Soft Pretzels

Soft pretzels! These are so much fun to make. They're a bit of work - it took us a few hours on a Saturday morning - but they're delicious and they freeze really well, so you can continue to enjoy your work for weeks to come. The recipe itself is very wordy, so I'm not going to say much here - just that, if you're looking for a fun and tasty weekend project, this is a great one!

Soft Pretzels
Slightly adapted from Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It.

1 lb 13 oz flour (about 6 c)
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp kosher salt, plus more for topping
2 tbsp vegetable oil
8 c water
1/2 c baking soda
1 egg

In a stand mixer bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Drizzle in the oil and 2 c water, then mix with the dough hook on low speed until the dough comes together.

When it becomes uniform and clings to the dough hook, remove the dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured countertop. Knead for 7-10 minutes, until the dough becomes uniform, a little shiny and still slightly sticky. (Can you just knead it in the stand mixer? Sure, but I find I rarely get good results that way. Even when the outside of the dough seems good and floury, there is often a really sticky bit attached to the dough hook. Even if I start the kneading process in my stand mixer, I will take the dough out and finish it off by hand.) The dough will have the consistency of an earlobe when finished (this is the way the original recipe describes it and it is SO helpful in determining when the dough is ready!).

Place the dough ball in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover it with a kitchen towel and put it in a warm place to rise (I use my oven's proofing function) for about an hour, until doubled.

When the dough is risen, return it to your lightly floured countertop. Stick your finger into the middle of the dough to make a small hole. Widen the hole, working hand over hand, until it forms a ring about 2" thick. Place the ring back on the counter and divide it into 12 equal pieces (divide into quarters, then divide each quarter into thirds).

Remove one piece, covering the rest with a damp kitchen towel and setting them aside. Roll that piece into a rope of about 18". (I found the dough easiest to roll when it had very little flour on it. It was difficult to do on my counter, but I had more success holding it in the air and rolling between my hands, letting gravity do its work.) When the rope is long enough, fold it into a pretzel shape (make a U, turn the ends inward, then twist them together). Pinch the ends to ensure they won't unravel. When the pretzel is formed, place it under the kitchen towel. Continue with the remainder of the dough. When finished, let all the formed pretzels rest 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine the remaining 6 c water and the baking soda in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Carefully lay one pretzel into the boiling water.

Cook 30 seconds, flipping once, then drain and remove to the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining pretzels.

When all the pretzels have been boiled, beat the egg in a small bowl with 1 tsp water and brush the mixture over the tops of the pretzels, then sprinkle them with kosher salt.

Bake the pretzels for 15-18 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack for 30 minutes (seriously, leave them alone - the texture develops during the cooling process). They are best eaten the day they're made, but they can be frozen in ziplock bags for months (just reheat for 15 minutes in a 350° F oven).

Braided Pesto Bread

I find myself making a lot of yeast bread lately. Now that I've gotten a feel for things (and don't end up with scary yeast monsters anymore), bread-making is a snap.

This bread has quickly become one of  my favorites. It's soft and delicious on its own and the filling adds an amazing touch. I want to experiment with other sorts of fillings (tomato paste? mozzarella and pepperoni? did I just blow your mind?), but so far I keep coming back to the pesto. It's salty and cheesey and basily - exactly what this fluffy bread calls for - and the green looks so pretty leaking out of the dough. My only problem is with the Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top - absolutely necessary in my opinion, but it has the unfortunate habit of burning really quickly if not watched. Don't worry - it's not a deal-breaker. Burned cheese or no, you'll be all over this bread.

I'm not sure I can look at pictures of this bread any longer. I might need to go make some now. Good thing I have so much frozen pesto!

Braided Pesto Bread
Slightly adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride.

1 c warm water (105-115° F)
2 tsp active dry yeast
2 1/2 c flour plus some for dusting
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2-3/4 c pesto (the original recipe called for 1/2 c of a very liquidy pesto - since my homemade pesto is more pastey, I needed to add more)
2 tbsp grated Parmesan

Measure warm water into a bowl, sprinkle on yeast and let sit ten minutes until frothy (a tiny pinch of sugar can be added to help the yeast get going). Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer, add flour, oil and salt and mix on low with the dough hook attachment until well blended.

