Naan Cast Iron Griddle Food

NAAN

Steps:

• Combine the yeast and sugar with 1/4 cup warm water in a small bowl and mix well. Set aside until it begins to froth, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile combine 2 1/2 cups of the flour with the salt in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Make a well in the center and add the yeast-mixture, yogurt, ghee or butter, warm milk and lemon juice, if using. Mix well with your fingers until it forms a sticky or shaggy dough. Add more flour if too shaggy or a little water if too dry.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in a larger lightly-oiled bowl, tightly cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a draft-free place, such as an unlit oven, until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.
• If using a pizza stone/steel: An hour before baking, put a pizza stone or steel on the lowest oven rack and preheat to 500 to 550 degrees F. If using a cast-iron skillet/griddle, just before baking, heat the skillet or griddle on the stove over high heat until very hot, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Put some melted ghee or butter in a small bowl. Add the remaining flour to another bowl.
• Divide the dough into 8 balls. Dab each ball in flour, flatten on a lightly floured surface and stretch or roll into an oval shape, thinner in the center and slightly thicker on the sides. Don't worry too much about the shape; I love making various countries when I make my naan! Dust off any extra flour. Brush some ghee or butter on the top of each and sprinkle with nigella seeds if using (add a little more than you want as you will lose a bunch while charring).
• Transfer the stretched naan onto the hot stone or skillet. Cook until you see some bubbles on top, 2 to 3 minutes. Take it out with tongs and flash-cook over an open flame, turning it so that it gets a few brown charred spots on both sides. Spread with a generous pat of butter/ghee and serve hot. Repeat with the remaining naan.

GRILLED NAAN RECIPE

Steps:

• Combine flour, yeast, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until combined. Add yogurt and knead with dough hook on low speed until dough comes together into a smooth ball. Dough should stick slightly to bottom of bowl as it kneads (add slightly more yogurt or milk as necessary). Continue to knead for 5 minutes. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise at room temperature until roughly doubled in volume, about 2 hours.
• Turn dough out onto floured work surface. Using a bench scraper or a knife, cut the dough into 12 even pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, then place on a well-floured surface (leaving a few inches of space between each one) and cover with a floured cloth. Alternatively, place each ball of dough in an individual covered pint-sized deli container. Allow dough to rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.
• Ignite a large chimney full of coals (about 5 quarts of coals) and spread evenly over half of the grill. Set grill grates in place, cover, and allow to preheat for 5 minutes. Scrape grill grates clean with a brush.
• Working with two to three balls of dough at a time, stretch with your hands into an oblong roughly 10-inches long and 6-inches across (you can use a rolling pin for this as well). Once you have two or three pieces stretched, lay them out on the grill above the coals. Cook without moving until bottom side is charred in spots and light golden brown. Flip with a large spatula, pizza peel, or with tongs and cook until second side is charred and browned. Remove naan from the grill and immediately brush with melted butter. Transfer the naan to a large plate and cover it with a clean dish towel while you cook the remaining bread.

GARLIC NAAN (FAST & EASY!)

Steps:

• In a large bowl, stir together the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and kosher salt. Add the olive oil, milk, and Greek yogurt and stir until dough comes together. If it is dry, add a bit more milk; if it is very sticky, add a sprinkle more flour. Knead for about 30 seconds to a minute until all the flour is incorporated and a dough ball forms.
• Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Rest for 30 minutes at room temperature covered with a towel.
• Once the dough has rested, flatten it into a disc. Then cut it into 6 equal pieces. On a clean, lightly floured countertop, roll each dough into a thin teardrop shape, about 1/8 inch thick.
• Meanwhile, grate the garlic. In a small saucepan, heat the butter and the garlic over medium low heat. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes until the garlic fragrant is just starting to turn yellow (but not brown), then immediately remove from the heat.
• Heat a cast iron skillet*, griddle or large skillet over very high heat until it's blazing hot (make sure it's as hot as possible, or the first piece won't cook correctly). Add one of the pieces of dough and cook until the top has bubbles and the bottom is golden and very dark brown in spots (about 1 minute), then turn and cook another 30 seconds to 1 minute on the other side. Brush the naan with a bit of the garlic butter on both sides. Wrap it with a clean towel. Repeat with the remaining 5 naan, adding each to the towel afterwards (this will steam them and keep them warm and supple).
• Serve immediately with chopped cilantro. To store, place fully cooled naan in an airtight plastic bag and keep at room temperature for up to 3 days, or wrap in foil, place in a plastic bag or container and freeze for up to 2 months. Reheat refrigerated or frozen naan by wrapping in aluminum foil and baking in a 350°F oven for 15 minutes. For quick fix, you can reheat naan in the toaster (you may need to cut it in half to get it to fit).

