BBB - Indian Bread

Cookie Baker Lynn's Bread Baking Babes' challenge this month was baking naan. Yum! A lovely Indian flatbread that is easy to bake, quick and very, very tasty, the exercise took me back to a wonderful dinner in London with two dear friends two summers ago. I knew naan as a savory bread but when I bit into a peshwari type naan, I was double sold: the bread had a sweet filling, consisting of nuts, raisins and coconut. Whoa!

So when I saw the Bread Baking Babes' topic for this month, I knew I had to try and replicate that sweet bread. I used the recipe to bake three savory loaves, sprinkled with black sesame seeds, and three peshwari.

Naan dough

4 cups of bread flour

1.5 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 cups of milk
1 teaspoon cumin, ground
Melted butter for brushing

For the savory naan
1 tablespoon of black sesame seeds

For the peshwari filling
1/2 cup of golden raisins, soaked
1/4 cup of salted almonds
1/4 cup of shredded coconut
1 tablespoon of shredded coconut
2 tablespoons of apple sauce

Warm the milk to 110F, sprinkle the yeast on top and set aside for five minutes. In the meantime, chop the raisins, the salted almonds and mix with the coconut. Set aside. Heat the oven to 500F and put a baking sheet on the middle rack.

Put the flour in a mixing bowl and add the yeast with the milk. Stir several times, then add the salt and the cumin. Stir until the dough comes together, take it out of the bowl onto a lightly sprinkled counter and knead until the dough is soft and flexible. Place in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise for 30 minutes, or until double in size. Punch down and divide into six equal pieces.

Press each piece or roll it with a rolling pin until it's flat, about twice its size. Set aside on the counter and cover while you do the other ones. When all six have been rolled, cover and let them rest for about ten minutes.

The oven should now be hot enough. Carefully roll one of the rested pieces once or twice to make it bigger, then pull the hot baking sheet out of the oven, and put the dough on top. It will immediately begin to blister. Push the tray back into the oven, wait three minutes, then open again and turn the bread over onto its other side. Close the door, wait another three minutes, open the door and turn the bread again. Brush it with melted butter and sprinkle the sesame seeds on top. Close the door, bake for four more minutes and your bread is ready. Repeat this with two other pieces.

Now take one of the three leftover pieces of dough, spread a light layer of apple sauce in the middle and place a heaping spoon of the coconut-raisin-almond mixture on top. Fold one half of the dough over, pinch the seams and roll the dough carefully into a larger, thinner piece. Repeat with the other two pieces.

Pull the baking sheet out of the oven and place all three pieces on it. Close the door, bake for three minutes, turn over and bake for another three minutes. Brush with the melted butter, sprinkle with the coconut and bake for another two to three minutes, taking care to not burn the coconut.