Increase speed to medium and knead with dough hook for five minutes, until smooth and elastic. Remove the dough to a floured counter top and knead by hand, adding a little flour if necessary, until smooth and unsticky (the dough should be a bit tacky, but not stick mercilessly to everything it touches). Form the dough into a ball and transfer into a bowl coated in cooking spray. Put in a warm, undrafty place and let rise until doubled, 45 minutes to an hour.

When the dough is doubled, flour your counter top again and pat and roll your dough into a rectangle, about 18x12 inches. Spread the pesto over the top of the dough, leaving a clean 1/2" border (ok, so mine's closer to an inch - even with my ruler, I can't measure).

Carefully roll the long side of the dough toward you, making sure your roll is tight and the end remains pinched closed. Once the dough is totally rolled, pinch the seam closed (if your ends are too floury to be properly pinched, pinch from a bit further back, where the dough is stickier).

Transfer your roll to a parchment-lined baking sheet. (You could do this after you've formed the ring, but it may be difficult to transfer to the baking sheet - perhaps doing it on the counter with a sheet of parchment under it would solve both problems, but I haven't tried it yet. Next time.) Carefully slice the dough in half lengthwise (my enterprising husband discovered that a dough scraper works far better than a knife for this job).

Quickly and carefully, pinch the top ends of the dough halves back together and twist them into a braid, trying to keep the cut ends facing up (so they look pretty and don't spill out pesto in the oven). Twist your braid into a ring and pinch the ends together. (If your ring looks kinda funky - fat in some places and thin in others - take some time to plump and poke at it to make it into a prettier shape.) Set it aside to rest and rise for another 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 425° F.

When the ring has risen, bake for about 22 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle the top with Parmesan cheese, then return for another 2-3 minutes until melty and golden. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Pear Reminisces and Pear Bread

Pears have never been my favorite fruit. I've never disliked them, they've just never thrilled me. I probably just knew too much about them to find them appetizing.

You see, when I was growing up, we had a pear tree in our backyard. Not only that, but my grandparents, who lived a few miles away, had two more of them. In my present canning-crazy state, I keep  fantasizing about how wonderful it would be to have a fruit tree in the yard, with piles of free fruit to can and preserve every year. I have to keep reminding myself that I have had a fruit tree, and that parts of it really sucked.

My ambivalence to pears comes from having seen them in every possible state of decay. Picking up the fallen pears was a task that generally fell to me and my brother (often with a monetary reward per pear we collected - as my mom recently pointed out to me, she had to pick up pears through her whole childhood as well and was sick of it by the time we came along). It meant braving the swarms of yellow jackets to pick up gooey, bug-ridden fruit and hurl it into garbage cans (to which the swarms of yellow jackets quickly moved). I did not enjoy this.  When I smell a pear today, while I can appreciate the floral juiciness, it also reminds me of that familiar too-sweet smell of fruit decay.

I guess I remember the icky parts so well because there weren't many good parts to compensate for them. Picking pears was fun, on those occasions when the squirrels left them in the trees long enough to ripen. Once, in a particularly productive year, my brother and I had a pear stand in front of our house. That was cool, too. But eating them was too much of a chore to be fun. One of my grandparents' trees began to fruit in mid-August. A few weeks later, our tree was ripe, as was their second one. From that point, it was a pear-eating marathon. You know how pears ripen - one minute they're hard as rocks and then the next they're sitting in a pool of their own juices snickering at you. Imagine whole baskets of pears doing this at once. Since my family didn't can, there wasn't any good way to get rid of them, other than the ubiquitous pear pies (and back then I didn't like fruit pies at all). Pear season was more of an ordeal than a pleasure, most of the time.

Fast forward to today. My parents' pear tree is gone - my brother and I cut it down six or seven years ago. Its production had really dipped - the squirrels had been getting most of the pears for some years - and the trunk had begun to rot. A few years later, my grandparents' big tree was also cut down. For the most part, I forgot about the pears, since I don't live near enough to have them unloaded on me. But last week, I visited Grandma (who is recovering from a broken hip and has finally moved back home) and the surviving pear tree - the early one - was in full swing. I came home with sixteen pounds of pears and a new appreciation for them. Now that I'm canning, the idea of a vast supply of free fruit is thrilling once again (and I guess I've had nearly a decade to get over the pear glut of my childhood).

