Naan

One of our favorite items around here is fresh naan.

The base recipe is the master bread (no knead) recipe adapted from “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007).

Base Recipe:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
• 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough

1. In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).

2. Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks.

For Naan:

1. Because the dough is damp, so sprinkle a bit of flour onto the dough before using scissors to snip off a ball about the size of lemon. If you want larger Naan, cut a ball of dough about the size of peach.
   

2. Sprinkle your board and your rolling pin with flour, and roll the dough to about 1/8” thickness. Make sure your cast iron pan is super hot. Add about a teaspoon of butter and swirl across the pan to coat. Drop in the dough.
   

3. Cover the pan. My skillet doesn’t have a lid, so I use a cookie sheet. Take a peek after about a minute. If you see dough bulging up, it’s ready to turn. Cook the other side for a similar amount of time.
   

4. You can use a portion of the dough, or if you’re feeding a crowd, all of it. Whatever you don’t use, just recover your bowl with plastic wrap (leaving just a smidge of an opening to allow gas to escape) and stick it back in your refrigerator.