No Bread? No Problem. (Naan bread recipe)

Right now in North Qld and Far North Qld, it is wet. The last time I remember it being this wet was back in 2008, I remember this very well because it's the year my daughter was born.

BACK STORY FIRST: In February of 2008 I was stuck in the hospital with my one-day-old daughter, while her father was on the phone letting me know that they had just been able to make it back out to our property at the time. The creeks were the highest he had ever seen them and the house dam was that full it was under our brand new house.

Now, of course, the dam could never fill that much that it would run through our house, it was lucky to be an inch deep under the house. But here I was in bed after having a C Section and a baby that didn't want to suck picturing water running through this new house with all my new furniture, and we would be back over living in the shed again.

To paint a picture for you the shed that we had just moved out of was also the workshop. It was nice and long with one bay as our kitchen and dining room and the rest was for the machinery. We had a 5 room donger, one our room, then one for our son, I made the next like a TV room, then a room for a worker and the last one for parts. This was home and it worked well especially when in the year before we got power.

But to move into a real house with a new oven, one that all the cooktops worked and to have an oven was very exciting. We would have the internet and get TV as well. Things that if you don't have you don't miss but once you have you don't want to go without.

Like I said though it was me getting cabin fever and our house was safe along with all the furniture and my beautiful new kitchen along with my working oven.

BACK TO THE POINT:

Ok back to the point of this blog.

It doesn't matter where you are from lots of rain equals flooding and flooding equals roads being close which equals no supply of everyday groceries like bread and milk. Within minutes of people hearing big rain coming and roads COULD be closed the shelves are bare.  

WHAT TO DO:

Now unless you have a milker cow in your back yard I can't help. My advice is to make sure you save whatever milk you do have for your coffees and this recipe only lol. But now when it comes to bread and what to do when the shelves are bare, well now that is something I can help you with. I have a recipe you can make easily at home, or I'm sure if your not into making your own bread you will find on the shelves still in store.

These traditional Asian type breads do not only taste great but you can do so much with them and are very filling. It's fun to make with your kids, watching it puff up while you cook it. Then the fun part of all the different ways you can eat it from sucking up the sauce in a curry or making a pizza out of it.

 (Some of our masterpiece that we used the naan bread with. Curry made with Vicky D's Mango Chutney, Peach & Lavender Jam & Grill Chicken, Salad & Vicky D's Sweet Chilli Sauce)

RECIPE:

1/4 cup warm water 

1 tablespoon sugar

 2 1/4 teaspoons of dry active yeast

3/4 cup warm milk

3/4 cup Greek yogurt

4 cups of all-purpose flour ( I like to use Lighthouse pizza & bread flour)

pinch of salt

In a cup first add your sugar, warm water & yeast so it can activate while you are getting everything else ready. It will take around 10minutes and will look foamy.

In your bowl count out your cups of flour and mix in your salt. Then make a well in the middle and add in the yogurt, milk & yeast mixture. 

Work your dough to it comes together. Put out on a floured board so you can knead it. Knead it for around 3-4 minutes to it is nice and smooth. Then place in a lightly oiled bowl covered with a damp kitchen towel to rest at room temperature.

It will take about an hour or more to raise, it needs to double in size. I started making my Saffron Chicken for our pizza while I waited.

When it is time start heating up your pan or BBQ so it is nice and hot to cook on. You got to remember this kind of bread would normally be cooked over fire. Take your dough out onto a floured board and give a quick light knead. Then cut into small balls that you are going to roll out flat.

Once you have them all rolled out then it's cooking time. I did mine on the Webber, but you can do it just as easily in a pan. I did some by brushing melted butter on first then others I just put straight down on the plate. I even put some on the grill plate and it all worked fine.

It is super cool to watch, you can see these big air bubbles form when its time to flip. It only takes a few seconds each side and they are done, ready to eat however you want.

Overall making, Naan bread is a fun and easy bread to make. What you can eat with it is endless and would even say you can do more with this bread then your normal white sliced bread.

But the main thing is if you are stuck and there is no bread on the shelves don't panic. Just pop down to the shops and get your self some flour, yogurt & Vicky D's Kitchen products to start creating your new masterpieces.