Farmer's Market and Homemade Naan Bread

Best $4.50 I ever spent. Don't you just want to kiss that spring garlic? It has the mildest flavour, too. The lady selling them gave me a free bundle when I bought the first one, how nice of her. I'll definitely be going back to my local farmer's market which will be on three times a week all summer. They had everything, but I will definitely not mosey in at ten a.m. next time; all the fresh eggs were gone :(. They also had herb plants which I spied and coveted for my urban patio. Goodbye grocery store produce, I want to eat locally grown foods for the season. Why not? I live in the most rich agricultural gold mine, we have orchards and fruit everywhere. I am definitely going to take advantage of it this year. I guess I have just been spoiled, since I moved here, food everywhere for cheap, practically dripping off the trees in the peak season. Moving here from Vancouver Island, which has many farms and a fantastic farmer's market as well, I guess I just kind of took it for granted. Silly me. Well, I appreciate it now and am resolving to support my local farmers a little more for all their hard work. I can't wait to find out about all the delicious local food. I spied some spelt flour, organic honey... there is just so much to try. I will chronicle my discoveries and share them here.

After I got the lay of the land at the farmer's market, we went home for lunch and planned our grocery shop. I used up the rest of the turkey soup I had thawed from the freezer and made tuna sandwiches with lettuce and cucumber. I was out of mayonnaise, so guess what I substituted? Yes, my homemade yogurt! I have used it in so many things, it has a wonderful mild flavour and I have used is as a creamy topping on my baked potatoes, in my smoothies, on my sandwich,and in my homemade naan bread. What's that you say? Homemade bread? Yes, and it was easy. While I was gathering the ingredients, my husband is all, "You know, if you need flat bread I could just go and buy you some," looking at me in wonder at my baking enthusiasm. I said, "Sure, go ahead. Do you remember the last time?" The last time I bought tortillas at the grocery store on sale, we had just sat down to eat my fantastic burritos and there, black green and fuzzy, was a huge mold spot on the wraps. Talk about ruining dinner and our appetites. Eew. It made me so mad that I had paid four dollars for rotten flat bread, that I learned how to make tortillas on YouTube. They were so easy, and most of all, FRESH. My husband shivered with the heebie jeebies, remembering the icky store bought flatbread, and left me to my devices.

Here is my yeast naan dough after rising. It took about thirty minutes for the dough to double. I could have made them smaller and had ten or twelve, but eight was plenty for the three of us.

I got this recipe while waiting in the doctor's clinic. Don't ask me why we were there, I have a son and a husband they are always getting roughed up, one way or the other. It couldn't have been too life threatening. All I remember about the visit was perusing magazines and writing recipes in my notebook. I found this magazine with a section on ethnic food recipes, falafels, naan bread, kebabs. (Aren't they lucky to have me for a wife and Mum?) I wish I could remember which magazine so I could credit it. I think it might have been Canadian Living, but I am not sure.

Last night we needed a carbohydrate for dinner and I remembered the naan recipe. I was using up all the bits in my frig, leftover steak, (no, the irony of serving beef with naan bread was not lost on us) the rest of my celery and half an onion and green pepper. We had just gone shopping and I wasn't quite ready to break into the new food yet. I keep reading all these food waste blogs and while I am not quite ready to confess my waste in a pictorial every week, they make a valid point. As a rule, we all waste way too much food!

Naan Bread Recipe:
1/2 cup warm water
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp. sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg beaten
5 tblsp plain yogurt <3

Start yeast with water and sugar, let it do it's thing, 10 minutes or so. Then mix together your dry ingredients. Add oil, egg and yogurt in a measuring cup, mix together. Pour into yeast mix, then add dry ingredients slowly, mixing a soft dough. Cover and let rise until doubled. Divide dough into equal parts and roll out flat, then fry in a small amount of oil on a cast iron pan on medium heat. They take about two minutes each to cook.
The thing I liked most about this naan recipe was that it only used two and a half cups of flour (the tortillas needed four) and the leavening agent was yeast instead of baking powder, which made the dough soft and fluffy. I also liked that the recipe called for yogurt! Is there anything yogurt cannot do? On the other side the naan becomes golden brown and crispy in a little bit of oil, while staying soft and chewy in the middle. Yum. I liked the way it bubbled up in the pan. This recipe is a keeper. We all loved it.