Persian Naan - TWD: Baking with Julia

Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia - 104th installment. The recipe is Persian Naan.

A basic Naan bread (yum!) from Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. We made the Oasis Naan version topped with salt and scallions back in 2012.  This version has sesame seeds, and is formed into a very long oval.   The dough is the same for both recipes - very easy, and few ingredients (water, yeast, bread flour, salt).  It is mixed by hand and then rises for two hours, although the recipe says it's perfectly OK to let it go longer (good to have flexibility there!

Before rising

After rising

After rising, the dough gets divided into ovals and rests for a few minutes, and then you shape the long oval (16-18 inches), sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake.  I baked this on the pizza stone, which seems to improve the texture.   It is really tasty!  This bread dries out fairly quickly, so it does not necessarily keep well, although I did toast some leftover pieces the next day, and it was certainly edible.  It is good to have another shot at this recipe, as I would like to really be proficient in making this bread.