If you are a bread lover like me, and make your own sourdough, then you are going to want to try this.
I am a member of a FB group called Perfect Sourdough (see here) … anyone can join … it is run by Teresa Greenway who offers on-line sourdough classes, and I love being inspired by what other people post. One such person is Sarah Grant, who a little while ago posted her adapted version of a Sourdough Naan … and of course I had to try. I loved the recipe, but found the dough really challenging to work with, and felt I couldn’t in all seriousness share that with you as you may struggle with it too.
So I played around with the ingredients to make the dough easier to handle, and it turned out perfectly. This is now the family’s favourite version of “flatbreads” which we use with Mexican, Indian, and other meals like Shakshuka (see here) when you are looking for some form of bread to go with a dish.
To make the naan you will need 300g of active sourdough starter, by that I mean a starter that has been fed and ready to use to make bread. So this is the perfect recipe for when you don’t necessarily need to make bread, but want to feed your starter to keep it happy, and at the same time have a recipe that allows you to use up some of the starter you end up with.
This naan is gorgeous, soft, and pliable. Once cooked, leftovers can be placed into a sealed container in the fridge and reheated the next day (or within 2 to 3 days) on a sandwich press, or wrapped in alfoil and warmed in a preheated oven for 10 minutes at 180 degrees fan forced.
I hope you decide to give this recipe a go at some stage …
- 1 tbls olive oil
- 450g bakers flour
- 130g full fat Greek yoghurt
- 50g filtered water
- 300g active sourdough starter
- 40g oil
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- Nigella seeds, or other seeds of choice
- Sea salt flakes
- Freshly cracked pepper
- Pour 1 tbls olive oil into a bowl and use your fingers to spread it around the sides so that the bowl is well greased
- Place the rest of the ingredients except the topping into the TM bowl and knead 1 minute
- Put the dough into the oiled bowl, cover and allow to rest for 4 hours NB: use a permanent marker pen to note the time on the cover so that you can keep track of it
- Use a spatula and rotate it around the edges of the bowl (the spatula will pick up some of the oil making it non-stick), pressing down lightly onto the dough as you go to gently deflate it
- Remove the dough with your spatula onto a lightly oiled surface (I use a silicon mat, but if you don't have one consider using baking paper, or your bench top if you wish) and shape it into a log with your hands (dough will not stick to you as it will have a thin coating of oil)
- Divide dough into 8 pieces (I use a plastic bench scraper ... and portions do not need to be precise)
- Roughly shape each piece into a ball, place back onto the oiled surface in two side by side rows (4 balls in each row) and cover with a long piece of Glad wrap so that the dough does not dry out
- Rest the dough for one hour
- When ready to cook the naan, preheat a pan to medium heat
- Whilst the pan is heating, place a tea towel onto a plate ready to hold the cooked naan
- With your fingers, get the first round of dough and lightly press it out into an oblong roughly 14cm by 9 to 10cm (does not need to be exact)
- Sprinkle over the nigella seeds or other seeds of choice, sea salt flakes and pepper according to your taste
- Lift up the naan by each end (it will be quite soft but you should still be able to pick it up lightly) and place it into the pan
- Cook for approximately two minutes on the first side until lightly golden, then turn over and repeat on the other side (they will puff up a little while cooking)
- Whilst the first naan is cooking, prepare the next one
- Remove the cooked naan from the pan and place onto the tea towel, then pick up the next naan and continue as before
- Stack the naan in two rows ... four naan per row ... and continue until they are all done (because they are quite soft I don't want to deflate the naan be stacking them all one on top of the other, hence the two rows)
- Do not overcook the naan as they should be soft and pliable
- Once they are all cooked, cover with the tea towel until ready to serve ... they will stay warm like this for at least 30 minutes
- Serve as desired
Will give it a go with my rye starter…I’m guessing it won’t be as light though…looks delicious!!
Hello Lesley … I also use a rye starter (I use a light rye … not a heavy dark rye) so it should work perfectly for you … personally I think rye flour is the best for starters so it is the only flour I have ever used for it … if you get the time please let me know how you go xo
Gina – just made these to use up my sourdough starter dress they were FANTASTIC. My timing was a little out and missed the dinner calling so put the dough in the oiled bowl as described and then pulled it out the next day but added about 1.5 hours for the dough to come to room temperature before the 4 hour rise time. Still worked out perfectly and we had them for dinner the next night. Thanks for sharing xx
Fiona … I am so happy … we love them, and now that you have made them the first time you will start to manage your timing so that they are ready when you want them to be … I think this will be easier to do in summer with the warmer weather, because you can be sure that your starter will rise in about 3 1/2 to 4 hours, but in winter it will take longer to get the ripe starter, but then all you do is make the dough later in the day, put into the oiled bowl and refrigerate overnight to make the naan for dinner the following night … just like you have already done … easy peasy! And they reheat really well too xo xo xo