Stuffed Naan

Naan is quite popular in North Indian Cuisine. It’s a Flat Bread baked in a Clay (Tandoor) Oven. In General, Naan’s are usually made only at Restaurants.  

Also,  Naan’s are served in varieties like, Plain, Butter, Garlic, Mint. These are usually toppings. But, few places you can find stuffed Naan also. Let’s bake today a Stuffed Naan at home !

Naan goes very well with any Curry (Veg or Non-Veg) of North, South, East and West. Here, with Chettinad Chicken Curry ! but, Want to talk only about Naan. Because, that’s the Title of the Post !! The basic recipe is adopted from http://honestcooking.com/

Ingredients for Naan :  3½ cups of All-purpose flour (AP)   ;  1 cup of  Plain Yogurt    ;    4 tbsp of Butter   ;     1 tsp of Salt  ;   ⅛ tsp  of  Baking Soda   ; 2½ tsp of Active dry Yeast   ;  ½ cup  of  Warm Water   ;  1½ tsp  of  Sugar  ;  Little Water for kneading    

Ingredients for Stuffing  :    2 large chopped Onion   ;     ½  Corinerder leaves   ;  2  gloves  chopped garlic      ;    ¼   - cup sesame seeds

Making Process : (Stuffing) 

In a pan, heat 1 tbs oil and add the chopped onion, garlic sauté it till it become light brown color, season with some salt.  Once done, set it aside and allow it cool completely. Add chopped coriander leaves.

Now, let’s start the Naan making Process :  In a bowel, add some warm water, sugar and yeast. Cover and let it rest for about 10 minutes or until it’s forms a nice foam on top.

Mix the AP flour, baking soda, salt, butter, yogurt and the activated yeast and start kneading.  If required, add water but make sure the dough is soft but not sticky.

Continue kneading for another 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and can be easily stretched.

Take another bowl and grease it with some oil. Place the dough in the bowl, rub little oil on top of the dough and cover it with a damp cloth for about 90 min or the dough to rise to double in size.

Take the dough out on a flat surface and knead for few more minutes and Divide the dough in 7 equal parts, transfer it to a plate, cover it with a damp cloth and let it rest for another 40 minutes.

Take one portion of the dough and keep the rest covered (it’s important or else the dough will become dry). Roll it out a little, place some of the stuffing inside, seal the sides and start rolling very gently. (Not too thin or too thick) Sprinkle some sesame seeds and give one last roll.

Preheat oven to 500° F (260° C) with a baking stone in the oven. Once ready, Dip hands in water and wet each piece of dough slightly before placing it on the stone. Bake at 260° C for 4-5 minutes until top is golden brown and bubbly.

Remove from the stone and brush with clarified butter and serve it Hot.    

Petit Pains au Lait (Milk Bread / Roll)

Petit Pains au Lait……………Just Relax! Means, Milk Bread / Roll in French.

Though I am not with Milk Bread, I need to bake this for We Knead To Bake #17. Recipe, aadopted from Gourmetkat.  

Whenever I bake a bread recipe, I feel good because, the aroma of the bread and following day breakfast task accomplishes up to my son’s expectation.

Here, I tried to give thorny like texture. I am extremely happy with the outcome.

Okay, here the Ingredients list : 1/3 cup Warm Milk     ;    ½ tsp  Instant Yeast    ;    1/8 cup Sugar     ;    1 cup  of All-purpose flour     ;    ½ cup Bread flour       ;  A  pinch  of salt  ;  30 gms of Butter (soft @ Room Temp.)    ;    Extra milk for brushing   ;  little sugar for topping.

Bread Making Procedure :   Mix the warm milk, Yeast and Sugar in the bowl and add all the flour and the salt and blend until it looks crumbly. Add the butter and knead until you have a soft, smooth and elastic dough that’s not sticky.

Add a little more milk, in teaspoonful at a time. (Because It’s a Milk Bread !!) if your dough is dry, until you have the required consistency of dough.

Shape the dough into a ball and place it in an oiled bowl, turning it over to coat with oil. Cover loosely and set aside to rise until double in volume. This should take about 60 – 90 min.

Deflate the dough gently, and divide it into five equal parts. Let them rest for 15 minutes.

Roll out each piece of dough, (one at a time) into a circle about 4” in diameter. Slowly roll up the circle from one end, into a cylinder. Pinch the seam closed neatly and place them on a greased or parchment lined baking sheet with the seam side facing down. Cover loosely and let them rise for an hour or so till almost double in size.

Brush them lightly with milk and using a pair of sharp scissors, make diagonal cuts (not too deep) on the top of the rolls. Sprinkle sugar.

