Peshwari Naan

It's with great pleasure that I bring to you decent vegan naan bread, made at home without a tandoor. I'm extremely pleased with the outcome - it's the best I've tasted in the past 10 years and as good as I remember naan from restaurants in my pre-vegan days. The vegan naan I've had in restaurants since has just been nasty.

I veganized a traditional recipe a few years back, but was unimpressed with results achievable through oven cooking. Even at the max temperature (260^oc), using a pizza stone and then grilling afterwards the results were just no where as good as you can get using a traditional tandoor (480^oc). Too stodgy and dried out. Ready made naan from supermarkets (sometimes vegan) is often chewy as well.

I revisited it earlier this week, using a blow torch after cooking to try and up the temperature. Whilst this gave better results it wasn't good enough to blog about (a shame, as I took some pretty blow torch pictures!). Last night I tried cooking directly over a gas flame, which gave by far and away the best home-made naan I've ever had.

I'd like to take credit for this discovery, but I owe it instead to a several hour long crawl of the internet. I'm pleased too, as my next idea involved using the BBQ and it's cold outside! You need a wire mesh to hold the naan whilst it's being cooked, but other than that you don't need any special tools.

I'm not sure how 'traditional' peshwari naan is outside the UK. Here it's a curry house staple, consisting of naan stuffed with coconut and sultanas. Apple and almond are common additions too. I worked out the ratios for each of the stuffing ingredients from commercial non-vegan products and used apple sauce for convenience (I know how obsessed Americans are with the stuff). You can change the stuffing ingredients/ratios as you please. If you make without stuffing then adding garlic and fresh coriander to the dough will give a bit more flavour.

Black Onion Seeds (the little black specks you see in naan) improve the flavour of the dough, but can be left out if you can't find them. In the UK they're sold in independent Indian shops (often convenience stores in areas with a high Asian population will have a spice section), though I believe our last bag was acquired from Waitrose.

Dough Ingredients (makes 3 naan):

• 280g White Bread Flour
• 1 tsp Dried Yeast
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Black Onion Seeds
• 60ml Plain Soya Yoghurt
• 10ml Agave Nectar
• 1 tbsp Melted Margerine
• 100ml Lukewarm Water

Stuffing Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp Apple Sauce
• 30g Shredded Coconut
• 30g Ground Almonds
• 50g Sultanas

Place the dough ingredients in your bread machine in the order specified by the manufacturer. Put on an italian/pizza dough program (45 mins on my Panasonic).

Chop the sultanas (leaving whole will make rolling out more difficult, as they will puncture it when pressure applied) and mix in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients.

The finished dough should be smooth and slightly sticky. Tip onto a floured surface, knead slightly and divide into 3 balls. Leave to rise for 15-30 minutes.

After rising knead each slightly, roll out thinly, spread the stuffing mixture over then fold over the sides. Turn upside down and roll out into your desired shape, being careful not to puncture the sides.

Rolling a teardrop is easiest if you start with a round disc, hold the side closest to you with one hand and push away with a rolling pin in the other. Try to get the naan as thin as possible (without puncturing), as this will make cooking easier/quicker.

Cook each naan in turn, placing on a wire mesh directly over your largest gas burner, turned to a low setting.

Keep the mesh close to the flame and ensure you regularly move it round so that it cooks evenly. After several minutes when the underside is starting to blacken and the top bubbling; flip it over with a metal spatula.

The photo below shows what happens when're you're busy taking photographs and not moving it around - the cooking becomes uneven!

When both sides are cooked brush with melted margarine and serve whilst still warm. If you're worried it may not be cooked slice one in half before brushing, so it can be transferred back to a lower heat if required. The first I made had the burner turned up too high, so needed a bit of extra time.

Next task - vegan keema naan.

Sweet Pepper & Sundried Tomato Focaccia

Following on from last week's marbled focaccia; last night I had a go at a sundried tomato one.

One thing that I've not appreciated before is that a lot of the nice flavour in this bread comes from the pepper, and that just using slices of raw pepper doesn't allow it to hit that sweet and lovely taste. This time round I made a paste of sundried tomato and sweet red pepper, as well as using whole pieces of each. I also used the basil oil I made (see last post) to inject some extra flavour.

The result? I'm pretty pleased. I've not hit perfection yet, but I'd happily eat it again. The main mistake I made was to use pieces of tomato sold in a bag. I've used ones in oil in the dough before and it makes it too oily. What I didn't realise was that the tomatoes that come in a bag are preserved in salt and need to be washed first. Yuck! Thus I'm recommending anyone who tries this recipe that they use the type in oil, but just try to really dry them off and remove as much oil as possible before adding.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp fast acting dried yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp table salt
• 350g White Bread Flour
• Basil Oil
• 210ml Water
• 120g Sundried Tomatoes
• 1 Sweet Red Pepper

Again I made the dough using a bread machine. Place the yeast, sugar, salt, flour, water and 1 tbsp of unstrained basil oil in the pan in the order specified by the manufacturer and set on an italian/pizza dough cycle (45 min on mine). I used table salt this time round because the sea salt used last time didn't give it enough of a kick.

Once the dough has come together (5 minutes or so) add 60g of chopped sundried tomatoes to it, removing as much excess oil as possible with kitchen tissue first.

Cut a sweet red pepper (the long pointy type) into slithers and lightly fry in some sunflower oil to soften. Blend half of the cooked pepper with the other 60g of the sundried tomatoes in a food processor, to create a paste.

When the dough has finished it's cycle roll it out on a floured board, spread the paste over it and top with the remaining pepper. Fold the dough up several times in a random fashion, adjusting the direction of each to marble the paste through it. I found this worked better than last week's twisting.

