I've always enjoyed cooking Indian food at home. I enjoy it even more when I have appreciative and enthusiastic dinner guests in attendance, as I was lucky enough to recently have at my Tucson apartment.
I typically don't make Naan (the Indian flatbread, pictured in the foreground of the photo), but I was in an ambitious mood this time. I've had mixed results making Naan on sheetpans in past, but a light-bulb flashed on in my head when I thought about doing 'em on a pizza stone. Results were great! Even my run-of-the-mill electric oven produced great Naan via this method. I've modified a Food.com recipe to approximate the experience ...
Ingredients:
4 cups all-purpose flour;
1 teaspoon baking powder;
1/4 teaspoon baking soda;
1 teaspoon salt;
1 egg, beaten;
6 tablespoons plain yogurt (room temperature;
3 tablespoons butter or 3 tablespoons ghee, melted;
1 cup of luke warm milk (may use a little less, just add gradually until soft dough forms);
1 tablespoon poppy seed (optional);
Directions:
1 Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together into a bowl.
2 Stir in the beaten egg, yogurt and 2 tablespoons of the butter/ghee.
3 Gradually stir in enough milk to make a soft dough.
4 Knead dough very well.
5 Lightly grease bowl and cover the dough with a damp cloth and place in a warm place for 2 hours.
6 Preheat your oven to 425 degrees - place pizza stone in the oven and let it sit for at least half an hour - the stone should get quite hot; if the oven has a Broiler setting, this is preferable.
7 Knead dough on a floured surface for 2 or 3 minutes until smooth.
8 Divide into 8 pieces.
9 Roll each piece into a ball, and then into ovals about 6 to 8 inches long.
10 Grease a baking sheet with oil and brush both the sides of the rolled out Naan with oil (melted butter works even better).
11 Sprinkle one side with poppy seeds if you wish to use them.
12 Place the Naan on the pizza stone, carefully.
13 Bake for 4-6 minutes until puffy and lightly golden brown (each oven is different, so check frequently and carefully at first to gauge the amount of time needed to make Naan that's golden brown but NOT burnt!
14 The bread puffs slightly, and will lightly brown on the sides.
