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How to Make Kashmiri Naan for #BreadBakers

I chose to flavor my dough with both curry powder and cumin, but you can absolutely leave these out if you want a more traditional naan. Also feel free to bake the naan plain or stuff it with whatever filling you like. The dough itself is smooth, supple and very tender.
Course Flatbread
Cuisine Indian
Servings 8

Ingredients

For the Dough

  • 16.5 oz all purpose flour
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar
  • 2 teaspoons curry powder
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 Tablespoon canola oil
  • 7 oz water , room temperature is fine
  • ½ cup full fat Greek yogurt (if you use regular yogurt, you will have to reduce the amount of water)

For the Filling

  • ½ cup whole roasted cashews (salted is fine)
  • ½ cup golden raisins
  • ½ cup shredded coconut (I used unsweetened)
  • 2 teaspoons of honey (optional if it needs a bit of sweetness. I used it and loved it)
  • heavy-ish pinch of salt (add after processing if it needs it)
  • 2-3 Tablespoons water (just enough to make a paste in the food processor)

For Baking and Finishing

  • A small dish of water
  • A pastry brush
  • Melted butter or ghee
  • chopped cilantro

Instructions

For the Dough

  • In the bowl of your stand mixer, thoroughly whisk together all of the dry ingredients.
  • Whisk the wet ingredients together in a bowl and then pour on top of the dry ingredients.
  • Bring the dough together with the dough hook on low speed.
  • Increase the speed to medium and knead until the dough is very smooth and elastic.
  • I have given the measurements that made the perfect dough for me with my ingredients and in my kitchen. What you're looking for is a dough that completely clears the sides of the mixer bowl and only sticks in the bottom of the bowl in about a 1 1/2" to 2" circle. At higher kneading speeds, the dough may not stick in the bottom of the bowl at all. The dough should be very soft and just a tiny bit sticky. If in doubt, err on the side of a little too wet rather than a little too dry.
  • Once the dough is lovely, oil your hands and gather the dough into a smooth ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for twelve to sixteen hours.
  • Remove the dough from the fridge and portion into 8 equal parts. My dough weighed 828 grams, so I portioned my dough out at about 103-104grams of dough per ball. Shape each dough ball into a smooth round, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest on the counter for about twenty minutes.
  • Press each ball of dough out into about a 4-5" circle. Plop about 2 Tablespoons of filling (procedure below) in the center of each circle. (I did this one at a time. If you have a helper, you can do this assembly line style).
  • Gather up the edges of your circle of dough and stretch and wrap them around so the filling is completely enclosed. Pinch all the edges together in the center. Turn the dough pinched side down, flatten just a bit into a puck and cover while you form the other rounds.
  • Starting with the first puck you made, flour your counter lightly as well as the surface of the puck. Roll out into an oval shape about 10" long and 6" wide. You will think it won't roll out this big, but you will be wrong, because I was wrong to begin with. The first puck I rolled was small and too fat. It still tasted good, but it wasn't really naan. Try not to let any filling smoosh out, but if some does, don't worry about it. Just put some flour on those spots and keep going.
  • Flip the dough from one side to the other and keep rolling it until it is no more than 1/4" thick. You may roll all the dough "halfway," and then go back and roll them fully once they've rested a bit. Keep the dough covered.
  • Heat a well-seasoned 12" cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until it is very, very hot.
  • Lightly brush one side of a dough oval (doughval?) with water. Slap that side down into the hot pan. Quickly brush water on the side facing up and stab the dough all over with a fork. Slap a lid on and set the timer for a minute.
  • After the minute is up, check the bottom of the bread, It should have some char marks on it in a few places. If not, re-lid and bake another 30 seconds or so. Through trial and error, I found that 90 seconds per side when rolled very thin worked perfectly for me.
  • When the dough is ready to flip, stab any places that have bubbled up with the fork. Flip the bread, and re-lid for another 60-90 seconds (again, if you've rolled it very thin. If your dough is a bit thicker, it will have to cook longer and you may need to turn the heat down a bit so it doesn't completely burn up).
  • Place the naan in a warm oven and repeat with the remaining dough rounds.
  • To serve, lightly brush the naan with melted butter or ghee and then sprinkle with chopped cilantro.

To Make the Filling

  • Place the cashews, raisins and coconut in the bowl of your food processor.
  • Pulse until coarsely chopped.
  • Stream in 2 Tablespoons of the water and pulse/process until you end up with a grainy paste that is fairly uniform in consistency. If it seems a bit dry, add a bit extra water and process again.
  • Add in the honey, if using, and process again, scraping the processor bowl as necessary.
  • Taste. If you think it needs a bit more salt, add it. You will end up with about 1 cup of paste, enough for 2-ish Tablespoons per naan.