NAAN (CAST IRON GRIDDLE)

Steps:

• In a large bowl, whisk together flours, salt and baking powder. Using a wooden spoon, stir buttermilk into flour mixture. When dough becomes too stiff to mix with a spoon, dust your hands with flour and knead dough in bowl until dry and wet ingredients are thoroughly combined. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let ferment in the refrigerator at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
• Dust work surface liberally with flour. Shape dough into balls 3 to 3.5 inches in diameter. The dough will be very sticky; use as much flour as you need to handle it. Use a rolling pin to roll each dough ball into a circle about 6 inches in diameter.
• Heat a dry cast-iron skillet over high heat until smoking. Slick skillet with 1 T oil. Pick up a dough circle, stretch it out a bit more, shake off any excess flour and place it in skillet. Cook until naan starts to bubble, 1-2 minutes. Drizzle another T of oil over surface of naan, then use tongs or a metal spatula to flip naan. Cook until there is no visible raw flour and surface is speckled brown, 1-2 minutes more. Repeat with remaining dough, adding more oil to pan as needed. Stack finished naan, one on top of another, on plate as you go to keep them warm.
• Serve naan warm. (Naan will keep, covered in plastic wrap, for up to 2 days at room temperature. Warm in a 350 degree oven before serving.

EASY NAAN

Steps:

• Grease a large bowl lightly with ghee.
• In a small bowl, stir the yeast and a pinch of the sugar into the water. Set aside for 3 to 5 minutes, at which point the mixture should look foamy. If it isn't, wait for another minute, and if it is still without activity, start again with fresh yeast.
• In a bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, and remaining sugar. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, as if making a small volcano. Whisk the yogurt into the yeast mixture, then pour the yeast-water mixture into the middle of the dry ingredients (or crater, to continue the metaphor). With a fork, slowly bring the walls of the well into the liquid a little at a time, until all the liquid is incorporated but some loose flour remains. Turn the whole bowl out onto a clean work surface. Knead the dough until it is a satiny lump, 5 to 8 minutes. If the dough is too sticky to handle at any point, dust with flour.
• Place the dough in the ghee-slicked bowl and cover with a damp, lint-free kitchen towel to rest at room temperature until doubled in bulk, 3 to 4 hours. (At this point, the dough can be covered in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Take chilled dough out of the fridge 30 minutes before using.)
• Preheat an oven to 200°F (95°C) with an ovenproof serving dish on the rack set in the middle.
• Turn the dough out onto a work surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions. Shape each piece into a tight ball by rolling between your cupped hand and a work surface. Re-cover with your towel and leave the dough to relax, at least 5 and up to 10 minutes.
• Preheat a large cast-iron skillet or nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Take one piece of dough and place in the center of a lightly floured work surface, keeping the rest of the balls covered. Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough into a round approximately 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick. If desired, pull on one side of the circle to form the traditional teardrop shape. If ever the dough resists rolling and springs back, move on and shape another ball of dough, then return to the first when finished. Once shaped, brush the dough with water and, if using, press any desired seasonings into the surface. Set the dough into the hot pan, wet side down, and brush the now-exposed dry side of the dough with a little water. Cover and cook, undisturbed, until bubbles form on the top of the dough, and the underside is speckled and brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the naan and press with a folded kitchen towel to flatten any large bubbles. Replace the lid and cook until the underside is as browned as the top, 1 to 2 minutes more, then flip back over and brush with melted ghee.
• Keep the naan warm in the oven as the remaining dough is shaped and cooked. The naan are best eaten right away but can be stored at room temperature for 1 day. Rewarm in a low oven, wrapped in foil. Garnish with the cilantro.
• Omit the yeast. Stir 3/4 cup (175 ml) milk with the yogurt instead of using water. Whisk together the flours, salt, and sugar as above, adding 1 teaspoon baking powder and a generous 3/4 teaspoon baking soda to the mix. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients to form a dough. Knead, cover with a damp kitchen towel, and let rest at room temperature for 1 hour before shaping and cooking as above.

GARLIC NAAN

Steps:

• Combine water, sugar, and yeast in a bowl. Let stand until yeast softens and forms a creamy foam, about 15 minutes.
• In the meantime, heat butter in a pan over medium heat until melted and sizzling. Quickly mix in garlic. Remove garlic butter from heat and set aside until ready to use.
• Add yogurt, bread flour, salt, and 1 tablespoon of the garlic butter to the yeast mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms. Knead by hand until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, adding more water or flour as needed. Turn dough out onto the counter and continue kneading into a smooth ball, 3 to 4 minutes.
• Place dough in a large bowl. Coat with a few more drizzles of garlic butter. Cover and let rise until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.
• Punch down dough and turn out onto the counter. Shape into a rough rectangle and cut into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and lightly dust with flour. Cover with plastic wrap and proof until slightly puffy, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Roll each piece into an oval about 1/8 inch thick. Sprinkle some cilantro on top and press lightly to adhere.
• Preheat a cast iron skillet until very, very hot, about 5 minutes. Cook each naan until large bubbles form, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip over, press gently, and cook until bubbles on the bottom are charred, 2 to 3 minutes more.
• Brush naan with more garlic butter before serving.