Naan with Beatrice Ojakangas

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Hello, I'm Julia Child.

Welcome to my house.

What fun we're going to have baking all kinds of incredible cakes, pies and breads right here in my own kitchen.

Toronto bakers Naomi Duguid and Jeffrey Alford learned to make naan as they traveled through Central Asia.

Cookbook author Beatrice Ojakangas learned to make Swedish hardtack growing up in Minnesota.

You could learn how to make these flat breads FdAç right here on: This is actually is a piece of bread.

It's known as a snowshoe naan.

And this is a Uighur naan and they come from the Middle East.

From Central Asia.

From Central Asia.

Yeah, a little further into the blank spaces on the map as we sometimes think of them.

And this is Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid and they're going to show us how to make them.

They're easy to make and delicious to eat.

Yeah, they're tandoor breads but you can make them in the home oven.

So we're going to start and make a simple yeasted dough.

And so I'm going to put in a couple of teaspoons of yeast and I've got 2½ cups of water here and I'm just dissolving the yeast.

And then I'm going to add unbleached flour.

Because we've got 2½ cups of water we're going to be putting in about a tablespoon of salt.

You don't have to be terribly exact about measuring.

No, we're making a dough we can work with, right?

And because it has yeast in it, it's going to rise.

And because it has yeast in it, it's going to rise.

And that's really all we have to worry about.

It's a tablespoon of salt.

That was a tablespoon of salt.

Because really, we think about more or less a teaspoon of salt per cup of water and we started with 2½ cups of water and then if we just toss a bit more flour in there, Jeff.

We want to get this dough... stirred into shape.

And Jeff and Naomi work all of this together which is nice, isn't it?

It's a good community activity.

Well, it feels lucky because we can also get our children involved.

They often sit up on the counter and knead the dough.

And they're not worried or afraid of bread at all.

They think it's fun and it's something to shape.

Now we're getting close.

I've turned a lot of flour in and the dough is getting fairly unsticky and it's soon going to be time to turn it out and knead it.

So you could also make this with part whole wheat flour if you wanted to.

It's just the breads we're doing today we've always seen, classically, made with white flour.

Yeah.

Now we'll just try and get the dough into a pleasant, kneadable dough.

And this dough, with this amount of yeast is going to take perhaps a couple of hours to rise once we have it kneaded.

But first we need to put some time in kneading it because afterwards, the dough is going to be rolled out so, you know, we need to get it to have a good, even texture... Mm-hmm.

So that it rolls out happily.

And we'll be playing with it in other ways, too and we want it to be happy about stretching and so on.

Yeah, mm-hmm.

All right, this dough is coming.

Jeff, I'm going to turn the dough over to you to finish.

How long did you knead it?

Well, we like to knead a dough for ten minutes.

Then you know you've got it smooth and elastic.

And ten minutes is a good length of time but it's pleasurable.

You can let your thoughts drift.

We like to think about travels when we're kneading.

Mm-hmm-- have nice discussions.

Yes.

You're the kneading wallah.

I'm the... ( chuckles ) We became very interested in these breads from Central Asia because we made a bicycle trip from China to Pakistan and we were a month on our bicycles and we had to have all our own food.

We got quite tired of our own food, and... You did.

Weren't there not any little villages to stop by?

There was only one village.

In all that way!

But there were nomadic people and the nomadic people live in yurts and at the center of the yurt... What's a yurt?

A yurt is... in Mongolia, you imagine the yurts with the tent, native hide... and inside they have an oven made of stone and then they plaster inside the stone to make it... Is that the tandoori?

A tandoor oven.

And do they move around and make a new oven every time?

They move around and we were on our bicycles and we'd think, "What is that stone across the landscape?"

And in fact, it was an oven, or three or four ovens.

And so they come back to the oven at a certain time of the year.

Then we got invited in because in a nomadic culture when there's a stranger passing by you invite the stranger in.

Oh.

And they'd always send us away with plenty of breads.

Mm-hmm.

And there the climate is so dry that the breads dry out immediately... And become hard?

Become hard.

And what people there do is they have big bowls of hot tea... Mm-hmm.

and then they dunk their bread into hot tea.

So they really don't eat much of anything but bread, then?

But bread.

And milk products from the herds.

They have yak and camel and goat and sheep.

So they have those cheeses and a kind of yogurt.

And meat on sort of feast days or special occasions.

Where do they get the meat?

Well, from the herds.

They might kill a sheep or something to celebrate the end of the Ramadan fast, for example.

I think this feels pretty good.

Oh, you can tell.

It's smooth... lump-free... and it does that.

It stays together and then it has kind of that nice sheen.

Smooth and a little bit sticky.

It'll only stick to your hands if you really hold on to it.

