Super Easy Naan Bread

 I love when I google a pretty specific phrase and it actually comes up.  So when "Super Easy Naan" popped up, I was sold on trying this recipe for my book club meeting this past weekend. One of the books we read this time was Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, which followed the life of an Indian boy growing up in Ethiopia (I loved it and highly recommend it!).  One of our members made some spicy beef stew that is a typical dish in Ethiopia and I made the Naan, an Indian bread that is fried.  This was only my second attempt at making bread, but my first time dealing with yeast. It was definitely easier than I expected!  Here we go:

I started with the using regular yeast, pretty warm water, and sugar. I let the yeast do it's thing for about 20 minutes (the recipe only calls for 5 minutes) while I ran out to get some food for the kitties.
When I came back I added my flour and salt and let my stand mixer do most of the work with the dough hooks.  I always read the comments in a recipe before making it and many people said they had to add up to an entire extra cup of flour, but I didn't have this problem.

I oiled my bowl, dampened a cloth, and hopped in the car to go to my meeting.

 
A little over an hour later I was at my friend's apartment and flattened the dough and cut it into eight pieces using a pizza cutter.

I rolled out each section, rubbed in a little minced garlic, and fried them up!

Definitely roll out your bread thinly before tossing it into the frying pan, my first one was a little too thick (see it in the back of the pan in the last picture).  But the rest were great and it tasted just like what we get from our local Indian restaurant!  Enjoy!

Super Easy Naan Bread
Adapted from Food.com 

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups flour, plus a few tbsp for workspace 
• Minced garlic (optional) 

1. Combine warm water, sugar, and yeast in a bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes until foamy.
2. Add salt and flour. Mix thoroughly. Knead dough on a floured workspace about 20 times and form into a tight ball. Put dough in a well oiled bowl and cover with a damp towel.
3. Put in a warm place to rise for 30-45 minutes. Dough won't rise much, but it doesn't need to.
4. Turn dough out onto a floured workspace. Divide dough into 8 pieces and roll out with a rolling pin to about 1/8" thick.
5. Grill naan pieces on a grill or electric griddle. In a pinch, a frying pan sprayed with some nonstick cooking spray will work. Grill for 1-2 minutes on each side.