Chicken Tikka Masala What You Cooked Last Night Discuss Chicken Tikka Masala in the Brick Oven Cooking forums; The chicken looks great. I like the char marks which look very authentic. I made naan the other night with ...

[james]

The chicken looks great. I like the char marks which look very authentic.

I made naan the other night with a dough that was very similar to a wet focaccia dough -- with a lot of yoghurt. The dough was seriously wet, to where you need a lot of flour to even work with it. I shaped it into oval naans and baked it between two FB pizza stones on convection at 550F. They puffed up and got pretty dark brown -- though I didn't get the char you would see from a tandoor oven. I drizzled garlic butter, as we didn't have any ghee in the house. It was the closest I've ever gotten to the real thing.

We have a local Indian restaurant that sets up two gas-fired tandoors at the local farmers' market -- I have to get a video of that.

We should all also try sticking our naan to the side of our wood ovens -- without burning your hand. Hah, I have to bring my infrared to test the restaurants tandoor for temperature.

Fun thread.
James

[egalecki]

I gave some thought to trying to stick a naan to the inside of my oven- I can't do it without charring my arm. The landing's too long to get it there without some kind of stick and pad arrangement. I'm thinking that just putting them on the floor will have to do!

where did you find the recipe you used?

[james]

Here's one to try that was posted earlier from Madhur Jaffrey. It's close to what I have been using.

2/3 C wm milk
2t sugar
2t active dry yeast
3 1/4 all purpose flour
1/2 t salt
1 t baking powder (yep, yeast and baking powder)
2 T veg oil
2/3 cup yogurt ( I use whole milk yogurt)
1 lg egg, slighlty beaten

Also, there is a Tandoori Chicken recipe in Cook's Illustrated this month.
James

[dmun]

Just a note: Indian yogurt, like Greek, is much stronger than what we get in the grocers' dairy case.

[Tim F]

I'm game to stick a naan to the inside of the oven. I think you would need a tool to do it though, I've seen videos on youtube that show them using a rolled up cloth or little cushion, with the naan draped over it. This is then pressed against the wall of the tandoor. I think it might work if you just wrapped a few tea towels around a broom handle.

[dmun]

The little cushion is called a bread pad.

Bread Pad for making Naan

[egalecki]

I think if you used a strainer or a coffee filter on the regular yogurt we can get here to get rid of some of the moisture you'd be ok. We are just now getting to the point locally where the stores carry Greek style yogurt. Sometimes. Now if I could just talk them into carrying Italian parsley instead of the curly stuff....

[Tim F]

Can you get the yoghurt making kits in the US? We have them in the supermarket here and make our own yoghurt. If we want the yoghurt stronger we just leave it fermenting for a day longer.

I tried sticking a spare piece of pizza dough to the inside of the oven tonight but no joy. My pad might not have been wide enough to properly press it though so I will try again.

[dmun]

I tried sticking a spare piece of pizza dough to the inside of the oven tonight but no joy.

The Indians spray or brush a little water on the working side of the dough, sticks like a charm. Remember, in a tandoor it falls in the fire if it doesn't stick. You can also just cook it on the oven floor. No bread pad needed.

[Modthyrth]

On a related topic, there's a good looking Tandoori chicken recipe in the latest issue of Cooks Illustrated.