Gourmets Sesame Onion Nan Uyghur Flatbread Recipes

UIGHUR NAN WITH CUMIN AND ONION

Steps:

• Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in a large bowl. Stir to dissolve. Stir in 3 cups flour, a cup at a time. Stir the dough 100 times in the same direction, about 1 minute, to develop the gluten. Add 2 teaspoons salt, then continue adding flour until the dough is too stiff to stir. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes, adding more flour if necessary to prevent sticking.
• Clean and lightly oil the bread bowl. Add the dough, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in volume, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Position a rack in the lower third of your oven and arrange quarry tiles, if you have them, on the rack, leaving a 1-inch gap between the tiles and the oven walls. If you have no quarry tiles, place 1 large or 2 small baking sheets on the rack to preheat. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
• Punch the dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 6 pieces. Using lightly floured hands, flatten each piece into a 4to 5-inch round. Cover the rounds with a dry cloth. Keeping the remaining pieces covered as you work, roll each dough round out on a lightly floured surface into a 10-inch round. The dough may spring back as you roll; it's best to work on 2 or 3 dough rounds at a time, alternating between them, to give the gluten time to stretch before you resume rolling. Then cover the large rounds with plastic wrap and let rise for 10 minutes.
• Working with 2 breads at a time, using a bread stamp or a fork, stamp the center portion of each bread; work from the center out until the dough is thoroughly pricked and flattened, leaving a 1 1/2- to 2-inch rim all around. Sprinkle a scant teaspoon of scallions, a generous pinch of cumin seed and a generous pinch of salt over the center of each bread, then dip your fingers in water and sprinkle the centers of the breads.
• Slide each round onto a baker's peel or flour-dusted baking sheet and slide off onto the quarry tiles or preheated baking sheet. Bake until the tops of the breads begin to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool for 5 minutes, then wrap in a cloth to keep soft and warm. Repeat with the remaining dough, scallions, cumin and salt. Serve warm.

SESAME ONION NAN

Steps:

• Make bread dough:
• Stir together warm water and sugar in a measuring cup, then sprinkle yeast over mixture and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. (If yeast doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast.)
• Stir together flour (3 3/4 cups), salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Stir together yogurt, egg, and oil in a small bowl. Make a well in center of flour mixture and add yeast mixture and yogurt mixture, then stir in flour mixture gradually with a wooden spoon until dough just comes together.
• Knead dough on a lightly floured surface with floured hands, lightly reflouring work surface and your hands when dough becomes too sticky, using no more than 1/4 cup flour, until dough is smooth, soft, and elastic, about 10 minutes. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled large bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours.
• Make topping while dough rises:
• Put oven rack with pizza stone in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 450F. (Heating pizza stone will take about 1 hour.)
• Coarsely grate onion on largest holes of a box grater and drain well in a sieve. Cook onion and sesame seeds in oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is just beginning to turn golden, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and cool to room temperature.
• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface without punching down. Cut dough into 2 pieces and transfer 1 piece to parchment-lined pizza peel or baking sheet. (Keep remaining piece of dough covered with plastic wrap.) Flatten dough with lightly oiled fingertips, patting and gently stretching into an 11- to 12-inch round.
• Spread half of onion mixture over round, then poke holes through dough all over with skewer.
• Slide bread, along with parchment, onto pizza stone. Bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove bread from oven by sliding peel under parchment. Transfer bread to a rack and discard parchment.
• While first flatbread is baking, make another bread on another sheet of parchment, then bake in same manner. Serve flatbreads warm.