Margherita Naan Pizza from Season by Nik Sharma

 I invited myself along to the Rainy Day Bites Cookbook Club in Instagram and the August cookbook is Season by Nik Sharma. The recipes are Indian with some traditional elements and some spins on traditional recipes. The default is always from scratch and as fresh as possible, from roasting and grinding your own spices to making your own naan. That's what I did for this recipe, a week late or so, but I finally did it! I'll include the naan recipe but not the full pizza recipe; please see the cookbook for that! 

I never feel quite comfortable with pizza. My stove isn't gas, I don't have a pizza stone, and I can't get quite to the crispness I would like. However I thought the end result was tasty flavor-wise. I ended up just making the two pizzas from the dough rather than making half into garlic naan, which was my original inclination.

Naan
(from Season, with far more directions and narrative and photos)

1/2 cup (120 ml) whole milk, heated to 105 to 115 F (41 to 46 C)
1 large egg
2 Tbsp plain full-fat Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 Tbsp active dry yeast
2 cups (280 g) all-purpose flour or whole-wheat pastry flour, plus more for rolling out the naans

Using a fork, whisk the milk, egg, yogurt, butter, and salt in a small bowl. Sprinkle with the yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes. The mixture should be bubbly on the surface.

Put the flour in a large bowl or mound on a clean work surface and make a well in the center. Pour the yeast mixture into the middle of the well.* Using clean hands or a large wooden spoon, gradually mix the flour from the inside wall of the well into the liquid to form a sticky dough. Knead well for 4-5 minutes.

Fold the dough by grabbing it from the underside and stretching it and folding it back over itself. Rotate a quarter of a turn and repeat three or four times. Brush a large bowl with a little oil and put the dough in the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a dark, warm place until doubled in size, about 4 hours.

Divide the dough into four equal parts and shape into balls. On a clean, lightly floured work surface, use a rolling pin to roll out the balls of dough, one at a time, into circles about 1/8 in (4 mm) thick and about 6 in (15 cm) in diameter.

To cook the naan, heat a large skillet with a lid over medium-high heat. Slap a circle of dough into the hot skillet and cover the pan to trap the steam. Cook for 3-4 minutes, flip the dough, and turn the ehat to low. Cook, covered, until the naan blisters, with a few big bubbles, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and wrap in a clean kitchen towel. Repeat with the remaining three circles of dough.

*If you are an amateur bread or pasta maker, this well concept might not be as easy as it sounds. I had a break in my wall and ended up with less of the flour and less of the yeast mixture than I started with. What a mess! I wish I'd used a bowl. 

Season by Nik Sharma

Other recipes I have marked to try:

-Toasted Cumin and Lime Cucumber Salad (after seeing it on Deborah Balint's Instagram! Yum!)
-Cocoa-Spiced Bean and Lentil Soup
-Eggplant Pilaf
-Bombay Frittata
-Sweet Potato Bebinca
-Apple Masala Chai Cake
-Rhubarb, Cardamom, and Rose Water Sharbat
-Salted Tarragon Lassi
-Spiced Mango Milkshake

Recipes I've already made:

-Egg Salad with Toasted Coriander
-Cardamom Iced Coffee with Coconut Milk