Naan

It is leavened with yeast and slapped onto the wall of the oven, not laid on a griddle.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (ghee), dairy (milk), dairy (yogurt).

Ingredients

• 450 g maida, or plain white flour
• 7 g fast-action yeast
• 150 g plain yogurt
• 150 ml warm milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 tablespoon nigella seeds
• ghee, to brush

Method

1. IT IS LEAVENED WITH YEAST AND SLAPPED ONTO THE WALL OF THE OVEN, NOT LAID ON A GRIDDLE. Its article gives both halves: naan is a LEAVENED flatbread, composed of white or wheat flour with a leavening agent, typically yeast, and it is oven-baked, tava-fried or baked in a tandoor. The tandoor is what gives it the character the article describes -- light and fluffy with golden-brown spots from the baking -- because the dough cooks against a surface at four hundred degrees and blisters in ninety seconds. That is also what separates it from every unleavened bread here and from the sourdough-risen one: yeast gives a fast, mild, bready rise rather than a tang.
2. AT HOME IT IS A DRY CAST-IRON PAN, UPSIDE DOWN IF YOU LIKE. Get a heavy pan as hot as it will go. Wet one side of the rolled dough lightly with water and lay that side down -- the water makes it stick, which is the trick that lets you turn the pan over and hold it above the flame so the top blisters as it would in a tandoor.
3. THE DOUGH IS ENRICHED WITH YOGURT AND MILK. Both, which gives a soft crumb that stays soft. Water alone makes a noticeably drier bread.
4. IT IS A SLACK DOUGH AND IT IS KNEADED WELL. Eight minutes until smooth and elastic, then an hour and a half until doubled. It should be tacky; a firm naan dough bakes dense.
5. IT IS SHAPED BY HAND AND PULLED INTO A TEARDROP. Not rolled round. Press it out and then pull one end as you lift it, which is where the shape comes from -- the weight of the dough hanging from the baker's hand.
6. THE NIGELLA SEEDS GO ON BEFORE IT COOKS AND ARE PRESSED IN. Scattered on the dry side and rolled over once so they stick.
7. IT COOKS IN NINETY SECONDS AND IS WATCHED. Bubbles first, then brown spots. Any longer and it dries to a cracker.
8. IT IS BRUSHED WITH GHEE THE MOMENT IT COMES OFF. While it is still steaming, which is when it absorbs rather than sits in it.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

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