i am an amateur baker. When I came across the recipe for this Naan I was more than surprised to see that the liquid to flour ratio was 128.5 to 100. This is EXTREMELY wet. Even if the yogurt was removed, the liquid to flour ratio would be 87 to 100 - still VERY wet and the dough, if using plain flour, would probably be unmanageable by hand.

I do realise that yogurt is not 100% liquid but nor is it 100% solids. My estimate is that the solids content of yogurt is in the 8.25 -10% region.

The other naan recipe (without yogurt), shows a liquid to flour content of 60 to 100.

Are the liquid amounts stated in this recipe a typo error?

Hello

You are quite right, but if you look at the recipe step 4, it says "Now make soft, bread like dough, using required amount of liquid from the warm milk-water-yeast mix. Haing made dough for Indian breads of one type or the other all my life, I never measur the water, just go by the feel of the dough. Bu I have highlighted this now in bothe recipes and slightly altered the language. Hope this clarifies the situation.

Hope his answers your question?

Mamta

PS sorry for the deayed reply, I have been without a computer for a day or two.

hi

thank you for your reply. However, well known master bakers like Jeffery Hamelman, Daniel Leader and Dan Lepard clearly recommend accurate measurements for recipes and those measurements should in terms of weight and not volume. For a novice baker, or someone who has never made breads, a 'soft dough' could potentially have many different meanings. Also, I note that all the 7g of the yeast is dissolved in the milk/water mixture. If only half of this mixture is used, only half the yeast is incorporated. This might be a problem for the ferment but it seems like a waste of resources.

Rgds

Hello surfing69

Even when making beads (loaf) with exact measurements, I find that the water given does not always work out accurate, not exactly. I end up using a little bit more or less.

Last week, I was teaching someone in India to make a white loaf of bread. She had no trouble at all in making soft dough, like she had been making for chapatties for years, with unmeasured amount of water. We made the yeast/water mix in approximate amount of water, which we thought would be about right for the amount of flour we used. She did not have a measuring jug. The bread came out perfect and she is converted to making her own breads. Breads are very forgiving and come out well with fair bit of diversity.

However, I do take your point about waste of resources, i.e. yeast and will try to rectify it when I get a chance. Meanwhile, if one of you out there wants to do it for me, they are most welcome :-)!

I'm pretty certain that Dan Lepard, at least (haven't read the others) points out that the amount of liquid you need is affected by a lot of factors (such as how dry the flour is) and quantities in his recipes are just guides.

Different flours will have different adsorption characteristics and will require more or less water. However, for a particular recipe the variation in water will probably vary +/- 2 to 4 parts to every 100 parts flour. High gluten flours normally require more water as the proteins would need more water to fully hydrate. Also the optimum amount of water to flour sits on a knife edge. Some European bakers deliberately use more water in order to produce more of a random internal structure. The point that I was trying to make was that a novice, without being physically shown what a 'soft dough' is, might have their own interpretation of what this could mean. And so I think it would help them to have a fairly accurate recipe to work with. The recipe for this Naan has an excessive amount of water available and might confuse the novice. But the advice on units of measurements still stand. If one was going to branch out and start a small business baking breads, measurements would have to be done using a pair of scales rather than by hand or eye.

Hello surfing69

Thank you so much for taking the trouble of writing details of flour/water mix, I do take your point of my amounts being confusing for a beginner, especially if they do not read the steps carefully.

You obviously know your breads. And, I always listen to people's comments, well at least try to :-). So, I have written down following amounts for my recipe, let?s work out the amounts closely. I am going to make the naans again one day soon, and then measure the amounts more accurately, though I would still want people to have a little extra liquid to get the dough soft. Perhaps I can descibe soft dough as soft and easily pliable;

3 cups or approximately 400 gm. plain white flour or maida.

1 cup or 100-125 gm. strong flour (bread flour). If you don?t have it, use all plain flour (total flour 500 g. approximately)

1/2 cup or 115 ml. ?active? natural yoghurt (dahi)

1 cup or 225 ml. hand warm water (not hot)

1/2 cup or 115 ml. milk, hand warm (not hot) (boil and then cool)

3-4 tbs. or 45-60 ml. ghee or oil

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. sugar*

Also, it will be worth adding what you said in the notes at the bottom of the recipe page;

Note from Surfing69 (or name);

Different flours will have different adsorption characteristics and will require more or less water. For a particular recipe the variation in water will probably vary +/- 2 to 4 parts to every 100 parts flour. High gluten flours normally require more water as the proteins would need more water to fully hydrate. Also the optimum amount of water to flour sits on a knife edge. Some European bakers deliberately use more water in order to produce more of a random internal structure.

If anyone else has comments about the issue, please join in. What do you think of the recipe amounts and the more accurate amounts above?

Thank you all :-)

Mamta

PS I thought flour absorbed water, not adsorbed it, am I wrong?

Made naan dough this morning measuring the amounts again. I have revised the recipe, please check it out and comment.

Mamta, can you please tell me whether it would be possible to make the nan dough but only use half of it and either keep the other half in the fridge to use the next day or freeze it to use later.

Thank You

(you must get up very early to make your bread)

Yes you can keep it in the fridge. Naan dough also makes excellent loaf of bread. So I often make nanns with one half and a loaf with the other half. It is great as pizza dough too for next day.

Thank you

I have only ever reheated nans in the past and they are definately not as good as fresh ones.

I am making your yoghurt nans tonight with your Chicken Jalfrezi for just 2 people and will try keeping the dough to make breadbuns tomorrow.

My loaf tin is too big for what will be left over so I will buy a smaller one.

I did not realise that the dough would make pizzas because of the yoghurt but will definately try that too in the near future. Do you recommend a thin base or the deep pan type.

Have a good meal tonight. Fresh ones are definitely better. I made some last night and have updated the recipes a little, giving more accurat amounts of liquids.

You can always make the bread on a tray, like a bloomer. Get a silicone bread tin next time, I can recommend them. No sticking whatsoever :-).

Personally I like thin base pizza but my husband like deep pan. So, i make one somewhere in between.

Mamta