala
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 TB vegetable oil
2 TB tandoori masala (I could not find this in the grocery store but found Tandoori seasoning at Penzeys Spices.  I am guessing it is about the same??  In the reviews some people used curry powder instead but others were appalled at the substitution so who knows?)

Preheat oven to 375F.
Melt 2 TB of butter in a skillet over medium heat.  Slowly cook the onion and garlic until the onion caramelizes into a dark brown color, about 15 minutes. 
Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter, tomato sauce, salt, cayenne pepper and garam masala in a saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low and cover.  Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Stir in caramelized onions.
While the sauce is simmering, toss the chicken with vegetable oil until coated, then season with tandoori and spread onto a baking sheet.  Bake the chicken until no longer pink in the middle, about 12 minutes.  When done, add the chicken to the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes.  Serve over rice.
Makes 6 servings.
NOTE:  This recipe was originally submitted to allrecipes.com using 1 cup of butter and 3 cups of heavy cream.  YIKES!  A couple of years later, the original submitter wrote in and said she had worked on the recipe and found the above lower fat version to work well.  The reviews were good before but even better after!  
Printable Recipe

Try your hand at making an Indian-style meal.  I think you'll like it!