A few days later, Jeff and I made a batch of pear sauce. I had planned to use nine pounds of my pears for this, and perhaps another few pounds for some jam. The pears did not sign on to these plans. I washed them and separated them into two piles: rotting and hard as rocks. I decided to cut up the ones that were most ripe, discarding the ugly bits, and see how much I had to work with. Somehow, many of the pears were rotten from the inside (rotten to the core?), leaving very little usable material. I ended up with three pounds of chopped pears to make into sauce, returning seven or eight pounds of unripe ones to the back room for another day. (I had planned to blog about the pear sauce, but the process was long, annoying and fraught with difficulty - not because sauce is hard to make, but because of the pears themselves and our cheap food mill which keeps falling apart during use.)

Somehow, despite these memories and setbacks, I still haven't abandoned my dream of a fruit tree. I know parts of it suck, but the idea of free fruit, in whatever state, hasn't ceased to be alluring. Despite the difficulties the pears are giving me, I keep wondering if there will be more for me to take when I visit later this week. And maybe I'm being a bit dramatic in saying that pear season was an "ordeal." As a kid, it was just part of my routine (I'm serious about disliking picking them up, though - it was pretty gross). I keep looking at that pile of pears in my back room and seeing the possibilities. Yes, it's possible that half of them will turn out to be rotten inside like the others, but maybe they won't. And if they're not, think of all the tasty  things I can make with this free fruit . . . like this pear bread.

I've delayed this post so long that I'm already on my second batch of pear bread (and sauce, too - the second batch came out much better). I played with the original recipe a bit, to fit my materials better. The original called for grating the pears, but I've had to cut so many rotten spots out of these I didn't want to risk it. Instead, I used regular chunks of pears. Also, I used canola oil rather than butter or olive oil (which I was out of). That cuts the saturated fat down in the recipe. While I'm not a huge fan of canola oil in baking (it can make a batch of brownies unappealingly gooey - not mmm gooey but sticks-to-everything gooey). In this case, though, it worked nicely. The bread forms a crispy outer crust while the insides stay soft and moist. I just hope it freezes well!

Pear Bread
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen.

3 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger (optional)
1 c chopped pecans
3/4 c canola oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 c sugar
3-5 pears (the number of pears will depend on the pears' size and how much usable flesh is available after peeling - in my first batch, I used all five pears that appear in the picture)
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Spray loaf pans with cooking spray (the recipe says this fills one 10" tube pan or two regular loaf pans. I made eight mini-loaves and had enough batter left over for six muffins).

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Remove 1/4 c of the flour mixture to a small bowl and toss the nuts in it.

In another bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla. Peel, core and slice the pears into 1" chunks, tossing each chunk into the wet mixture as you cut it (I found this kept the pears from browning, which they surely would have done if I'd chopped them before preparing the rest of the recipe, since I'm a slowpoke in the kitchen). When the pears are all added, add the nuts to the wet mixture and stir to combine.

Pour the wet mixture over the dry mixture and stir until everything is just moistened.

Pour into prepared pans and bake 30 minutes (for muffins and mini-loaves) or 55-60 minutes (for full loaves) or possibly longer (for a tube pan). Cool on a wire rack (or your stove top) for ten minutes, then remove the breads from the pans to finish cooling (mine seemed a bit sticky at first, but every one came out cleanly with a little prodding).

Oregano Focaccia with Tomato and Caramelized Onions

When Jeff picked out this focaccia recipe to make this week, I was only mildly enthusiastic. I usually prefer thin crust pizzas (and this is essentially a pizza - same dough, different cooking method). I also wasn't convinced that the dough would cook properly this way. I envisioned a crisp, overcooked crust and a soggy top with limp veggies. I did not get any of that.

The crust was perfectly done, slightly crispy around the edges but tender and firm. The tomatoes dehydrated slightly, packing a huge flavor punch. Add to that the gorgeous caramelized sweet onions - how they managed to stay moist without making the crust soggy is beyond me, but I'm glad it worked! The sprinkling of salsa jack cheese added a nice pizza-y touch. Super yummy.

