Tough crust
I've made both pita bread and naan recently and both times the result have had tough crusts. They each have puffed exactly as they should have but the results have been too chewy. Each was made with King Arthur regular flour which is fairly high protein and the dough was kneaded in my mini Bosch for 6 mins. The pita were rolled thin, cooked on a hot cast iron skillet, puffed to a complete globe and 'looked' perfect. The naan used the same flour with full fat yoghurt, yeast, a pinch of baking powder water and salt. I cooked them in a hot cast iron skillet after wetting the underside slightly and covering the skillet briefly, then putting them under a very hot broiler to finish the top - the idea was to imitate cooking with a tava. The naan looked good, had lovely bubbles and were tough.
I'm a fairly experienced baker with both yeast and sourdough loaves which generally turn out fine. I thoght flatbreads were supposed to be 'easy'.
Is it only the crust that is too tough, or is it the crumb (inside) too?
If both, don't knead/mix so long. Kneading develops stronger gluten.
(By "regular flour", I assume you mean all-purpose.)
If just the crust per se, then cook at lower temps, or not so long.
Traditionally, flat bread is only minimally kneaded, just enough to mix to "homogeneity", that is, no visible clumps or streaks. 6 min in a mixer seems long.
Naan dough should be rested a minimum of 15 minutes after mixing, preferrably 30 min, according to Madhura.
After baking, you can let them rest wrapped in a towel or in aluminum foil -- that allows the inner moisture to migrate outward and soften the crust.
My favorite naan and other flatbread recipes are from www.madhurasrecipe.com
Bon appétit, amigo.
Thanks. I think it was a combination of too high protein flour - KAF is 11.4% - and maybe too long mixing. They looked great - blistered and touched with brown but the crust was tough. Patsy
Hi,
I'd minimize the cooking time as much as possible after the dough puffs, and increase the dough hydration slightly would help too. In my experience, well-developed dough and high heat did not cause tough crust.
Yippee
Yippee makes a great point about hydration. One of the things that makes the outer skin/crust of flatbread soft is that moisture migrates out and softens the skin/crust during the cool-down period.
There is a mid-range or sweet spot of what temp to cook at on the griddle. Too hot and you make the crust crispy and it won't soften. Not hot enough, and it takes too long to brown, and thereby you cook off too much water and there is not enough inner water left over to soften the crust during cool-down.
In my experience, pita is better baked than cooked on a griddle. Though a thinner chapati can be cooked nicely on a griddle.
I've done the "griddle first, then broil" method for naan. But I suspect a combo bake and broil situation mignt work better. Such that the baking stone is on the top rack, use bottom heat for a while, then switch from bottom heat to broil to finish the top. More than one way to get flatbread cooked.
In all cases, my experience has been to let the flatbread cool while covered, in order that the innner moisture migrates out and softens the skin/crust.
FYI,
https://youtu.be/ScbNR-IdfAA
https://youtu.be/RVr0Do14_JA
I might use fresh durum flour to experiment her roti formula.
Yippee