There is no shortage of bread books in my cookbooks collection; I don’t usually think of The Gourmet Cookbook, edited by Ruth Reichl, as one of them. Clearly, it’s an oversight, because the section on breads occupies over 100 pages of The Gourmet Cookbook. You can literally find everything there. From Irish soda bread, stollen, Swedish rye bread to Viennese jelly doughnuts. Leafing through the pages, I’m in bread heaven. Someday, I’ll tackle them all. A while ago, I baked a fantastic gluten-free skillet corn bread from the Gourmet Cookbook. Now, I see this leavened flatbread with mixed seeds recipe. You can’t have an Indian meal without naan. Here is my chance.
My husband is comparing this bread to those store-bought varieties and naans from Indian restaurants. I can see why he does that. Obviously, I didn’t beat those from Indian restaurants. But, a thumbs up despite the fact that this is my first attempt.
Meanwhile, I bake the leavened flatbread with mixed seeds in my home oven, set at the highest temperature at 550°F and over a pizza stone. In India, the baking is done in a very hot clay ovens or tandoors. That’s how you get those blackened blisters and smoky flavor — all from the intense heat of the tandoors. Meanwhile, I’m content my home oven delivers remarkably high temperature to produce naans in good colors and in short order.
From mixing, kneading, first and second rise to the final baking, you can make this flatbread in less than 4 hours. The recipe is doable. Although this may be a weekend project but a fun one — if you like to play with dough as much as I do.
Besides the mixed seeds (I use everything bagel), there is a good amount of onion which enhances the flavor of the bread. There is an egg as one of its ingredients. Surprise! I look up another naan recipe from Madhur Jeffrey’s Indian Cooking. She uses an egg in her recipe, which is rather similar to this one. According to Jeffrey, naan may be cooked both with or without egg. If you decide not to use the egg, just increase the yoghurt by about 4 tablespoons.
Leavened Flatbread with Mixed Seeds
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon /15ml warm water (105 to 115°F)
- 3 to 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons black poppy seeds
- 1/2 cup/112g warm milk (105 - 115°F)
- 1/2 cup plain whole-milk yogurt, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 stick /4 tablespoon / 50g unsalted butter
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 1/2 tablespoons mixed seeds - such as nigella, sesame seeds and/or white poppy seeds
- Coarse salt for sprinkling
Instructions
MAKE AHEAD: Naan may be made 1 day ahead and cooled completely before being kept, wrapped in plastic wrap, at room temperature. Reheat naan, uncovered, on a baking sheet in a 450°F oven until bottoms are slightly crisp, about 2 minutes.
MAKE THE DOUGH: In a small bowl stir together yeast, sugar, and water and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl, sift together 3 cups (345g) flour, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon black poppy seeds.
In another bowl, stir together milk, yogurt, onion, and 2 tablespoons butter.
Make a well in center of flour mixture and add yeast mixture, milk mixture, and egg, stirring until a soft and sticky dough forms.
Transfer dough to a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, adding just enough of remaining flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Form dough into a ball and put in a lightly oiled large bowl, turning to coat with oil. Cover bowl with a kitchen towel. Let dough rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.
Put pizza stone on the lowest rack and PREHEAT oven to highest setting (500-550°F). Allow 1 hour to preheat stone.
SHAPE THE NAAN: Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and quarter it. Roll out each quarter with a floured rolling pin into a 1/8-inch-thick oval about 12 inches long and 5 inches wide. Let dough rest, covered with kitchen towels, for 10 minutes.
Stir together remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons black poppy seeds and mixed seeds in a small bowl. Transfer 1 dough oval to a well-floured peel. Brush top of oval with some melted butter and sprinkle with one-fourth (1/4) of seed mixture and some salt.
BAKE: Line up far edge of the peel with far edge of stone. Tilt peel, jerking it gently to get the dough moving. When edge of oval touches stone, quickly pull back peel to transfer loaf to stone. Bake naan in oven until edges are golden brown and bread bubbles (top will be an uneven golden brown), about 5-6 minutes. Keep naan warm, loosely covered with foil, while you bake remaining loaves, one at a time, in the same manner; reflour peel as necessary to prevent dough from sticking.
Notes
Adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook, edited by Ruth Reichl
4 Comments
MyKitchenInHalfCups
March 22, 2019 at 2:42 pmI’ve found some amazing breads in ‘non bread’ cookbooks. I’m always comparing recipes.
Flat breads always seem to be a joy to bake and make me think of a long line of home bakers. Yours look definitely thumbs up.
eliotthecat
March 24, 2019 at 11:07 amI’ve always wanted to make naan. Love the seeds on top!
Kim Ttacy
March 24, 2019 at 5:35 pmI love those blackened blisters on naan bread, but I do have to say that yours looks every bit as good! You’ve got all those golden brown blisters and I love the everything bagel seasoning. So glad to see some bread from The Gourmet Cookbook. She sure has a lot of bread recipes.
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