1001 Naans (Leavened Asian Flatbread)

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The first recorded history of Naan can be found in the works of the genius Amir Khusrau (1300 AD) as naan-e-tunuk (Persian: نان تنک) (light bread) and naan-e-tanuri (Persian: نان تنوری) (cooked in a tandoor oven).

Naan ( meaning bread) is the one of the most popular breads in Central Asia. It was the breakfast food of the Moghul royalty and is still a popular breakfast food in Burma. Naan is chiefly made from all purpose flour (maida) and uses a leavening agent ( yogurt, yeast, eggs or baking powder) to puff it up from the inside while being baked. This is what makes a naan light and fluffy.

Any thick bread needs a leavening agent. Without it, all you get on baking is a hard brick. All the numerous holes you see in white bread were made by gas generated by leavening agents. Yeast and baking soda are the most popular leavening agents in bread and cakes. It is the humble Yeast that gives us delicious breads and all our alcohol. It is no wonder we have been using it for over 6000 years.

Yeast breaks up sugar into carbon di oxide and alcohol. It is for this Carbon-di oxide yeast is used in bakeries and it is for alcohol it is used in breweries. Without Yeast, we lose both bread and wine ! 
Naans come in various shapes and sizes. They may be round, rectangular or triangular, palm sized or table sized, plain or stuffed. They are generally sprinkled with herbs / seeds and brushed with butter / ghee.

The first recorded mention of Naan is in 1300 AD by Amir Khusarau, the Sufi poet, a pillar of Hindustani music, originator of Qawali and famous for his tongue in cheek lines like

My beloved speaks Turkish, and Turkish I do not know;
How I wish if her tongue would have been in my mouth.

It was Khusarau who wrote the immortal
Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast,
Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast.
If there is a paradise on earth,
It is this, it is this, it is this (India).

Making Stuffed Naans :
Anything which can be shaped into a tight ball can be used to stuff a naan. Pinch off a tomato sized ball of dough, roll out into a disc, place a ball of stuffing in the center and gather the edges of the dough, completely enclosing the filling. Now roll it up again into a thick disc and cook.

Kheema Naan is stuffed with mincemeat, Peshawari naan is a dessert naan filled with nuts, dates and raisins, aloo naan is stuffed with potatoes & gobi naan with cauliflower. The various possible stuffings are listed in column 3.

Before cooking, the naan can be sprinkled with sesame seeds /poppy seeds / nigella ( black onion seeds : kalonji ), cumin or herbs like cilantro.

Though the master recipe calls for baking powder, you can use a pinch of active dry yeast instead. Yeast takes a 4-5 hours to work its magic and so the dough needs to be rested that long. You can also knead in milk / eggs / oil into the dough along with water. This makes naan a complete meal by itself. Naan's are usually baked in clay tandoors - which are highly impractical to use at home. The tabletop electric tandoor does a good job and is very easy to use. First time cooks can try cooking Naan with just a skillet.

Model Recipes
Mango Power Girl's Naan
Aparna's Tava Naan
Naan Video

International 'Naan'
All purpose flour is used across the world and many cuisines have their version of our Naan. All these flatbreads are baked in an oven ( or an electric tandoor) at the highest heat setting till brown spots appear on the surface.

Roll the Naan dough into a round, dimple all over the surface with fingers, drizzle it with olive oil, sprinkle sea salt and rosemary and what you get on baking is the Italian Focaccia.

Roll the naan dough to a round, drizzle surface with olive oil, spread a couple of spoons of tomato sauce and cover with grated mozarella. Bake and you get  pizza. Use other toppings and you can cookup a range of pizzas.

Make makki naan dough, roll into thick rectangles, scour a few parallel lines with a knife , sprinkle sesame seeds on top and bake. You now have the Persian  barbari bread.

Roll out naan dough and top it with sour cream and onions before baking it and you’ll end up withFlammkuchen - the Germanic 'Naan'. This is also called as tarte flambée or Alsatian pizza.

