Garlic Naan Breads

Naan. Who doesn't love it? No one. Because it is wonderful in every sense of the word! Chewy, dense, foldable and yummy as hell. It's everything I want a bread to be. Especially with my *ahem* brilliant addition of some mashed, oven-roasted garlic kneaded into the dough. You may thank me anytime.

The naan that you'll find in most stores and restaurants is not what we'd call vegan, what with all the ghee and yogurt and such (icky). So, I went online in search of a vegan naan recipe to try out. HAHA. Good luck with that search, sucka! What's a hungry vegan girlie to do when she can't find a recipe? Consult Twitter, of course.

This is only my second successful bread-making experience, so I was worried about whether it would turn out. Scratch that. I was scared outta my damn mind. Me and yeasted breads had a bad relationship that ended with me, in tears, vowing never to attempt baking bread again. Really. I may, or may not, have cried over bread dough once. Don't mock me!

This recipe led me to make 6 big naans. It was my first time (haha), so I didn't realize exactly what I was doing. Fortunately, I don't care as I like them above-average in size (hehehe). Mine, once cooked, ended up being almost as big as my dinner plate. Oops. Well, it worked for me because I filled mine up with my Aloo Masala and pigged out. Don't judge. You would have, too. 

So, here is my version of the naan-- it will take you at least a couple of hours to make from start to finish. No complaining, pansy, it is well worth the time expended. Do something to enrich your life while you wait during the rises...read, learn to knit, watch tv, learn to cuss in Russian--whatever.

7.11.11 Update:

You don't have to roast the garlic! I made it with raw minced garlic (6 loaves with about 3 large raw cloves of garlic) and a tiny sprinkle of garlic powder. Instead of putting the garlic into the big batch of dough, I kneaded it into each loaf before the second rise. MEGA YUM! We liked it even better than the first time I made it.
Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 tsp yeast (its the same as 1 packet)
• 1 cup of warm water
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 1 TB of oil (I used olive oil) 
• 1 TB of salt 
• 3-4 TB almond milk or the milk of your choosing
• 4 cups of flour 
• 3 TB of garlic powder
• 8-9 cloves garlic, peeled, kept whole

Method:

1. I started by preheating my oven to 375 and placing my cloves of garlic on a sheet foil. I added a tiny sprinkle of salt and about 1 TB olive oil to the garlic and then closed it up into a packet. Bake on middle rack for about 25 minutes. Then remove and mash into a paste in a mortar/pestle or with a fork in a small bowl (which is what I did). I covered it with some plastic wrap and set aside.
2. Now, time to start the bread! Get a big bowl. Add the yeast and water and stir. As for water temp, you want it about 110-120 degrees (just hot enough to make you not want your hand in it). Let this sit aside for about 10 minutes, until the water gets all frothy from the yeast. 
3. Mix in sugar, oil, salt, milk, and flour. It'll get pretty messy if you're anything like me. It looked like a bag of flour exploded in my kitchen. But, I used my hands to mix the dough as my stand mixer doesn't have a dough hook.
4. So, now you need to knead the dough. Eek! Don't know how to knead? Go here. I actually really got into the kneading this time. It felt lovely to not hate it so much and know that I was at least - kind of- doing it right.  Alright, knead it about 6 minutes or something. The dough will be dense and soft, but shouldn't be sticky. Place the dough ball into a lightly oiled bowl. Like this:

5. Now, cover your bowl with a damp towel and set aside for at least 1 hour. The dough needs to double in size. I think mine took about 90 minutes. I ended up turning on my oven and setting the bowl on top of the stove so the warmth helped the bread to rise. It should look like this:

6. Use your paws or a knife to separate the giant ball of dough into 5 chunks. You could do more, but it's only because you are an overachiever. Knead just a bit, then knead in some of the mashed garlic alright, I maybe added some garlic powder too. You caught me. So, anyway, knead a minute or two, then shape into a ball larger than a baseball, smaller than a softball. Haha. Look at me using sports ball references. I placed my balls (haha) on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat, like this:

7. Now, cover again with a damp towel and allow the dough balls to rise for about 45 minutes or so. They will double in size and look kinda of wacky.  Oh, and if you heated your oven to rise the bread, don't forget to turn it off. I don't wanna have to hear about your house burning down.

8. Alright, now you'll want to stretch/pat/roll out the dough to be quite thin. I chose the smoosh and stretch method. I have a rather large nonstick frying pan, so I made mine pretty big.

9. So, is your first ball all smooshed out? Good. Heat your frying pan over medium heat. Spray with some cooking spray. Lay your dough out in the pan. After about 1 minute, lightly spray the top, then flip and start cooking the opposite side. You may need to turn your stove down to medium-low. Cook about 2-3 minutes, and flip back again to make sure it is sufficiently browned. Cook about 4-5 minutes total.

10. While you're cooking the first ball, smoosh out the second. And so on. You get the picture. They go fast, so just keep checking your naans so they don't burn in the skillet. 

You're done. Pat yourself on the back or whatever. Now, go pig out.