Place the dough in an oiled 9" springform tin, push it into a circle with your fingers and leave to rise in a warm place for 20 minutes. When risen, use your fingers to poke holes in the dough and fill them with strained basil oil (see first photo). Leave to rise again for 15 minutes, then cook at 200^oc for 20 minutes, until the top is golden and oil absorbed. Allow the bread to cool completely before serving, to fully develop its texture and flavour.

Black Olive Marbled Focaccia

Focaccia is wheatylicious. And yes, we do have a chaise longue in the kitchen. You'll also notice that I like my focaccia deep, not thin like it is traditionally made.

There is a reason for this. The best focaccia I've ever had the pleasure of tasting is that formally sold by Waitrose, in a pack of 3 called Focaccia Trio. It to was in this format, with 3 breads each making up a third: black olive, herb+seed and tomato+pepper. I wasn't fussed by the herb, but the tomato was divine. The olive wasn't as nice, but pretty damn good. Waitrose sold it for years and was vegan according to their website. It was popular and always selling out. Then, one day, they replaced it with some rubbish with milk powder in. Since when did Italian bakers use milk powder?

I attempted to recreate it but failed - all focaccias I tried (including those in Carol Field's focaccia book) weren't up to scratch. I'm guessing the Waitrose one wasn't traditional and that Field does actually know what she's talking about, but anyway. The thing that set it aside was that it wasn't simply stuffed, the flavour was marbled through the dough and fully infused within it. Every mouth full was perfect loveliness.

I've not made focaccia for a while, and when I do make it these days I tend to go for caramelised red onion, garlic and rosemary. I decided this weekend however to try a black olive one instead. The results were pretty good I have to say (almost all of it got eaten between us within minutes of photographing), but it's not focaccia perfection yet. My criticism: could take more seasoning/flavour and due to it's height was ever so slightly doughy. I'm going to go for a slightly larger pan next time and use more salt. I'm blogging what I made this time round however and will revisit it another time.

Dough ingredients:

• 1 tsp fast acting dried yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 350g White Bread Flour
• 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 210ml Water

Place the above ingredients in your bread machine in the order specified by the manufacturer. Put on an italian/pizza dough cycle (45 mins on my machine).

Meanwhile, blend 15 fresh pitted black olives (not the preserved type that come in brine) with 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 tsp dried thyme and 1 tsp minced garlic in a food processor.

When the dough is complete turn it out onto a floured surface and knead for a minute. Roll it out and spread with the olive paste.

Fold the dough over several times then take the ends and twist the whole thing. This is to try and get the marbled effect and evenly distribute the paste throughout the dough.

Move the dough to a 25cm oiled loose bottomed tin, cover and place in a warm place for 20 minutes. After the dough has risen make holes with your finger tips and pour extra virgin olive oil into them. Cover and leave in a warm place to rise again for 15 minutes, top with chopped olives and bake in a 200^oc oven for 25 minutes, or until the top goes golden and starts to crack.

Wait until it has cooled before removing from the tin and cutting. I don't know how long it lasts but it's best eaten fresh.

Update: The small amount that was left the morning after tasted better. I think next time I'll make slightly thinner, use no garlic, more salt and infuse the EV oil somehow with olive before using.

Stuffed Crust Pizza / Stuffed Doughballs

This a super easy bread machine recipe that I don't make often enough. Since discovering good frozen vegan pizza bases a couple of years back I've been super lazy. I'm totally going to make this again though soon as it is better to eat fresh than from frozen.

The pictures are from 4 years ago in my little flat, when I didn't really understand good lighting or use of depth of field (large aperture does not guarantee a good photo).

Ingredients for 1 pizza or 12 doughballs:

• 225g White Bread Flour
• 3.5g Dried Yeast
• A Pinch of Salt
• 150ml Water
• 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Place all ingredients in your bread machine in the order you normally use. Select the italian dough setting (45 min on my Panasonic). Remove when complete (with the help of some extra flour if too sticky) and knead for a few minutes on a floured surface.

Pizza

Roll out to a diameter a few centimetres larger than you need. Cut meltable vegan cheese (or anything else you want to stuff it with) into strips and place in a circle 1cm from the edge. Work your way round the pizza, rolling the dough over the cheese and tucking it under, pressing down slightly to make a seal.

Blind bake for a few minutes on a heavy pan or pizza stone at 220^oc. If you don't have a pizza stone yet, buy one. They cost a tenner and are great for all types of bread. Remove from oven, pierce any bubbles of air in the centre of the pizza and top as you please. Cook until done (10-15mins).

If you don't blind bake you run the risk of the topping sinking into the dough and making it soggy.

Favourite toppings: sundried tomato paste, pesto, grilled artichokes, roasted peppers, olives, vegan cheese (several types), capers, tomatoes (remove excess juice/seeds), garlic, mushrooms, olive oil, herbs.

Less is often more - tomatoes, garlic, oregano and olive oil is a simple yet winning combination:


Doughballs

Doughballs are great eaten with soup or just on their own. Divide the above dough into 12, roughly roll out each into a circle (smaller than the size of your palm) using your fingers, place a small amount of filling in the centre and fold over the sides and pinch, making a tight seal. Roll around in the hands to ensure there are no cracks. Place on the tray you're baking them on upside down, so that the seal is at the bottom.

Don't be tempted to overstuff them or they could explode, which is less exciting than it sounds.

Meltable cheese and sundried tomato is my favourite filling, but garlic & herb margarine works too. I can't remember how long they need cooking for, but it's probably around 10 minutes at 220^oc.