And it's good to keep it a little bit sticky just so that when we form and add a little more flour that it's not too dry.

So we'll put it in our oiled bowl and set it to rise.

We'll cover it with plastic wrap.

And this will rise again anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours, until double.

Yeah.

Here we have... And that's the way it looks when it's risen.

You see a dough that's risen.

Yeah.

It has a nice feel.

Naomi: It has a lovely squishy feel.

Mmm, yeah.

And that... and that smell.

That's a good... You could make a very good French bread out of that, couldn't you?

I think so, yes.

We're making fairly sizable breads here.

With funny shapes.

With funny shapes and funny shaping techniques.

So let's just divide this in four... Mm-hmm.

And we're going to use half for the long ones-- the snowshoe naan-- and half for the round ones.

We'll just do two of each.

And just put these aside.

Perhaps we need a piece of plastic wrap for those.

We'll just leave them...

Here's the plastic.

This is the plastic wrap you find out in the desert?

Yes, yes.

Immediately to hand.

It'll work without Central Asian plastic.

Now, I'm making these into sort of a flattened round.

It's not particularly urgent.

We're not trying to make anything balloon.

We're just trying to get a reasonably even, round shape.

But even that isn't critical.

And these are the ones we're going to stamp in the middle.

Before we do that, we'll flatten the round and then we have to roll them.

What you're doing is you're flattening it out to get it somewhat thin because you're wanting it to bake pretty quickly but it's a yeasted dough, so the rim is going to puff as it bakes.

But the trick is what we do in the middle of it because instead of just having a big, puffy thing... Yeah... we're going to prick the center of it.

Nice-looking dough.

It's a very nice-looking dough.

It's very... friendly.

This is unbleached flour which we think has more flavor.

Do you ever use bleached flour?

No.

It just seems to have everything taken out of it.

I don't know why we have it.

I don't either.

This looks perfectly appetizing to us.

Now, as you roll these out they sometimes spring back a little and so if you have the idea that you'd wanted it a little larger just give them a moment to rest.

That will relax the gluten.

That will relax the gluten and then we... take them out a little more.

All right, so here we are-- two big discs.

So we want to stamp the center of them and we should have a peel ready so that we can, once we've shaped them we can put them in the oven.

So let's put one on the peel and see how...

The back of a baking sheet works well... for people who don't have peels.

Yeah-- well, they can get peels.

Yes, but if they have the idea of making the bread before they've gone out and done it... Yeah, just lightly oil the back of a baking sheet.

And you can put this on the peel and shape it there.

Now, what we're going to do is shape it and flavor it.

First, the shaping.

Now, this, this...

This is a bread stamp.

It's got nails in it and I bought this in the market in Ashkhabad in Turkmenistan.

So that's a little far from here.

And we've figured out alternatives.

We like using the bread stamp because we have it at home.

Yeah, because it's fun.

And it's fun.

But you can also use a fork.

See, the bread stamp makes these beautiful circles and what it's doing is pricking the dough so the air comes out of it and it doesn't rise, puff.

I see-- otherwise, it would rise like a pita.

Then we need to flavor it.

First we're going to put a sprinkle of water on it.

I'll get a bowl.

And we're going to flavor it with salt-- a little more salt again.

Maybe you need it in the desert but they always salt it in the center.

And we're also going to put some caraway seed on.

Now, cumin seed is often... is frequently used, caraway seed so it's here.

And so what you want to do is have all this handy.

And I also need some green onion.

And all of these are sort of options and as you like.

But this is our favorite combination.

Okay, so, just throw the water on just with the ends of your fingers.

What does that do?

Well, it helps everything else stick.

Oh, I see.

And it also...

I mean, it just seems always to be done there.

Our theory is that it makes things stick and that's what we've seen bakers do in Central Asia.

Jeff: And it gives a distinctive top crust to it as well.

I see, yes.

So, then... aren't those pretty?

That's going to be nice, yes.

That's why we like using those.

And then you can take caraway seeds and just sort of crunch them.

Can you hear that sound?

Mm-hmm.

Sort of break them a little bit.

And so we'll just put this in the oven.

What's the oven at?

The oven is at 500.

Five hundred.

We're baking these on quarry tiles... Mm-hmm... so the quarry tiles have been put on a rack in the middle of the oven because we want the top to brown.

Everything has to be really hot.

Everything has to be very hot.

Julia: Here we go.

g Well, how long does that bake?

Until it's brown.

( chuckles ) It depends on the oven.

But it usually takes about six minutes.

Well, now, this is the snowshoe.

This is the snowshoe and it's made all across Central Asia from Iran to Afghanistan... the eastern part of Turkey... and people love it.

Now, we've let these sit about ten minutes and it just seems to help.

