Cheese & Garlic Naan

Naan is a yummy oven-baked flat bread. Traditionally, naan bread is baked in a tandoori (clay oven). The dough is pushed on to the sides of the clay oven and bakes in a minute. Naan bread is made from grains which are ground into flour, combined with salt, water, sugar, yeast, and oil.

Naan, a very popular Indian dish for any occasion. Either someone is coming home for a formal dinner or you want to celebrate something, this is a must item in the menu. It is served with a variety of lentils & vegetables. My husband's favorites are Dum Aloo (Stuffed Potato Curry), Malai Kofta (Cheese Dumplings) Curry, Paneer Pasanda (Stuffed Cheese Curry), Dal Makhani (Whole Black Gram Lentil with Kidney Beans). It can be served plain or stuffed with cheese, potato, garlic, onion, etc. I made it plain and did topping with Indian cheese, garlic, and Cilantro.

Baking a great tasting naan at home is not hard and perfect for any gathering. Ghee, a clarified butter is my secret ingredient to make it moist and soft. You can use the leftover in the form of baked pizza or grilled sandwich.

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour - 5 cups
2. Water - 1 cup
3. Yogurt - 10 tbsp
4. Sugar - 4 tsp
5. Salt - 2 tsp
6. Ghee melted - 5 tbsp
7. Dry active yeast - 2 tsp

Topping:

1. Minced or chopped Garlic - 3 cloves
2. Fresh chopped Cilantro - 5 tsp
3. Shredded Cheese - 5 tsp
4. Ghee / Butter - as per taste

Method:

Dough

1. In a lukewarm water add sugar and yeast and let it sit for few minutes to be frothy.
2. Mix flour and salt. 
3. Make a well in the center the add ghee, yogurt and yeast liquid. Kneed it to form a dough.
4. Kneed the dough for 5 mins until it is smooth and uniform.
5. Cover it and let it rest for few hours until it becomes double in its size.
6. Kneed it again and mix in the topping or you can fill it before rolling. (I filled it in)

Rolling Naan

1. Turn on the oven and set the temperature on broil.
2. Divide the dough into 5 equal parts.
3. Stretch it and fill in the toppings and close it.
4. Using the flour roll the dough flat into your preferable shape. I like triangle Naan.
5. Place the Naan in a lightly greased baking sheet (I used Pizza pan).
6. Brush it with some Ghee and shift it in the oven for 2 mins. 
7. Keep an eye on it. The oven temp may vary. 
8. It puffs right away and you can see the color change.
9. Take it out. Brush it with butter and it is ready to serve.
10. Enjoy it with your favorite curry.

Substitutions:

1. Sugar can be substituted by Honey.
2. You can hand-stretch the dough instead of rolling.
3. Topping Ghee can be substituted with butter.
4. You can use Pizza stone if you have and preheat it for the better char.
5. You can fold the almonds, coconut, raisins in the dough to enjoy Peshawari Naan.
6. Fold some chopped cooked soy nuggets to enjoy vegetarian Keema Naam.
7. Add onions, potato, any thing you family loves.

Tips:

1. Increase more sugar if you like sweet.
2. Put the dough somewhere warm. (I put it in the oven and switch-on the oven light)