I kicked the original recipe up a notch or two by making my own pizza dough. Replacing half the flour with whole wheat added some healthy fiber, and a pile of dried oregano in the dough pumped up the flavor. Oregano is the bomb. What made it even better was that it was dried Greek oregano from my own garden. I can't wait to try this again with my own tomatoes! And maybe some fresh basil? I'm looking forward to summer already!

Oregano Focaccia with Tomato and Caramelized Onions
Adapted from For the Love of Cooking.

1 c whole wheat flour
1 c bread flour
2 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar (I used my unrefined sugar again - because it is a powder rather than crystals, I think it works really nicely in dough)
1/4 oz instant yeast (1 package)
3/4 c water(115-120°F)
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
1/2 red onion
1 sweet yellow onion
2 plum tomatoes
1/2 c shredded cheese (I used salsa jack, but Asiago or mozzarella would work well too)
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the flours, oregano, salt, sugar and yeast in a large bowl. Add the water and 1 tbsp olive oil and stir until the dough comes together. Turn out on a lightly floured counter and knead for about 7-9 minutes, until smooth and elastic.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for about an hour.

Meanwhile, slice the onions thickly and the tomatoes thinly. Shred the cheese, if it isn't already. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a 8 x 12" glass baking dish with baking spray.

In a large skilled, heat 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and slowly cook until caramelized, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Take the risen dough and gently spread it into a rectangle the size of the baking dish. Press it gently down into the dish. Drizzle 1/2 tbsp of olive oil over the dough. Spread the caramelized onions over the top. Sprinkle cheese over onions and place slices of tomatoes on top. Salt and pepper to taste. 

Bake until the bread is puffy and golden around the edges. Serve while still warm!

Whole Wheat English Muffins

I am an old lady at 29. I got up this morning to sharp pains and a little swelling on the left side of my rib cage. Since I've been having abdominal issues as it is, I decided to go to the doctor. The verdict? A pulled muscle. After a day of almost complete inactivity, I woke up with a pulled muscle and freaked out. When he told me what it was, the old athlete-Kristin shook her head at the new old-lady-Kristin and called her a wuss. I still have no idea how or when this could have happened (while working at my computer? while I took a bubble bath? at book club?). I'm a bit ashamed of myself, both for my weakness (for hurting myself doing nothing) and my wussiness. Since I'm not allowed to stress-eat anymore, I figured some stress-cooking was in order to vent my frustrations.

I made a batch of these English muffins last month and wanted to blog about them, but I wasn't totally happy with the result. Today I tried a whole wheat version with several tweaks and liked them much better. The first time I felt the muffins were a bit doughy, so I divided the dough into more pieces and made them into thinner patties. The problem was mostly solved - they're still a little tacky when you split them, but after toasting they're just right. The original recipe also needed more salt (Jeff and I actually salted our muffins to compensate the first time around - and I'm not a big salt person).

I'm finding that I really enjoy breads that are cooked on the stove. Putting a loaf in the oven and hoping it comes out right by the end is very different from watching the magic happen in a pan. The sides of each dough-patty begin to bubble and the bottom is browned and crispy when it's flipped. As soon as you flip them, they look like real English muffins. I love that sense of accomplishment when I make something new - the feeling that I actually made something that looks the way it should (especially with yeast - I have some confidence issues in that department).

Next time maybe I'll try making bagels!

Whole Wheat English Muffins
Adapted from Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It. 

1 packet active dry yeast (about 2 1/4 tsp)
10 oz whole wheat flour
10 oz bread flour 
1 tbsp sugar (I used the sugar and yeast I got from the gift box I got back in November)
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp white vinegar
3/4 c milk
1 tbsp butter, softened
3/4 c water

In a food processor fitted with the dough blade, combine the yeast, flours, sugar and salt. Combine the vinegar and milk and slowly pour into the food processor as it runs. Drop in the butter, then slowly pour the water in. Let the machine knead the dough for 5 minutes or so, until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Transfer to a lightly floured counter and knead a few times until it forms a smooth ball. Place in a lightly oiled bowl covered with a damp kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place (I use the proofing function of my oven) for about 1 hour, until doubled.