Bake them at 200°C (400°F) for about 15 minutes or so until they’re golden brown. Let them cool on a rack. Serve them warm or at room temperature with coffee or chilled flavored milk:  Perfect for a Breakfast.

Button Cookies

Want to post again a cookie. But, what ? while browsing the pinterest, I saw an picture of Button Cookie and liked the shape.

To do this shape, I need a flexible dough. The choice is only All Purpose Flour. i.e the simple cookie recipe. 

Again, don’t want to use 100% All Purpose Flour (AP). I always avoid using AP because, the fiber is completely removed and less in protein. Hence, High in Calorie (metabolize like Sugar)

So, 50% AP and 50% Wheat flour.  it turnout to be my satisfaction.  

The Ingredients are,   ½ Cup of All purpose flour      ;   1/2 cup of Wheat flour     ;    115 Gms of  Butter (soft)       ;   ¼ cup of  Sugar  ;  Vanilla essence     -  1 tsp 

For design we need a big cookie cutter to cut a cookie and slightly smaller one to make an impression. Straw or icing nozzle round tip to make hole (buttons)

Procedure : Beat butter with sugar till it turns into pale in color and add vanilla essence. Mix both wheat flour and AP flour in separate bowl and slowly add the flour mixture to the butter.

Blend well till the flour and butter combined well.  Shape the dough into ball shape and cover it with cling wrap. Keep it in the fridge for about 30 min 

Roll the dough on the floured surface for 1 cm thickness and using the big 2’’ circle shaped cookie cut it and with small cutter just press it to make impression. (Only Impression)

In Center of cookies with icing nozzle make four holes like buttons (dip the nozzle in the flour, will make life easy)

Arrange the cookies in baking tray and keep it in fridge for 20 min and bake it in a pre-heated oven at 180°c till cookies are done.

Bakers Day Special : Checker Board Cake (6 layers)

I wanted to surprise my Niece, on her birthday with a Six layer Checker board cake. But, for the first time, I am trying six layers. Earlier, I did 2 and 3 layers.

Checker board pattern is basically an arrangement of Vanilla and Chocolate cake. The arrangement is a key aspect of Checker Board Cake.

Since, it’s a Birthday Party, wanted to enhance with Rich Chocolate glaze (she also like chocolates like me) and Heavy Cream icing.

So the making process is, needed to bake 2 cakes (Vanilla and Chocolate) with the height of 3’’ because, later need to cut into 3 layers each so that we get 6 layers Checker board. Then enrich the cake with cream Icing and Chocolate Glaze.

Let’s bake the Vanilla sponge cake : Required Ingredients are 2 1/4 cups All-purpose flour  ;   3 tsp of Baking powder    ;   1 1/3 cups of Granulated sugar    ;  1/2 tsp  of salt     ;    115 gms of Butter    ;    1 cup  of milk  ; 1 tsp of vanilla essence  ; 2  Eggs 

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the dry ingredients. Add butter (cut into small cubes) few cubes at a time and mix until the batter appears grainy with a sand-like texture.

Add the eggs one at time and blend well. Slowly add the milk and the vanilla essence.

Transfer the mixture to a greased 8" (~20 cm) round cake pan and bake at 180°C for 30-35 or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow it to cool.

Similarly, bake an 8” (~20 cm) round chocolate cake with the height of 3’’. Pleases refer my chocolate cake recipe.

Now, Stabilized Whipped Cream Icing :   2 ½ cup  - heavy cream   ; 1 tbsp  of  icing sugar  ;  1 tsp   - vanilla essence  ;  2 tsp   - corn starch  

In a saucepan combine the powdered sugar and cornstarch whisk until mixed. Slowly whisk in 1/2 cup heavy cream whisk until smooth. Place on medium heat and stir constantly to prevent scorching at the bottom. Stir constantly until mixture thickens and almost comes to a boil. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and set aside stirring occasionally until it reaches room temperature.

For chocolate glaze :  170 gms of semisweet chocolate   ;  1 cup  of  heavy cream

Place chocolate in a bowl. In a saucepan, heat cream over medium-high heat until just simmering, and pour it over the chocolate. Let mixture stand 5 minutes and then stir until smooth. Let stand at room temperature about 10 minutes before using.

Now, we reach an important stage of arrangement in order to get a checker board pattern.

Cut both the 8" (~20 cm)round cakes in to 3 layers and carefully cut into 15cm diameter and further into 7cm  diameter. Refer the below figure for details.

Click on the image to Enlarge

Do not forget to spread the Stabilized Whipped Cream in between the layers before stacking.

Finally, use the chocolate lavishly to glaze the cake and refrigerate for an hour and decorate with dark chocolate shavings.