What I'm going to do is I'm going to dent the top surface, using a lot of water.

I never would have thought of putting water on dough.

It's fascinating.

And it's funny how many places in the world it's done in exactly this way, to produce quite different breads.

Now... Well, this is going to be sesame seeds.

Oh, that'll be lovely, yeah.

It looks sort of terrible at this point.

( Jeff laughs ) Yeah, there's a kind of wet, sloppy dough look to it.

A bad mistake here.

So now, at this stage... is...

I love the way you carry these around like that.

And that, of course, stretches it.

These are looking a little ready.

In fact, they're looking very ready.

ON÷ This one's got some brown on it.

Let me just...

But they're not very brown and they're not supposed to be.

No, and the bottom, you see?

Oh, look at that... Oh, the bottom's very nice.

So I'll stick that one there.

And then if you'd open that up I'll get this... bread that wanting to stretch ever more.

I got to get diagonally here because it's a little too big.

It's interesting how it just adheres right when you put it in just like in a tandoor.

Julia: I suppose that water helps you stretch it, too, doesn't it?

I think it makes it a lot more flexible.

And sometimes if you're holding it too long it starts to stretch larger than your oven and...

But that's okay because you can just fold over a side.

We end up with breads with the folded ends... Yeah.

It's sort of a nose.

Uh... how about a try?

Yeah, let's... Do you want to?

Yeah.

Get this... Jeffrey: And just stick your hands in there and then puncture it.

Naomi: And more wet.

And more wet.

The wetter the better.

Jeffrey: And it also prevents your fingers from sticking, I guess.

Yes, because they would otherwise.

Is that far enough out?

Naomi: Yeah, that's... Now you need to stretch it.

You can lift it up onto your hands.

There, like that.

And then the weight of it stretches it.

Yeah... pull it down.

It'll pull itself.

Well, that's wonderful.

Now I put sesame seeds on that.

I'll put quite a bit of sesame on it.

Yeah, as you please.

And sometime you can put a little salt on.

Would you like a little salt on there?

Oh, yes.

Jeffrey... we need your arm here.

Okay.

Well, that's wonderful.

Try and make it a little... Julia: I'll open the oven for you.

Now, we're going to have a...

Think we have room?

What do you think?

On the very end here?

We can arrange it.

Julia: You can arrange it to fit whatever you have.

And four to five minutes and we're eating bread.

That's lovely.

Oo, look at that in the oven.

Jeffrey: Yeah, they both look beautiful.

Julia, here's yours.

That's mine, with the most...

Isn't that beautiful?

Have a smell of those sesames, too.

It stays together because it's quite firm crust on the bottom and then soft on the top.

Here, it's hot, yeah.

Look at... oh, look at the bottom.

Beautiful.

It's beautiful.

Now, how do we eat it?

Break it.

Naomi: So, tear.

It's hot.

Mm-hmm.

Well, it really is bread, isn't it?

And it really has a good smell.

Here, take... That isn't too hot.

No, it's all right.

And you see how it's... And it really is bread.

It's really risen inside.

And it's got real crumb in the center.

Now, dip a little through here.

Oh, you dip it here.

This is a mint yogurt sauce.

You do it so I can see what you do.

Has some garlic in it.

Oh, garlic, that's always good.

And this, it cools it off.

Mm-hmm.

Mmm!

Isn't that a pleasant combination?

This has really been adventures in the bakery.

It's been such fun!

It's been lots of fun.

Thank you, Naomi.

Thank you, Jeff.

Both: Thank you, Julia.

Have you ever been dying to know how to make those very thin, crispy Scandinavian crackers?

Well, Beatrice is going to make Swedish oatmeal hardtack.

That's going to be fun.

This, it is fun.

It's one of our favorites, too.

Make it during the holiday season.

It has a quarter of a cup of vegetable shortening and two tablespoons of butter in it to start out with.

And this is a half-stick-- so that's four tablespoons and this much is two.

Exactly.

Exactly right here.

Okay.

Now, we're going to cream the two together and we're going to add a quarter of a cup of sugar to this.

Quite a bit of sugar in Scandinavian cooking.

Well, there seems to be because you want to get things crisp and you want to get things, um, browned.

But there's not as much sugar as we have in a lot of our food.

No, I don't think so.

Okay, so we cream that together real well.

And now we will measure our dry ingredients together.

We're adding a cup of uncooked rolled oats-- that's the quick kind, the small ones.

Good.

And then we're going to add a cup and a half of all-purpose flour.

Three-fourths teaspoon salt?

Right.

And, uh, half a teaspoon of baking soda.

Of baking soda.

And you can always tell a crispy cookie if it calls for soda it'll be a crispy cookie.

Oh.

And if it's just baking powder it won't be crispy.

