Servings: 8 Prep: 15 mins Cook: 5 mins Total: 1 hr
I have a giant, somewhat narrow, but enormously deep drawer at the bottom of my kitchen’s cabinetry. It contains a massive selection of powdery goodies, like coconut and almond flours, but also a strange selection of silver, mylar wrapped bags of ingredients like polydextrose and wheat protein isolate 8000; two ingredients I haven’t used, in years.
In rummaging through this drawer, I unearthed an old bag of LC Food’s Low Carb Pizza and Bagel Flour. As is common, I thought about it, thought about what I wanted for dinner, then thought about what would make a tasty recipe for my blog. Lots to think about!
I’ve been in Mexico for a few months. While the local food is beyond amazing, the local offerings offer very little in the way of Asian food. I miss it! Then, it hit me…
Naan!!!
What if I used this for Naan!? Would it work? Would it taste good? What would I eat it with? Will it cause me cravings? It’s an old bag… will it even work?! So many questions!
As a blogger and writer of overly verbose recipes, it’s my job to answer questions. Let’s dig in!
Naan is a flatbread, likely originating somewhere between Pakistan and India. However, its roots go back much further, reaching deeply into the history of Mesopotamia. Today, there are versions of Naan, or Naan-like breads all over the world, including Iran, Indonesia, China, Japan, etc.
The type I’m focusing on is from India. Indian Naan is typically a yeast-leavened dough, which is slapped into the inside wall of a scorching hot tandoor (typically a cylindrical clay oven). I remember as a kid, I’d watch Indian chefs slap wads of dough into their tandoor, then retrieve it using these long metal poles. I’ve actually got something strongly resembling a tandoor, kind of an off-brand version of the Big Green Egg. However, I was nervous about the slapping, concerned I’d miss, or that the dough would simply slide down into the fire. Also, most people Westerners don’t have tandoors.
Instead, I opted to grill it!
What I did was take the bag of Low Carb Pizza and Bagel flour and make dough. But, because I’m crazy like a fox, I decided to alter it. The bag is looking for olive oil, water, sweetener, and yeast. Because I’m looking for Naan, rather than an Italian pizza flavor, I just substituted everything but the yeast with an unsweetened Greek yoghurt. This has a bit of natural sugar (lactose), fat, and water. Seemed like a reasonable substitution. Granted, the whole thing was certain to fail, but I like to experiment and see what’s what.
Mix it together, I did! I tossed the flour, some yeast, a touch of salt, and yoghurt into my mixer, with a dough hook, and just let it go until it came together. Sure enough… dough happened! I put it into a greased bowl, covered with a lightly damp towel and set it on the oven to let it rise. It rose!
I whipped up some herby, garlicky, melted ghee, cut my dough into quarters, rolled it out, brushed it with the ghee, slapped it on the grill and marveled at how stunningly, truly amazing it actually was! It wasn’t quite the same malformed, oblong, and heavily bubbled naan from Indian restaurants, but it was every single bit as good!
So, to answer the questions at the top… It worked! It was good. Great, even! I served it with a variety of different curries, including a tantalizing Butter Chicken and spectacular Curried Eggplant.
Did it cause cravings? Yep, sure did! As is common with these low-carb frankenfoods, it definitely triggered me, but I’m aware of the sensation and I know it’ll go away if I just stay the course. And, frankly? Even if it didn’t cause me cravings… there’s precisely zero doubt that I’d want more.
For a bit of a splurge or to try something different, this is HIGHLY recommended! And, if Naan isn’t your cup of tandoori, having played with this flour, I have exactly zero doubt that it would make for a wonderful pizza dough. Three thumbs up!
*ahem*: No affiliation with this product. I was not asked to review it. I just had some, found an interesting use for it, and gave it a shot. Good stuff!
Note: This does not necessarily require a tandoor or a grill. You could roll out the dough, line the bottom of a large sauté pan or iron skillet with a small layer garlic ghee, then place rolled out dough sheet into the pan and cook. Alternately, this could be baked, exactly in the same way you’d bake a pizza, on a hot tray, or even a pizza stone.
Bread Machine: I’ve long since given my bread machine away, but in reading the reviews of this product, it looks like MANY people just add these ingredients to their bread machine, then press the “dough” button. Looks like unanimously positive results!
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 cups LC Foods Pizza and Bagel Flour
- 2 tsp instant, rapid rise, or bread machine yeast not active dry
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsweetened Greek yogurt
Garlic Ghee
- 1/2 cup ghee or melted butter
- 12 cloves garlic chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine the pizza flour, salt, and yeast in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the yoghurt. Knead by hand, or place into an electric mixer, with a dough hook. Knead until it becomes noticeably elastic, about 5 to 7 minutes. Alternately, see the bread machine note, above.
- Place the doughball in a greased bowl and cover with a lightly damp towel. Place somewhere warm and allow to rise for about 30 to 60 minutes.
- While waiting for the dough to rise, melt the butter or ghee with some chopped garlic and a bit of salt. Set aside. Keep warm.
- Get a grill, oven, or pan ready and heating.
- Split the dough into portions (I split it into quarters, but you could do one giant sheet, or lots of little balls). I personally rolled the dough out between two greased sheets of parchment paper, brushed one side with the garlic butter, then slapped the buttery side down onto the grill, where it quickly started to rise. I turned it 90 degrees for the cool grill marks, flipped to finish cooking, cut and served. You could just free form this with your fingers or hands for a more rustic appearance. Ideally the dough balls should be largely flat. Imperfections can be fun, in this case. Up to you. The flatness will help them cook quickly and evenly. Brush on butter then grill, griddle, or bake.
- Add the chopped cilantro to whatever garlic butter you have remaining and use as a tasty drizzle!
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* Learn More: More about this recipe and nutrition …
Any ideas for a replacement for the commercial flour mix? I hate to buy a bag for only one recipe, especially if it is going to cause cravings.
Hi Eric!
The issue is largely related to the texture. The existing blend uses wheat proteins (gluten) to get the elastic chewiness so common with items like pizza crust and naan. Eliminating those ingredients will eliminate that texture and sensation. I think it’s nice to occasionally have that option, but do acknowledge these kinds of things cause me cravings. I don’t want it to sound like these foods will cause cravings for EVERYONE. I happen to be sensitive to wheat, but you may not be. If you’re not, then you can use this blend for pizza crust or bagels, if you have any leftover after the naan. If you are sensitive to wheat, then I understand why you may want to move on. In that case, there are many options, but the texture won’t be the same.
I would personally make a smaller batch of my focaccia, using melted ghee, in place of the olive oil. I’d make it a bit thicker, like a dough. It’ll still be a challenge to handle, so I’d coat a sheet of parchment with some melted ghee, plunk the dough in the center, coat my hands with melted ghee, then press the dough as thin as possible (noting that the imperfections in thickness is part of the fun). From there, I’d bake it. If you wanted to grill it, you likely could, but you’d have to have a well-greased, hot grill, all set to go. Then, you’d have to pick up the parchment and quickly flip it onto the grill, peeling the parchment off the back. You won’t be able to hold the dough in your hands without it schmoo-ing apart. Once it starts to grill and solidify, you will be able to handle it. Raw, it would be impossible.
Alternately, you can just bake it in an oven, directly on the parchment. The shape will be the same. It’ll mostly look the part. The taste will be nice (if mildly earthy), it’ll absorb flavors, etc. The texture will be quite different, though …
I hope this helps! 😀