FRESH HERB NAAN BREADS

Ingredients

150-200ml vegan milk

20g vegan butter

15g fresh yeast

1 tsp Castor sugar

450g strong white flour

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp Nigella or black onion seeds

150g plain vegan yoghurt

few coriander, mint and flat parsley sprigs oil, to grease

Method

the inclusion of lots of herbs in these naan bread gives them a wonderful fresh flavour. If you freeze the naans at the end of step 4. They can be defrosted, risen and cooked whenever you need them.

1.pour the milk in a small saucepan and bring to a scalding point over a medium heat. Remove from the heat, add the butter and allow to melt. Allow to cool until tepid, about 38°C

2.In a small bowl, mix the yeast with a spoonful or two of the tepid milk, then stir in the sugar. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl and stir in the nigella seeds. Add the yeast mixture, yoghurt and three quarter of the milk and melted butter mix. Mix throughly, adding enough of the remaining milk to make a soft dough.

3.Tip out onto a work surface and knead the dough for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Roughly chop a mixture of herbs, so you can have about 3 tbsp in total, and knead them into the dough. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with lightly oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

4. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and roll each piece into a large oval, about 3 mm thick. Make sure the dough is not thicker than this, or it will not have a chance to cook through in the pan before the outside becomes too dark. You may need to rest the dough from time while rolling as it may become quite elastic and difficult to roll.

5.Lay the rolled bread on a lightly oiled tray or work surface and cover with lightly oiled cling film. Leave to prove for about 15 minutes, or until they are visible rising again and about 5mm thick. Heat the oven to 120°C/gas mark 1/2.

6.Heat a heavy-based frying pan over medium heat and brush it with oil. Working in batches according to the size of the pan, brush the top of each naan with water and fry for 3 minutes before turning it and brushing the other side with water. Fry the other side for 3 minutes until we’ll brown.

7. Keep warm in a low oven while you cook the remaining bread. Serve warm with curries, or cut into slices and served with Indian spiced dips.

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