I love to cook and bake, but time is very limited and I can't wait all day for different breads to rise, so I use nan dough for nearly everything.
I thought I'd share a few of the things that I have made.
We'll start with savory breads...
My favorite is soft pretzels. You take a chunk of nan dough, roll it into a long stick, then twist it into a knot. Then dip it into melted butter, and sprinkle really whatever you want onto it. I usually sprinkle garlic salt and sesame seeds onto it. then bake until brown. YUM! (If you don't twist it, they are called breadsticks, which are also yummy!)
You can also make cinnamon pretzels using the same method... or just a bit of sugar, and when done dip them in Nutella... Yes, we can get Nutella in Afghanistan. It is one of the advantages of living in a war zone. You can get lots of yummy food from the different countries involved. Reeses from the States, Nutella from Germany, Tim Tams from Australia... you can even get kimchee...
One of the easier recipes is pizza. Simply roll out the dough to the desired thickness (actually it is very difficult to roll it out very thin), bake it a few minutes, and then add whatever toppings you want and bake.
You can also make calzones. Just take the dough, roll it out as thin as you can without breaking it, and fill up half of it, and fold the other half over the first half, pinch together with a bit of water and bake...
My absolute favorite thing to make with nan dough is bagels; unbelievably easy, yet impressively tasty!
Simply boil water with salt, roll nan-dough into balls, then poke a hole in the middle. Make the hole as big as possible, because it tends to bounce back into just a little depression. Then drop the bagel into the boiling water. When it floats to the top, flip it over, then take it out. Drop IMMEDIATELY into whatever topping that you choose... whether savory or sweet, while it is still wet, so that it sticks. Then put it on a pan and bake until hard and brown on the outside, but soft and done on the inside.
Toppings for bagel:
My favorite is sesame seeds. They make it really taste like a bagel. But you can use fried onions, poppy seeds, garlic, butter (you can NEVER go wrong with butter), cinnamon and sugar... really your imagination is the only limitation.
I have noticed that if I buy a ready made nan, I eat a lot more than if I buy dough and make a little at a time. One of my favorite things to do is grab a little chunk of dough, flatten it out and fry it in a bit of butter and salt (also sometimes adding sesame seeds... notice a pattern here?) It makes a wonderful addition to any meal...
If I am having people over for a meal, I take nan dough and divide it into 3 balls and put all three into a loaf pan. I then take a knife and put a cross into each ball and pour melted butter with garlic all over them and bake. Best garlic bread you will ever have!
If it is summer, let the dough sit out on your counter for a couple of days. It will ferment and when you bake it, it will taste like sourdough!
Another easy, fun thing is pigs in a blanket (though we call it cows in a blanket, as we are not allowed to eat pork...)
Sweet stuff:
Sometimes, I take nan dough, roll it out into a cookie sheet, bake it for a while, then spread cream cheese mixed with whatever flavor jam I happen to have in the house, and bake... voila instant cheese cake!
You can also roll into tiny balls, dip in butter and cinnamon sugar, and put three at once into a cupcake or muffin tin. HOT CROSS BUNS!!! :)
hmm... I am out of ideas for the moment. Sitting in a living room in Austria, it is easy to forget what you do when you have a limited repertoire. But never fear, when I come up with new things, I will be sure to add them! If you think of any ideas, please share in the comments. I love to try new things!
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