Naan bread like a restaurant

[otuatail]

Hi I have a recipie for naan bread which is nice but I would like it to rise up better. I have thought of adding baking powder yeast and warm mik even to help activate. The ingreadiants are

For 2 Naans
170g self raising flour
16g Sugar
16g Flaked almonds
110ml milk

Mix well and leave to rest before rolling them out.

 

[dragnlaw]

Why don't you just try using warmed milk first, before adding anything else. I would worry it will rise too much with extra yeast and baking powder.

 

[otuatail]

Okay thanks. Didn't think of the warm milk with the Self raising flour. But have you ever seen the ones in the restaurant. Their massive.
What would be the diffrence between yeast and baking powder here?

 

[dragnlaw]

LOL, but naan IS a flat bread. Not supposed to be thick and fluffy.
Wasn't it originally meant to be a sort of 'plate' or 'spoon' to scoop up the curry? or whatever's in the pot? It has to be fairly thin and pliable to do that.

I don't have a problem with a restaurant changing something like that, it obviously works for them. Did you ask if they make it on the premises, or does it come in ready to bake? or completely finished just needing heating for customers.
They might actually buy it that way. Or they might share their recipe with you - gotta ask nicely though!

 

[pepperhead212]

Naan is usually made with yeast. I have never seen recipes using self rising flour, or baking powder or soda, but I'm not sure what you are looking for with a bread "like a restaurant". Here's a recipe as an example - of course, they're touting the KA flour, but that's not essential, though the extra gluten of added bread flour will help these rise.

Naan

Our thanks to author Pooja Makhijani for sharing this recipe with us. Make your own Naan bread today with bread flour from King Arthur Baking Company!

www.kingarthurbaking.com

 

[dragnlaw]

sorry, just realized I never addressed your last point.

I think this is beyond my capabilities - all I know is that they are both leavening agents. They will also probably each give a different flavour.
There are many bakers here on the site. One will soon come along and give a better answer than I.

LOL, there yuh go! before I even finished. Thanks pepper.

Perhaps the self-raising is replacing the yeast, but....

 

[otuatail]

Okay. I added the yeast in asweel but if you used yeast, yeast interacts with sugar. Well it does in the brewing industry. What about normal flower verus strong flower though.

Maybe restaurants in the UK make them blow up like ballons to make them look impressive but their easyer to tear apart and dip into curry.

 

[pepperhead212]

Strong flour in the UK means bread flour, with more gluten in it.

 

[Aunt Bea]

This is the recipe that I used for a recent experiment. The dough puffed enough to form a pocket but did not dramatically balloon up. That could be due to my inexperience, too low a heat to activate the gases in the dough, or because I used whole wheat flour. They were very good and deserve another try.

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 t salt
1/2 t yeast
1/2 cup warm water

I kneaded it in the bowl until the bowl was clean, added a teaspoon of oil to coat the dough and covered the bowl with a dinner plate. I let it sit for 6 hours, punched it down and shaped the dough into 6 discs the thickness of pie crust. I let it rest covered for 30 minutes and ‘baked’ them on a hot dry cast iron skillet until puffed and cooked.

 

[dragnlaw]

Thanks pepper, I thought it did.
Aunt Bea, looks like you got 2 for 1. Pita pocket and naan all rolled into one!

 

[Aunt Bea]

Thanks pepper, I thought it did.
Aunt Bea, looks like you got 2 for 1. Pita pocket and naan all rolled into one!

All of these simple old ‘balloon breads’ are about the same.

It’s frustrating and humbling to think that people have made millions of them down through the years under very primitive conditions and we have trouble making them with every modern food product and convenience at our disposal.

 

[dragnlaw]

That's what I was thinking as well!!

 

[taxlady]

When I made chapati, there was no leavening in the dough. If you wanted them to puff up, pushed the edges down with a tea towel, while frying the second side. They did deflate as they cooled. The recipe said you could fry all the chapati and then fry a second time in more oil to make them puff up.

 

[pepperhead212]

Most of the Indian flatbreads I make, like the chapati, don't have leavening of any type. And often, to puff them up, they are placed over an open flame briefly. Usually works, but not with every one. For naan and pita, baking at a high temp on a pizza stone helps, too.