When the dough has risen, preheat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Transfer the dough back to the lightly floured counter. Poke a hole in the middle of the dough ball with one finger and stretch until you have a long loop, about 2" thick. Return it to the counter and, using a dough scraper or knife, cut into sixteen even pieces. Roll each one into a small ball and place under a damp kitchen towel.

When the pan is hot, form 3-4 dough balls into 1/2" thick patties (the thinner the better, I think, to ensure they cook through).

Place the patties in the pan and cook 3 minutes per side until golden brown and no longer squishy in the middle.

Remove to a cooling rack and repeat with other batches. Let the muffins rest about 15 minutes to achieve the proper texture. Serve hot, or split with a fork and freeze until needed. Frozen muffins just need a few minutes in the toaster to be perfect!

Fresh Breadsticks

I'm a bread person. The kind of bread person who goes to a restaurant and fills up on fresh, warm rolls before the appetizer has arrived. Some days, I just crave a little fresh-from-the-oven goodness. These bread sticks are for those days.

Fresh bread sticks in around two hours? Yes, please. One reason I like this recipe is the minimal pre-planning that's required. I can have that afternoon bread craving as late as 4:30 and still be able to bang these out and have them on the table for dinner. That's pretty much the scenario that led me to make them the first time. They totally delivered.

Now, I wouldn't say that this is the best bread I've ever eaten, and for good reason. Really excellent bread requires time to develop its flavor. That's why finicky bread recipes have you prepare your starter the night before and let the yeast slowly swell in the fridge for twelve hours. That method makes some great bread. But some of us don't have the foresight to prepare that starter the night before our bread cravings. This is a damn good alternative for those days.

I think, the next time I make these, I will halve the recipe. Two trays of bread sticks are a bit much for two people. However, we did learn how to effectively reheat them afterward. Stored in a tupperware and eaten at room temperature the next day, they're spongy and bland. But brushed with melted butter or olive oil and popped in the toaster, they regain their former magic. (Props to Jeff for going the extra mile to figure that out.)

Bread Sticks
From For the Love of Cooking.

1 1/2 c warm water (105-115°F)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp salt
3-4 c flour (all-purpose worked fine)

Combine water, sugar and yeast in a bowl and let stand 10 min. (I prefer a measuring cup for this, since I use it to measure the water anyway. I don't know how most people gauge the 105-115°F; I certainly don't bother taking the temperature of my water. Since I know from my home inspection two years ago that the hot water from my sink runs at 120°, I let it heat up for a minute, then collect 1 1/2 c in my measuring cup. Since the glass is room temperature, by the time I set it down and measure out the yeast and sugar, it's probably in the right range for yeast activation. As you can see from the picture below, it works pretty well.)

Add 1 1/2 c flour to another bowl. Once the yeast mixture has rested, add the salt to it and stir to combine. Then pour the yeast mixture over the flour and stir well. Gradually work in more flour (switching from stirring to kneading when necessary - or following Grandma's advice to use your hands from the beginning) until the dough begins to pull away from the bowl and barely sticks to your finger.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl covered with a damp kitchen towel and proof until doubled, about 45 minutes (I do this in my oven, using its proofing function. If I didn't have that, I would once again follow Grandma's advice and have preheated my oven on its lowest setting for a few minutes, turned it off, and then set my dough there to rise).

Once the dough has risen, roll it out into a rectangle (or a large rectangley blob - whatever you can manage) and cut into strips with a pizza cutter.

Twist each strip and place on a baking sheet, leaving a bit of room between each one. Cover and let rise for another 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425°F. Brush each bread stick with olive oil and add toppings as desired (I made my bread sticks an assortment of flavors using a variety of dried herbs, garlic powder and Parmesan cheese. Don't forget the salt, either!) Bake 9-10 minutes, until golden brown. Enjoy piping hot from the oven or toasted the next day!

Cranberry Bread

Since posting about cranberry ketchup in October, I've quietly gone through at least five pounds of fresh New Jersey cranberries. When I spy that bin at the farmers market, I can't contain myself. I need more of the jewel-like berries that keep so nicely in my refrigerator or freezer. And because I keep buying them, I have to come up with tasty cranberry-laden recipes to try.

