How to Make "Naan" With Your Pizza Dough

Pizza Friends, hello! And happy Friday.

Earlier this week, as a pot of these chickpeas simmered on my stovetop, my son passed through the kitchen and, catching a whiff of the familiar smell, asked: Do we have any naan?

By naan, he was referring to these Stonefire packs, which I almost always have on hand, because they are tasty, so convenient, and a perfect size for both dinner portions and school lunch boxes should any chickpeas remain.

We didn’t, and I didn’t feel like running to the store, so I pulled out a ball of Neapolitanish pizza dough, rolled it out, and made it as I would when making naan from scratch: covered in a screaming hot skillet for 1 minute, uncovered for 30 seconds more, then brushed with butter out of the skillet.

The pizza dough as naan performed surprisingly well, blistering and bubbling as always and remaining soft and pliable long after it had cooked — given that the dough was not made with yogurt, the ingredient I always attributed to naan’s tenderness, I worried the texture of the faux naan might suffer with time.

But I worried for naught! It was delicious, and the kids declared it better than Stonefire — high praise! 🤣

I’ve since made the pizza dough naan a few times, and I’ve learned two things: a smaller size works better — divide your pizza dough ball into two smaller balls for best results. And should you have the time, let the dough balls rest sufficiently before rolling them out, otherwise the effort requires some serious elbow grease.

I’ve shared the process below. Have a great weekend, Everyone 👋👋

PS: California Fire Relief Donation Update! I finally was able to connect to Stripe, and last night $2,934.37 was deposited into my account, so this morning, I donated $3,000 to World Central Kitchen on behalf of the Pizza Every Friday Community. Receipt attached:

Donation Receipt

75.9KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Incidentally, I am still unclear as to how Substack payments work, because as far as I can tell, that amount is roughly half of the pledged annual revenue, so I’m not sure why I received that amount all at once... I’ve emailed Substack for support. Regardless, the next time Stripe sends me dollars, I’ll keep you posted as to which charity the $$ will go next. Thank you for your support 🙏🙏🍕🍕🥗🥗

---

How To Make Naan-ish With Your Pizza Dough

First, you’ll need one of your pizza dough balls. I have only experimented with using a Neapolitanish pizza dough ball from Pizza Night, but I think a Thin Crust dough ball would also work well here.

Divide it in half:

Then ball up each half:

Cover the balls with a towel (or transfer to a DoughMate) and set aside for at least 20 minutes (but ideally longer):

After the 20 minutes, roll out each ball into an 8-inch circle using flour as needed. The longer you are able to let your dough balls rest, the easier this will be.

Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat and carefully lay one of the rounds into the skillet:

Cover it and cook for 1 minute:

Uncover it:

Then flip it and cook for 30 seconds:

Transfer it to a board …

… and brush with it with melted butter:

Then repeat with the second one:

Transfer it to the board and brush with butter.

I like to wrap the naan in a towel, which keeps them soft and pliable, and place the wrapped bundle in the center of the table. Serve as you wish (these chickpeas are a favorite):

---

Love pizza and salad? Find recipes, tips, and tricks in Pizza Night 🍕🍕🥗🥗

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books-a-Million | Bookshop.org | Hudson Booksellers | Walmart

---