naan on a kamado grill
Hello - I've never posted before, but frequently come here for ideas/guidance. I just got a kamado grill (Vision Grills brand from Costco...same style as Big Green Egg/Kamado Joe, but "only" $600). So anyways, I've been playing around and decided to try making naan after my chicken was cooked today. So here are the details (oh - I've NEVER made naan before, nor any other Indian food, so this probably lacks authenticity, but it came out quite good :) ) Picture attached - it's a stack of 5. Looks a little burned, but it's not...I did one in less time and it had practically no brown spots, and it wasn't as good. Brown spotted ones have no burnt flavor at all:
- used lump charcoal with baking stone set directly on cooking grate
- temperature was ~450 degrees
- recipe (make like any regular bread - mix dry ingredients, add wet, knead until dough developed, let rise until doubled...I did a couple stretch & folds during bulk fermentation, mainly b/c I just needed to kill time while chicken was cooking).
2.25 C bread flour; 1.5 tsp yeast (I used active dry); 2/3 C water; 2 tbsp olive oil; 1 egg (lightly beaten); 1 tsp each of salt, garlic powder, & onion powder (last two optional & adjustable to taste, obviously).
-After bulk fermentation, I was able to make six balls equal in size (2" in diameter or so). I then set them on countertop under a moist towel for ~20 minutes (30-40% size increase, poke tested & they were ready), then rolled into maybe 6" diameter rounds (thickness was that of about 2 tortillas on top of each other...fairly thin).
-I placed two rounds on the stone (unoiled...oiling might not hurt, but without oil they didn't stick), and cooked for ~2 minutes per side, flipping with a metal spatula.
Only thing I'd do differently next time is cook at slightly lower temperature (again, thermometer said ~450, maybe 400 would be a little better). But this cooking method is superior to any other way out there. Thanks to everyone for making this site what it is!
Very nice looking naan. I use a Blackstone Pizza Oven at 600 temp on the stone with no problem, so I don't think you need to lower the temp, it will just cook quicker. Traditionally, it is cooked at an even higher temp. Not sure where you got the recipe, but most recipes call for a sweetener like sugar or honey, which makes it sweeter, duh, and helps with browning. Yes, the browning is what gives it flavor. If you want to learn more about cooking on a Kamado, there are plenty of forums- here is one http://www.kamadoguru.com/
It looks good, but I thought that naan was made with yogurt.