Title: Afghan home-style naan
 Categories: Bread, Breadmaker, Tested
      Yield: 6 Naan
 
----------------FLATBREADS AND FLAVORS; ALFO---------------------
      2 ts Yeast
    1/2 c  Water; warm
      1 c  Yogurt; well-chilled
      1 c  Water; boiling
      3 c  Flour, whole wheat; hard
      2 tb Oil, corn; or safflower
      2 ts Salt
      3 c  Flour, whole wheat; hard

--------------------------TOPPING-------------------------------
      6 tb Sesame seeds
 
  15 minutes mix, 30 minutes rest, 20 minutes mix, 1 hr rest, 10 minutes
  roll, 10 minutes rest, then per naan 5 minutes roll & 5 minutes cook.
  
  You will need a large bread bowl, a medium-sized bowl, unglazed quarry
  tiles to fit on a rack in your oven or a baking sheet at least
  10"x14", a baker's peel or another large baking sheet, a rolling pin,
  and a razor blade or sharp knife.
  
  Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in a large bowl.  Stir to
  dissolve.
  
  Stir boiling water into yogurt in medium bowl.  Let cool to tepid (105
  F-115 F).
  
  Stir yogurt mixture into yeast mixture.  Stir in flour, 1/2-cup at a
  time. Then stir for 2 minutes in the same direction.  You now have a
  sponge. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand 30 minutes.
  
  Sprinkle oil and salt onto sponge.  Mix in enough of remaining flour,
  1/2 cup at a time, to form a dough.  Turn out onto lightly floured
  surface and knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if
  dough is sticky, about
       10    minutes.
  
  Wash out and lightly oil the large bowl.  Add dough, turning to coat
  entire surface.  Cover with damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap and
  let rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
  
  Position a rack in lower third of oven and arrange quarry tiles on
  rack, leaving 1" space between tiles and oven walls.  Or place
  10"x14" (or larger) baking sheet in oven to preheat.
  
  Punch dough down.  Divide into one piece per naan.  Using lightly
  floured hands, flatten each piece on lightly floured work surface
  into 4"-5" round. Cover rounds with kitchen towel or plastic wrap and
  let rest 10 minutes.
  
  Preheat oven to 450 F.  Lightly flour baker's peel or back side of
  large baking sheet.  Working with one dough round at a time, roll out
  on lightly floured surface until dough begins to stretch, keeping
  remaining dough covered.  Brush flour from work surface and sprinkle
  1 tb sesame seeds onto work surface.  Lay dough on seeds and roll out
  into 6"x10" rectangle. Turn dough over. Using razor blade or tip of a
  shart knife, cut five 1"-long slits evenly spaced around the dough,
  radiating from the center like sun rays or flower petals.  Slice
  dough onto baker's peel or prepared sheet. Then slide dough onto
  quarry tiles or preheated baking sheet and bake until top begins to
  brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer bread to rack. Repeat with remaining
  dough rounds and sesame seeds. Serve warm or at room temperature.
  
  Authors' comments: This Afghan home-style bread is a classic Central
  Asian naan, delicious on its own or as an accompaniment to almost any
  meal. Unlike Afghan Snowshoe Naan, which is much thinner, this bread
  is thick, soft, and almost rich in taste.
  
  Sylvia's comments: as usual, I substituted regular bread flour for the
  whole wheat flour and let the breadmachine mix the sponge (with tap
  water, didn't bother with boiling/cold water, it's easier to let the
  machine warm the ingredients) and knead the dough, letting it rest
  right in the breadmachine.  My 1-1/2 lb Zojirushi S-15A mixed all the
  ingredients for 6 naan just fine.  The only problem is that I left
  the house and let it rise more than 2 hours instead of just 1.
  Needless to say, when I got home I had to peel off the dough that had
  overflowed all over the place! I had trouble getting the sesame seeds
  to stick. If I used enough flour to keep it from sticking to the
  table, it was too dry on the bottom to hold the sesame seeds.  I
  sprinkled them over the top and rolled them in, but that didn't stick
  well, either. I finally adapted a trick from another naan recipe and
  brushed the top with ghee after cutting the slits, then sprinkled the
  sesame seeds on top. I had to cook them 6-7 minutes to get then to
  start browning, with or without ghee on top.  They were good, but I
  think I prefer smaller, more manageable naan.