Intimidated by the calories and the time-consuming nature of the Sticky Pecan Buns last month, I sat out the last Tuesday with Dorie. I am happy to say that this afternoon I was back in full force and eager to make Oasis Naan. I planned an Indian meal for tonight so that I could serve the naan in lieu of rice – a chicken, onion, and potato curry with Trader Joe’s curry simmer sauce and a can of light coconut milk.
The recipe called for stirring the flour and water (with yeast) in one direction. When trying to blend flour and water, that’s trickier than it sounds. I had hoped to break out my new food processor or take my KA out of the corral for this recipe, but what it called for was brute strength. I managed to get the 3 cups of flour and water blended, only to have it become a sticky mess as I added the rest of the flour cup by cup. I turned it out onto my flour-y countertop and spent the next 10 minutes as instructed (kneading vigorously)!!!
The dough became smooth and elastic as I worked it, and finally I placed the ball in a well-oiled bowl. Covered with plastic wrap, the dough doubled in size over the next two hours. Possessing neither a pizza stone nor quarry tiles, I opted to invert a baking sheet as the recipe suggests, placing it on the oven rack. While waiting for the oven to reach 500 degrees, I prepared the dough for baking. Dividing the dough evenly into eight balls, and with rolling pin in hand, I rolled out 4 dough circles with the help of my daughter Olivia. She particularly enjoyed pricking the naan allover with the fork. I chopped some scallions for adornment and put some cumin in a shaker with a top of wire mesh. Using this, we could just “dust” the naan with cumin and not blacken it!
a ball of dough in an oiled bowl
Our first batch the dough seemed too dense – the circles weren’t thin enough and I had forgotten to wet the center of the circle before pricking it with the fork. We spent a bit more time rolling out our second batch, and the water seemed to thin the dough a bit and made the pricking easier. We skipped the scallions on this batch and just dusted them with salt and cumin. They definitely looked more authentic!
Golden Naan
I was surprised by how much the kids liked it – they are both taking it to school for snack tomorrow. I am hoping that our second attempt was better than our first – I will try the second batch tomorrow and see if it was “airier” than the first. I could see snacking with this bread and some hummus. While it is delicious, I don’t know if I’ll make it again. I will be interested to hear about the texture of other bakers’ breads…
If you want to try to make Oasis Naan yourself, visit one of our hosts for the recipe:
http://alwaysaddmorebutter.wordpress.com/
or
Looking forward to Fresh Strawberry Cake in a couple of weeks!
jennrag 
Loved the flavor of our naan; we also did a garlic-butter version – our favorite. But they were on the hard and dry side. Not a keeper for us.
Your naan looks great, almost like a pita. I really enjoyed this recipe.
Mine were poofy, but tasted good! It’s a keeper for us. A little poof never hurt anyone!
Yours look great…kind of like a pita! Mine were puffy…not sure why 🙂
Mine were puffier but I did like them that way. Yours look great!
Your naan looks wonderful and it is so nice that you got some help there in preparing it!
Have a good week!
So great to have help form your daughter and the kids liked it, how great is that!!
My kids loved it too. We started eating the naan within a few minutes of it coming out of the oven. And loved the salt and cumin combo. Great job!
I missed the “stir in one direction” bit, but I think mine still turned out ok…
We enjoyed this recipe. We ate it with Chicken Tikki Masala, yummy. I liked the ones that I rolled thinner, I also cooked it longer–it just didn’t look done. I liked the day old naan toasted with a little butter. Yes, it has possibilities!
Glad your kids were able to help–and enjoyed their tasty labors.
I also skipped making the Pecan Sticky Buns because it just had too much butter! Not good for my rising cholesterol levels LOL. Your naans look great!
This was a welcome relief after the buttery May 🙂
These look lovely.
It sounds like you over-kneaded if your bread was dense… too much gluten development – you should stop short of what you “feel” it should be next time 🙂 Looks great though! I skipped the sticky buns for the work involved… wooh! 🙂