Sourdough Naan Flatbread

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I almost always have some of this dough in my refrigerator … so easy to mix up and I use it as wanted for flatbread, tortilla (just roll thinner), pizza (hand shape thicker), stuffed like a “Chinese pancake” … very versatile. I’ve been making this since you posted on your own blog :slight_smile: I do use kefir (home cultured) vs milk plus yogurt … same amount, i.e. 1/2 cup milk plus 1/4 cup yogurt = 3/4 cup kefir. I also scale it up and down depending on how much discard I have.

Thanks for this recipe!

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I need to try your chinese pancake variation on this :heart_eyes:

Here is the recipe and technique that I started with. With the Naan dough, I roll it extra thin, add toppings/filling, roll it up, coil it, roll it back into a circle and pan fry.

Woks of Life scallion pancakes with how to roll

I don’t always stick to “Chinese” fillings … a tex-mex mix of chiles, chipotle and cheese is good also. But the roll, coil, roll out is a good way to keep most of the filling inside.

This recipe is very similar to my favorite flatbread, Bazlama which is Turkish. It also contains yoghurt and is baked on a cast iron skillet. It’s easy and deeply satisfying. The recipe that I use calls for commercial yeast, so I’m really excited to try your technique using my sourdough starter. And FYI, although my Bazlama recipe calls for white flour, I have made it with varying percentages of whole grain flour (wheat or spelt) all the way up to 100% whole grain and it was equally successful and delicious. Thanks for the inspiration!

@anon66425146 I was wondering if you did the coil and re-roll. So cool.

@wendyk320 Wow, bazlama looks basically identical… and delicious : )

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@Fermentada thanks for this great recipe!

Any thoughts on using milk powder instead of milk for the recipe? Would I add water or not? (I know I can “make” milk from the powder by premixing but wonder if there’s a better way to do it all together)

I have to admit I’m not very familiar with using milk powder and not for any particular reason either – just inventory.

My guess is you wouldn’t have to recreate milk first since the mixing process is thorough and the fermentation fairly long. Everything will probably be nicely incorporated that way.

I cannot wait to try this recipe. Will post results when I can, no matter the results.
Thank you so so much for this recipe. I eat a lot of Middle Eastern food and this is just perfect. Thanks
hester

So I couldn’t wait any longer. Refreshed the starter yesterday a/m and p/m, made dough today and cooked it today.
Naan

Delicious. Adore it and will have it tonight with some Mjadara I made yesterday. Perfect combo. THANK YOU SO MUCH

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You’re welcome! Your naans look great. I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe.

So I tried this exact recipe again, only i baked them at 475 for a few minutes, flipping once. They turned out even better imho

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I use this dough so many ways: Naan, tortillas, pizza crust and Mini-Focaccia. The Focaccia are more Focaccia-like than actual focaccia, but I divide the dough in 4ths and use Breadtopia store’s mini-loaf-pans (USA pans). Let dough rise until puffy, then poke with your fingers, spritz with olive oil and any seasoning.

Those 4 pans are sitting on a quarter-sheet baking pan.

Bake at 425 for 20 min. Check them at 15 and I usually rotate the pan back to front part way through.

I wrap them in parchment and freeze in a Ziploc if I don’t use them all within a day.

***Added later …. if you don’t have/want mini bread pans, you could give the focaccia treatment to an 8x8 pan: oil pan, let dough spread out and get puffy, poke, spritz with olive oil and whatever toppings.

Yum! These are making me crave some sort of ham sandwich Or maybe a leftover Thanksgiving turkey-cranberry-stuffing sandwich :heart_eyes:

Is the sd supposed to be active/ready or can it be discard and sitting in frig for long time?

Either discard or active works fine (and everything in between), of course with timing affected by the starter’s state. You can also fudge on how much to use, just aim for something you can knead by hand.

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I am interested in making the “SOurdough Naan Flatbread”, but don’t have sourdough starter and would like to try using yeast. How would adjust hte receipe to do that?

What you need to do is take the flour and water within the starter and place them back into the main dough then add yeast.

*** 275g organic all purpose flour (2 heaping cups) I often substitute in a portion of whole grain flour.**
*** 200g sourdough starter (2/3 cup stirred down)**
*** 125g milk⁠ (~1/2 cup) Add more or less milk to accommodate different yogurt styles.**
*** 75g yogurt⁠ (1/4 cup)**
*** 5g salt⁠ (1 tsp)**
*** Flour for your countertop**
*** Oil or butter for your rolling pin**
*** Optional: Minced garlic and cilantro or other herbs to add to the dough before rolling it flat, or to combine with melted butter and brush on the flatbreads after they are cooked.**

Now i’m assuming this starter is the usual 100% hydration. Which means equal parts of water to flour by weight. The recipe asks for 200g starter = 100g water + 100g flour. Now we take out the starter and add these ingredients back, like so…

*** 375g organic all purpose flour (2 heaping cups) I often substitute in a portion of whole grain flour.**
*** 100g water**
*** 125g milk⁠ (~1/2 cup) Add more or less milk to accommodate different yogurt styles.**
*** 75g yogurt⁠ (1/4 cup)**
*** 5g salt⁠ (1 tsp)**
*** Flour for your countertop**
*** Oil or butter for your rolling pin**
*** Optional: Minced garlic and cilantro or other herbs to add to the dough before rolling it flat, or to combine with melted butter and brush on the flatbreads after they are cooked.**

Now we need to decide on how much yeast. The usual amount of recommended dried yeast for 500g of flour is 7g (or one packet). This recipe uses 375g flour. So to find out how much yeast to use in the same ratio we do a simple sum of…

If 500g flour = 7g dried yeast then 375g of flour will need…

375 x 7 / 500 = 5.25g

So your final recipe is:

*** 375g organic all purpose flour (2 heaping cups) I often substitute in a portion of whole grain flour.**
*** 100g water**
*** 125g milk⁠ (~1/2 cup) Add more or less milk to accommodate different yogurt styles.**
*** 75g yogurt⁠ (1/4 cup)**
*** 5g salt⁠ (1 tsp)**
5.25g dried yeast
*** Flour for your countertop**
*** Oil or butter for your rolling pin**
*** Optional: Minced garlic and cilantro or other herbs to add to the dough before rolling it flat, or to combine with melted butter and brush on the flatbreads after they are cooked.**

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Abe, Thanks for the very thorough and clear response! I will try it with 5.25g yeast (which is almost 2tsp) and the adjustments you suggest. It is interesting though - in most of the no knead recipes they call for only 1/4tsp yeast which is only around 0.71g. I wonder if that is due to the long overnight rise?

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My pleasure. Aha so this is a long overnight ferment. Didn’t see that part. Was just focusing on the actual recipe. A further adjustment will be needed.

Alter the recipe to 1.25g dried yeast. I’m more familiar with sourdough so please get a second opinion when it comes to bakers yeast. However my guess would be 1% of the 375g flour for fresh yeast and 1/3rd of that if dried which makes it 1.25g.

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