Did you ever know that?

No, I never knew that at all.

Really?

No.

Well, there we are.

And now we're going to add the dry ingredients now that they're well mixed to the creamed ingredients.

And then we'll add the buttermilk.

Oh, there's buttermilk.

Well, that's one reason for soda, too, isn't it?

Yes, uh-huh.

Three-quarters of a cup, is that right?

So now we're going to add them all at once.

And we'll add this all at once.

And then we're going to just start mixing.

You could do this in the... Food processor, mm-hmm.

But it's more fun, somehow doing it this way.

By hand, yeah.

And it's one of those things that all you have then is a bowl and a spoon to wash.

Okay, now this is what this looks like.

It's just rather soft, almost like a cookie dough.

And now, this is ready to chill for half an hour, till it's firm.

Fine.

Here's our chilled dough.

And I'm going to take a quarter of it.

Good.

I just cut it off, like this.

And then we're going to... roll it out on a flat cookie sheet.

Now, if you don't have a flat cookie sheet You can always use regular jelly roll pan upside down.

Mm-hmm.

You've got two there, I see.

I've got two there because this one it would give a little bit in the middle so we just had to support it with another pan.

So, I'm going to flatten this out a little bit and get started.

So we're going to roll this out.

Now I see this is going to slip.

We make need our moist cloth after all.

Here's it; do you want... Sure, let's put that underneath.

Sometimes, you know, when you have a rolling... a board, the only way to stop it from pushing around is to put a damp cloth under it.

It's a good thing to do.

It's a good tip.

Okay, and then we're just going to roll the dough out.

And I've got the stocking- covered rolling pin here but the Scandinavians have a special hardtack rolling pin.

I usually like to do the first step with a regular rolling pin, like this and then continue with the one that will give you the nice the texture on the bread.

Interesting, that stocking really does work so that the pin won't stick onto the dough as, uh...

It works, yeah, it really does.

Oh, you're going to patch a corner.

Yeah, I couldn't quite get it into that corner, so I'm going to just... You know, you can do this.

It's okay to patch because as long as you roll it down and get it nice and thin.

Because you're going to have your final fancy rollers.

Right, right.

That looks pretty good.

Yeah.

Okay, let's take this-- hobnailed roller over there.

So now we're just going to give it the texture that we want.

This is that hobnailed texture.

And you can buy hardtack rolling pins that have, you know, the handles on the side.

Mm-hmm, that roll out.

Mm-hmm.

So now, we'll... even this out... Make a nice square or nice rectangle out of it.

I'm going to have get myself a nice Scandinavian catalog for all these things.

Yes.

You can pull-- if you want to see what it's going to look like you can pull the extra dough from the edges here.

Comes off quite easily.

And we'll eyeball this one.

But you just go right down the center-- make it even.

The ravioli wheel.

Yes, with the ravioli wheel.

And we make a nice... we make nice, straight lines.

Mm-hmm.

You can make them larger if you want.

We'll make them littler because littler ones are almost nicer and more dainty.

Now we'll go across exactly in half.

And I'll cut this one into three parts.

That'll be nice, little cocktail wafers.

Perfect for your cream cheeses or special kinds of spreads on top.

Okay, now these are ready for baking.

And they will bake at 325 degrees for right around ten to 12 minutes.

But check them at seven or eight minutes because, sometimes ovens are hotter than others.

And it depends, too, on how dark the pan is how quickly something will bake.

Keep your eye on them.

Keep your eye on them.

( Don't go out the door.

No.

They cook quickly, don't they?

I'll get them out of here.

They cook very quickly.

And you could tell it when they're done-- they've shrunk apart so that you can see the individual crackers.

Mm-hmm.

And we'll just slide them off onto the tray.

Then if some aren't done you can just put them back in again.

You can always put them back in again.

Oh, and they bend when they're hot.

They will.

And they'll get stiff when they're cooled.

You would serve these...?

I'd serve them with cheese or sometimes they're served for breakfast with butter or with a soft, spreadable cheese.

Loverly.

Well, here we actually have Norwegian cheese.

Oh, wonderful, Jarlsberg cheese.

And we have some real Norwegian aquavit.

Oh, boy, that's quite a breakfast.

Not made in Minneapolis but made in Oslo, Norway.

Will you have a little?

A very little.

It's very strong stuff.

I know, it's lethal.

( glasses clink ) Here's to you, Beatrice.

It's such fun to know these lovely, little crackers.

I'm now going to eat one.

Oh, this has been so much fun.

I can't tell you how much fun this is.

Well, I just loved it.

Thank you from us all, Beatrice.

Oh, you're very welcome.

Thank you for having me.

Oh!

( crew laughing ) Julia: Bon appétit!