Okay, so I decided to try making that Afghan naan bread myself the other day. Heard a lot about it, seen pictures, you know? Looked simple enough, basically flour, water, yeast.
Getting Started with the Dough
First thing, I grabbed a big bowl. Dumped in some regular all-purpose flour. Nothing fancy. Then I got the yeast going in some warm water with a tiny bit of sugar, waited till it got foamy. Poured that into the flour.
Added a bit of salt, then just started mixing it all up with my hands. Added more water bit by bit. Didn’t measure too carefully, just went by feel, until it felt like a nice, soft dough. Not too sticky, not too dry. Then the kneading part. Worked it on the counter for maybe 10 minutes? Just pushed and folded, pushed and folded. Got a good rhythm going.
After that, I put the dough back in the bowl, covered it up with a cloth, and just left it alone in a warmish spot in the kitchen. Let it do its thing, rise up. Took about an hour, maybe a bit more. It got pretty big, doubled I guess.
Shaping and Baking
Alright, so the dough was ready. Punched it down a bit. Then I divided it up into a few pieces. Now, the shaping… I tried to make them into that long oval shape, like the real Afghan naan. It’s harder than it looks! Mine were kinda… rustic shapes? Let’s call them that. I flattened them out pretty thin, maybe thicker at the edges.
Then I tried making those lines or dimples on top. Just used my fingers to press down, making a pattern. Some people use special tools, but fingers worked fine for me. I also brushed them with a little bit of water.
- Got the oven super hot. Like, as high as it would go.
- Put a baking stone in there to heat up too. Makes the bottom crispier.
- Carefully slid the shaped dough onto the hot stone.
Baked them for just a few minutes. You gotta watch close ’cause they cook fast with the oven that hot. Waited till they puffed up and got some nice golden brown spots. The smell starting filling the kitchen – that fresh bread smell, you know? Amazing.
Pulled the first one out. Looked pretty decent, actually! Maybe not perfectly traditional, but definitely looked like flatbread. It was soft inside, a little crispy on the outside. Tasted really good, especially just warm out of the oven. Made the rest of them the same way. Yeah, pretty successful, I’d say. Definitely doing that again.
