Uighur Nan Recipe

This is a bread I truly love. You have to cook it on a pizza stone or on the back of a cookie sheet in the oven at the highest heat you have - around 500 degrees.

Ingredients:
1.25 cups warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp yeast
1/2 Tbsp salt
3.5 cups (approx) white flour

Garnish:
rock salt
chopped green onion
caraway seeds
cumin seeds

Mix the sugar with the water and sprinkle the yeast overtop. Once the yeast is nice and foamy, add the salt and flour and mix and knead till you have a nice elastic dough. Cover, but don't oil, and leave to rise for about an hour in a warm place.

Punch dough down, knead briefly, and let rise again for about a 1/2 hour.

Have a bowl of water handy for the next bit.

Roll dough out into a long snake and cut into eight equal pieces. Put the pizza stone or cookie sheet in the oven, and turn it on to 500 degrees. Shape pieces of dough into balls and roll out into 8-inch rounds (note: I cannot for the life of me make these rounds round). Using a fork, punch many many holes in the centre of the rounds. The idea is to leave the edges to puff up while the middle is flat and cracker-like. Wash a bit of the water over the surface of the round, sprinkle with rock salt, and toss a bit of green onion and spices over the centre. Place as many nans on the pizza stone as will easily fit without touching, and let bake until puffy and golden. When the nan comes out of the oven, brush it with a bit of melted butter while still hot.

Serve with curries, kebabs, Middle Eastern salads - - - anything you like, really.