Naan (Indian Flatbread)

Generally speaking, I like to prepare things that my husband will enjoy eating. The kids, after all, are at that stage where they don't really care about food enjoyment--if it's not candy, it's only good to sustain life. (Unless we're talking about McNuggets, which is a different story.) Anyway, I happen to know that one of my husband's all-time favorite sandwiches is a Chicken Pesto sandwich from a local restaurant. I've had the sandwich, and it's good, but it's basic--nothing that couldn't be re-created at home. So this week, I sought out to do that very thing.

The sandwich consists of grilled chicken, pesto, salad greens, and diced tomatoes (which my husband skips), all sandwiched between two pieces of flatbread. Well, grilled chicken is easy enough. Salad greens? Just snip some from the garden. As for pesto? Well, see this other post. I added thin slices of fresh mozzarella, and sliced tomatoes (for me and for the kids), because you can't go wrong with the mozzarella/tomato/pesto combination. That left the flatbread.

I didn't want to purchase flatbread because HELLO, have you seen the prices on that sort of thing? Besides, how hard can it be to make? I remembered a recipe I had tried back in the day from a very old Fleischman's Yeast promotional recipe booklet--called "Arab Bread," it was the nearest thing I've ever had to a flatbread I ate while on a missions trip to the Dominican Republic in high school. It was good, but I thought that it might be a bit too thick and dense for a sandwich. Then I thought of Naan. I'd seen it in the grocery store, and I knew that it is traditionally served with Indian cuisine (which I don't like). It looked thin, but substantial enough to hold together for a sandwich--in short, perfect for this application. The main drawback, again, was that it was so blooming expensive, I couldn't justify purchasing it. I'd have to try to make it.

I went online to Allrecipes.com, my go-to for recipe basics, and sorted Naan recipes by rating. The recipe I chose to try was the highest rated recipe, which even readers from Naan-eating countries deemed closest to the real thing. I made the dough on Tuesday for Grilled Pizza and liked it so much, I made it again on Thursday for my Grilled Chicken Pesto Sandwiches. The long and the short of it is this: Abe actually thought this sandwich was better than its restaurant-originated counterpart, due in large part to the bread. As a matter of fact, as I was finishing up this post, Abe came home from work, rummaged furiously through the fridge and asked, "Do we have any more of that bread??"

I do not take a compliment from Abe very lightly. This recipe is a keeper! It's also EASY, even if you don't have a mixer suitable for making bread--the dough is very soft and pliable, very easy to work with. And the cooking time is brief--the bread cooks on the stove top, so there's no need to heat your oven or your house. For me, this is a big plus in summertime! So there you have it. I don't like Indian food, except for Naan. Please give this wonderful flatbread a try! It's super for sandwiches, for grilled pizza, or just for eating with spreads like hummus, if you like that sort of thing. Go forth with confidence.

Note: I've just looked over the instructions, and man, am I WORDY. But read through it, and you'll see that even though I used a lot of words to describe the process, it's still really simple. Don't be put off my my inability to self-edit.

Naan
adapted from Allrecipes.com

1 pkg. yeast (approx. 2 1/4 tsp)
1 c. warm water
1/4 c. sugar, divided (1 Tbsp. and 3 Tbsp.)
3 Tbsp. milk
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
approx. 4 1/2 c. bread flour*
melted butter
1 tsp. garlic powder

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the warm water and the sugar. Sprinkle yeast over surface of water to moisten, and wait about 5-10 minutes for it to "proof," or get foamy. If it doesn't get foamy, try again--this means your yeast has DIED. RIP.

In the meantime, whisk together the milk and the egg. Combine the remaining 3 Tbsp. sugar, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl. When the yeast is done proofing, dump in the milk mixture and combine, then dump in the sugar mixture, and stir to combine. Then begin adding flour. *I don't even measure the flour at this point, because the important thing is just to add in flour until the mixture forms a dough and pulls away from the side of the bowl. I seriously doubt I use 4 1/2 cups, as the recipe calls for, but you'll want to have this much on hand just in case, I suppose.

When you've stirred in as much flour as it will incorporate, knead the dough a few times on the counter just to get it smooth and not sticky. Transfer to an oiled bowl and turn to coat (or just brush it with a little oil). Let it rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 1 hour, or until it's doubled in size. [I like to fill a 2 c. measuring cup with water and bring it to a boil in the microwave, then put the dough into the micro. with the hot water, and let it rise there--using this method, I only let it rise 45 minutes, and it's already doubled]

After it has doubled, turn it out on a floured countertop and flatten it, then divide it into 6-8 pieces (depending on how large you want your bread). Shape the pieces into balls, spray with a bit of oil or non-stick spray, and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise for about 30 minutes.

Right before you're ready to cook the bread, melt the butter and mix in the garlic powder.

Now, the fun part: heat up a griddle or a large non-stick skillet to medium-high heat. Stretch your dough into flatbreads--make them very thin, because they'll puff up quite a bit! Toss the bread right onto the griddle or pan, cook for about 2-3 minutes, then flip, and cook for 2-3 more. Most of the dough will still be very light in color, but it will have darker spots where it bubbled and had contact with the pan. Remove from the pan and brush with the butter. Repeat as needed.

NOW. Last night, I only used half the dough, used the grill side of my griddle pan, and made four nearly dinner plate-sized breads, which I folded in half for the sandwiches. It took all of 10 minutes to cook the bread, and we served it warm. If you're using it for a crowd or for pizza, go ahead and use all the dough--even when I only used 3/4 of the recipe, it made 3 large pizzas. But it's so yummy, you may want to make it all, because then you can snack on it. It's that good.

French Dip Sandwiches

This recipe comes from Ellen, and it's easy and good! First, I'll post her recipe verbatim, and then I'll add what we did to them the night we enjoyed them.

So, for the most important part, Ellen's recipe:

French Dip Sandwiches

chuck tender roast
can of coke
can of french onion soup
beef broth

in crock pot all day

shred

serve on french bread - dip in juice - delish!

See? Yummy. Except that I didn't have a can of Coke or a can of french onion soup. So I just used an envelope of onion soup mix mixed with a cup of water, and a cup or so of beef broth, and poured that over my chuck roast, and it was still good. I do think the Coke would give a really nice depth to the jus, but on this particular day, I wasn't up for a trip to the store for a can of Coke.

It's important that you use a chuck roast here, because a) the shreds will be just the right size, and b) it's a relatively cheap cut of beef that, because of its fat and marbling and connective tissue (that sounds gross) cooks up best over a log period of time, in liquid, on a low heat, a la a crock pot.

As for the sandwich assembly, the only thing I did differently was to open my buns, top them with some provolone cheese, and toast them under the broiler for a minute or two so the cheese would form a protective layer between the meat and the bread. That way, when you dip it in the jus, it doesn't fall apart. Admittedly, I mostly did this because I'm a tad bit OCD and always feel compelled to toast the bread I use for warm sandwiches. ALSO, I didn't have the more sturdy French bread that Ellen's recipe called for, which would obviously stand up wonderfully to the jus. But again, I wasn't up for a trip to the store to get some, so we made do with what we had. So if you're not up for it or think I'm being silly about the whole thing, or if you have French bread for these babies like you're supposed to, don't do the whole toasting thing. Or do. It's your choice. Either way, it will still be REALLY, REALLY good!

Thanks, Ellen!