I thought a nice quick bread would be a great way to enjoy some of my stash, but when I started looking through recipes, most required ingredients I didn't have on hand (namely oranges). I'm not a huge fan of cranberry-orange anyway. I thought I was going to have to make something up myself . . . then I found this recipe from Martha Stewart. Martha clearly knew what I was looking for - not an insipid little loaf with a handful of sweetened, dried cranberries, but one packed with bright, fresh fruits. It makes for a very tart, but satisfying, final product. And since it's rather low-cal (without trying to be - those cranberries take up a lot of space), it's one holiday treat you won't feel guilty about!

Cranberry Bread
Adapted from Martha Stewart.

4 tbsp butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 c flour
1 c light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 egg

3/4 c milk

12 oz cranberries (fresh or frozen, not dried - and don't forget to pick them over to remove any stems or rotten berries)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside.

In another bowl (I actually prefer to do this in my pyrex measuring cup - I measure out the milk, then add everything else to it), combine the egg, milk and butter. Pour the wet mixture onto the dry mixture and stir to combine. Fold in cranberries.

Coat a loaf pan with baking spray. Spoon the dough into the loaf pan and spread evenly.

Bake for 75 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes or so, then remove to a wire rack. Enjoy!

Garlic Naan

I am vindicated!

I have not made a yeast bread since this debacle last year. I found it much more disappointing than I acknowledged in that post. I have been reticent to use yeast again, since it takes so much time out of my day to get such a mediocre result.

When I saw this recipe in the Vegetarian Times that I got from my neighbor (thanks, Marie!), I knew I had to give it a shot. I planned a nice Indian dinner for Sunday afternoon, determined to conquer the naan. To my extreme delight (no, seriously, I was bouncing around and grinning the whole time), it went beautifully. The dough rose perfectly, was easy to roll out, and started sizzling as soon as it hit the pan. As soon as the first one was flipped, I knew we had it. It looked like naan! It looked like something you could buy at the grocery store or be served at an Indian restaurant. It was perfect - bubbly on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside. If I weren't so stuffed, I'd grab another right now!

From now on, there will be no fear. I will plan to make fresh bread on a weekend. There is no reason I should not make my own pizza dough and flatbreads. I will even go back to making sandwich bread. I can do this! Although in the near future, while I still have a huge tub of plain yogurt to use up, I may be sticking with this naan!

Garlic Naan
From Vegetarian Times November 2011.

1/4 oz active dry yeast
3 1/3 c bread flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 c whole-milk yogurt, at room temperature! (I neglected to notice this direction before proofing my yeast, so we had to jump through hoops trying to warm it up a bit.)
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 tsp garlic, minced

Stir yeast into 1/4 c warm water (105-115°F). Let stand 10 minutes.

Whisk together 3 c flour, sugar and salt. (If using a stand mixer or food processor to knead, combine these things in your machine. I preferred to do this one by hand. If not kneading by hand, include all the flour.)

Combine yogurt, 2 tbsp olive oil and 3/4 c warm water (105-115°F). Pour this mixture and yeast mixture into flour mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine (or use your machine!). When the dough forms a ragged ball, pour it out onto a floured surface (using that remaining 1/3 c flour) and knead until all the flour is absorbed and the dough has become a smooth ball (or use your machine). Place your kneaded dough into an oiled bowl, cover and allow to rise 45 minutes to an hour, until doubled (I used the proofing setting on my oven and it was perfect in 40 minutes or so).

Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured counter or board. (Sorry, but in my haste to get it divided, I neglected to get a picture of the risen dough.) Divide dough into eight roughly equal pieces. Form each one into a ball, then press into a small disk. Cover with a kitchen towel and allow to rest 10 minutes.

Combine 1 tbsp olive oil with minced garlic and let stand, so the oil begins to absorb the garlic flavor. Preheat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat, until a drop of water evaporates on contact.

After the dough has rested, on a lightly floured surface, roll each ball into an 8" round.

Transfer to the piping hot skillet and cook 1-2 minutes, until the bread begins to bubble up and the bottom begins to turn golden brown (you can lift the edge with tongs to check its progress).

Flip and cook for another minute, pressing down with a spatula to deflate any big air bubbles, until black blistery patches begin to appear on the bottom (and it looks like naan!).

Transfer to a serving plate, brush with garlic-oil mixture and serve with a nice curry!