The Turkish 'Naan' is cooked on a tava. Roll the naan dough into thick rounds and cook both sides on a skillet. What you get is Bazlama.

Off this goes to Bricole's Novel food.

1001 Leavened Indian Rotis

Leavened Indian Breads : A Primer
Leavened breads are not indigenous to India and are not commonly made in Indian homes. Like China, baking never caught on in India, probably due to the scarcity of fuel. Baking is still viewed as an exotic skill and very few Indian recipes call for baking. Ovens are very uncommon in Indian homes. The only oven used is the Tandoor, the open pit clay oven invented in central Asia. Traditional tandoor is a pain to set up, light up and operate. I prefer to use the tabletop electric tandoor which is very convenient and can cook almost everthing a tandoor can.
Any thick bread needs to be leavened, so that it remains soft when baked. Leavening is the process of filling up the dough with a gas. This gas is normally generated by yeast or by baking powder. When dough is kneaded with yeast, you can actually watch it puff up like a balloon in a couple of hours. Baking powder works differently. On heating, it generates carbon di oxide, which inflates the dough from the inside like a balloon. Yeast requires a few hours to work and fill up the dough with gas. So the dough is rested for 3-5 hours before baking. Baking powder works instantly and so breads made with baking powder can be baked rightaway.

Most leavened Indian breads are cooked in a tandoor, though some like the Bhatura are deep fried. All breads listed here are designed to be cooked on an electric Tandoor. If you don’t have an electric tandoor, you can cook these in a preheated oven at its highest heat setting, in a skillet, on a grill or on the walls of a sturdy vessel. They’d taste different, but they’ll certainly be edible !

The Base (Column 1)
Kulcha is very similar to a Naan, but is usually leavened with baking powder and yogurt instead of yeast. Kulchas are often stuffed with a variety of fillings. It is normally shaped as a round disc unlike the teardrop shaped Naan.
· Tandoori roti is a thick , round roti made from wholewheat flour. It is generally leavened by wild yeast by letting the dough sit for a few hours before baking. Baking powder is now used widely in Tandoori rotis.
· The Bati is a unique bread, designed to last. It was the staple travel food of the Rajput warriors and Marwari traders. Tomato sized balls of whole wheat dough are roasted over hot coals and are eaten dipped in ghee. (They can also be cooked in an electric tandoor). Smaller Batis can be cooked without leavening. They may also be cooked in boiling water first and then baked.
· The most popular leavened bread in Asia, the teardrop shaped Naan, was cooked in central Asia long before it found its way into India. Naan is a staple food in countries like Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan & Tajikistan. That is why Naan is not a Hindi word. It is a pan asian word which means bread in all these languages- Persian, Urdu, Uzbek, Uyghur and Burmese. Sesame seeds / onion seeds / cilantro / garlic slivers are occasionally patted on the surface just before baking.
· When you knead Nan dough with semolina, you get a less chewy and more crumbly version of the Naan- the Khasta Naan.
· Rogani Naan is a richer version of Naan kneaded with milk and ghee.
· Khameeri roti is just a Tandoori roti leavened with yeast instead of baking powder. In some regions these are deep fried.
· Sheermal is an orange coloured, saffron flavoured, sweet version of the Naan. Some versions of sheermal use eggs.
· Taftan is a unique bread made from leavened rice flour. Rice flour is not easy to work with and needs quite a bit of practice to knead and shape. Use of some all purpose flour makes it easier to knead and shape.

Flavouring (Column 2)
Column 2 lists various flavourings from 0 to 9, which can be kneaded along with the dough. Most traditional flatbreads stop at 0 and do not use extra flavouring. The flavouring choices are numerous and you can create your signature dish by choosing your favourite flavouring for your bread.

Stuffing (Column 3)
A variety of stuffings listed in column 3 can be used to stuff the dough. Stuffings from 1 to 5 are easy to work with. Others take a bit of practice to master.

Have fun in cooking up your own combinations of new flatbreads !

And that's another entry for Srivalli’s Roti Mela