Tava Naan

Ingredients

• All-purpose flour - 3 cups
• Active Dry Yeast - 1 tspn
• Milk - 3/4 cup
• Warm water - 1/2 cup
• Yogurt - 2 tbspn
• Sugar - 1 tspn
• Salt - 3/4 tspn
• Oil - 1 tspn

Tava Naan

method

This was my third attempt at making Naan. Very first time, alarm went off because of the excessive heat(500 degrees) from my oven & I had to curtail my Naan making process midway. Then, I tried it on a tava, Naan came out perfect but did not taste good because of the excess baking soda & baking powder added to the recipe. Finally, I gave it a shot by using yeast & made the naan again on a tava & it came out just perfect. So, without further ado, I am presenting you my recipe from my third attempt here. Just so you know, my inspiration for this recipe is from chef Sanjay from VahreVah.com.

1. Dissolve the yeast & sugar in 1/2 cup warm water. Leave it covered for 10 minutes or until frothy.
2. Mix in other ingredients & make a dough. Knead the dough for 10 minutes to make the gluten form. Gluten is a protein which holds the air released by yeast while the yeast is working on the sugar in the dough. The dough may be little sticky, but that is ok. Cover the bowl & leave it in a warm place for about 3-4 hours or until the dough doubles.
3. Punch the dough with your knuckle to its original size. Punching the dough helps to distribute the air bubbles all through the dough. Knead the dough for 3 minutes & let it rest for 10 more minutes. Resting helps to relax the dough & will make it easier to handle. Otherwise, the dough will not hold the shape, it springs back to a ball.
4. Make the dough into equal sized balls (bigger than chapati dough). If the dough sticks, dip your finger into the dry flour to make the balls & roll it into a circle or tear drop shape. You can even pat the dough by your hand & flip them around using both hands. The weight of the dough will help stretch the dough.
5. Heat an Iron pan or a heavy bottomed pan (for even heat distribution) with lid on for five minutes or till it smokes a bit.
6. Sprinkle a teaspoon of water over the stretched naan (no need to drench the whole area of the naan) & put the sprinkled side of the naan to the heated tava so that the naan sticks to the tava at the sprinkled areas. Cover it with a lid. When the top side starts to bubble up, flip it & cover it with a lid. Cook the naan covered till both the sides form black spots.
7. Spread it with butter or ghee & serve it hot. This recipe makes 8-9 naans.

Make the dough in a glass or plastic bowl. Metal containers conduct heat resulting in uneven rising of the dough.