Perfect Naan Bread

• portions: 4
• temps actif: 60 min
• temps total: 1 hour 3 minutes

Ingrédients

Naan

3/4 cup lukewarm water

1 teaspoon active dry or instant yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons buttermilk or yogurt

2 cups (256g) flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

melted butter for brushing

nice sea salt for sprinkling

Instructions

1. Sprinkle yeast over lukewarm water. Sprinkle sugar over top. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes or until foamy. (Note: If using instant yeast, this step is unnecessary. Simply mix the water, olive oil and buttermilk together; mix the yeast, sugar, flour and salt together; then combine wet and dry ingredients until mixed.)

2. Whisk in olive oil and buttermilk (or yogurt). Sprinkle flour and salt over top. Mix until combined. Dough will be really wet and sticky. Cover bowl with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot. (Note: To create a warm spot, turn your oven on for 1 minute, then shut it off — it will be barely warm. You should be able to touch your hands to the grates without them burning you, but be careful while you test them out.)

3. Let rise until doubled, 1 to 2 hours. Forty-five minutes before baking, place Steel in oven and preheat oven to 550ºF. Note: If your dough is in the oven rising, be sure to remove it. Turn dough out onto a floured work surface and turn dough to coat. Divide dough into 4 equal sections. Dough will be sticky, so just try to handle it minimally using as much flour as needed to keep it from sticking to your hands and your work surface. Shape each section into a ball and let rest for at least 20 minutes before shaping but up to an hour if necessary.

4. To shape the dough, you can use two approaches, and if you are up for experimenting, it's interesting to see how the different approaches produce different results.

Method #1: Use a rolling pin to roll dough into an oval about 8 inches long, then transfer dough to a parchment paper-lined peel. Wet your fingers and lightly rub surface of dough with water. You can fit two of these ovals at a time on the Steel.

Method #2: Use your hands to gently stretch the dough, either in the air gently pulling the edges to stretch it evenly or along your board using all of your fingers to elongate it. Transfer dough to a parchment paper-lined peel. Again, you can fit two of these ovals at a time on the Steel. Wet your fingers and lightly rub surface of dough with water. My thoughts: I prefer not using a rolling pin. When I stretch the dough gently, I find I get nicer air pockets in the finished dough and that the naan itself remains more pliable after it has baked. When I use the rolling pin, the finished naan is stiffer, more like flatbread — still tasty, but not my preference as far as texture goes. The key I have found when using your hands versus is a rolling pin is to be sure to stretch the naan out as well as possible — if you don't get good length, parts of the naan will be really thick and doughy — again, delicious, but not the ideal texture for naan.

5. Shimmy naan onto Baking Steel. Bake two minutes. Flip using tongs. Bake 1 minute. Remove from oven. Brush with butter. Sprinkle with salt. Repeat with remaining two round.