Topic: Tava!

[raygraham]

Hi Darth,

Do you find it gave you a better result than kneading it by hand.
I know it's a lazy way and not too politically correct but for me it works really well.
What recipe did you use and what result did you get?

Regards

Ray

[DARTHPHALL]

Its the only way Ive ever done it  ;D.
By the time Ive cooked a 15 Onion base I'm damned if i can be arsed to kneed anything by hand after all that chopping. ;D

[raygraham]

Yep, I know just what you mean. Being a 15 onion chopper must be a toil!

I can imagine once you have sliced all those Onions you have to keep pulling your dark lords helmet off to wipe those tearful eyes!

What we have to do do for a decent meal!

Ray

[DARTHPHALL]

No I've got a special Dark lords Curry making life support suit ,Deluxe helmet with Onion guards & chilli proof gauntlets  ;D.
Failing that i can use the Force & get some weaker minded sole to chop all me veg.. ;D

[raygraham]

Nice Thinking, I might try that one!

Ray

[Ashes]

Looks great Mark!
Has anyone had any sucess with pizza stones? Im tempted to buy one as Ii lose so much heat as soon as the oven door is opened.

Bread making machines and dough mixers are excellent way to make dough for nan bread, otherwise the dough needs to be slightly drier if you kneed it by hand. A good tip ive learnt is to use fresh yeast and cold water, this gives a slightly delayed start to dough and the longer the dough rests before it starts to yeast, the better the results, Ive heard of alot of bakers who use this technique as it improves flavour, but they add slighly more sugar to sustain the yeast if the dough needs to rest over night.

Also has anyone used an indian rollingpin(I presume they are Indian)? Ive seen these sold in Indian shops, they look like thin rounded sticks, id imagine this helps you roll out dough which is slightly stickier without the dough riding up the pin.

[traveller]

Mark,
how thin were you rolling out the nans?? It will give me an ida of how thin to roll it out...also, how many nan did the recipe make?  I may have to half it since i dont want to freeze anything as I will be traveling alot in the coming days.

Also has anyone used an indian rollingpin(I presume they are Indian)? Ive seen these sold in Indian shops, they look like thin rounded sticks, id imagine this helps you roll out dough which is slightly stickier without the dough riding up the pin.

I was told the thinner rolling pins are supposed to be used to roll out the rotis very thin....all my relatives use them and it looks like it is a bit more difficult to roll with it....it will take practice.?

[raygraham]

Also has anyone used an indian rollingpin(I presume they are Indian)? Ive seen these sold in Indian shops, they look like thin rounded sticks, id imagine this helps you roll out dough which is slightly stickier without the dough riding up the pin.

Never used one but will look out for one to buy as they are probably very cheap. I would think you are right about their use with tickier dough.

They use these thin rolling pins a lot in Turkey where the ladies make bread ( called Gozlem ) beside the road, fill them with cheese and herbs and cook on a domed hot plate called a Plancher ( I think ). The bread is rolled very thin and folded in half with the filling before being cooked.

Ray

[traveller]

Ray, I have seen those thin rolling pins for less than a pound in indian stores.

[traveller]

I made the dough for the nan just now.....made it by hand.  The 225 grams wasnt too much so I made the entire batch and put a small amount of kalonji seeds in it - figured it may help mask some egg taste if there is any!  I had to add a bit more dough as it was too sticky with the given measurements.  I will post on the final results tonite.