Sourdough Naan
Well, hello there! And how is your pandemic going?
The deeper we get into this thing, the longer it feels like it’s going to go. In China, they are now starting to lift quarantines and life is beginning to go back to normal, but it’s been 2+ months for them. We are now into week 3.
To help maintain my sanity, I’ve been cooking and baking a lot. More than usual? Maybe. Not sure. Actually, my life hasn’t changed dramatically in the way that many people’s lives have. I work from home a great deal of the time anyway, I cook and bake a great deal of the time anyway… I do miss restaurants and my friends and shopping for food. I miss working in coffee shops.
On my list of places to check out before the lights went out was a local Indian place up on Davie called Mumbai Local. So, clearly, I had a craving for Indian food. The good news is, that stuff is easy to make at home, and I generally always have the pantry ingredients on hand to do so.
But I also wanted to make naan. Now, if you’ve ever had Indian food, you’ve probably tried naan. It’s this pillowy, soft, buttery, tasty yeasted flatbread that is great for dipping into and sopping up all the bits of sauce in the bottom of your bowl.
It’s pretty simple to make (though I’d never made it before) and I thought I’d try making it with sourdough, because, you know, I have time on my hands and sourdough and why the heck not.
I was really happy with the results. I served my sourdough naan alongside some Vegan “Butter Chicken” (tofu) and basmati rice. Perfect!
Sourdough Naan
Ingredients:
- 1 cup sourdough starter
- 1/2 cup milk or non-dairy milk (warmed)
- 1/4 cup thick yogourt (or non-dairy option)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- pinch of kosher salt
- melted butter (vegan?) or oil for frying
Method:
- Begin by mixing together the wet ingredients (including sourdough starter) in a large bowl.
- Add in the dry ingredients and mix well until it forms a shaggy dough. Spritz or brush with oil, cover with plastic wrap, and then a clean tea towel and set aside to rise for 2-3 hours in a warm place, or until doubled in size.
- Punch the dough down and sprinkle a little flour on your work surface. Turn the dough out onto your floured work surface and knead it for a few minutes until smooth, adding additional flour if needed.
- Divide the dough into half, then half again, then half again so you have 8 pieces. Using your fingers, stretch each piece of dough out into an oval shape about 1/4-1/2″ thick.
- Heat your frying pan over medium-high heat. Brush the pan with melted butter or oil and then place the naan bread in the pan and allow to fry to for a minute or two, until crispy and golden, then flip and allow to cook on the other side.
- Repeat with remaining dough.