Every time Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch calls I get SO excited, and a little nervous too. It’s such a great opportunity for me to get creative, bust out some breads and some yummy dishes, bring you some new recipes and hope that I can pull it all off and Tim, Simon and the guests love them!
These three flat breads have one thing in common…. they are all FLAT. That means there is no real shaping involved, we don’t have to pay too much attention to folding or structure building to ensure they rise up tall and proud like a bloomer for example. However, as similar as they are in that regard, they all have very different characteristics too and there is so much we can learn from each one.
Here you’ll find the recipes for three breads you saw on Sunday Brunch today. As always, have fun with them and if you like Instagram, post out your bakes with #bakewithjack so I can see how you got on :-) All of these breads are freeze-able for emergencies and defrost super fast, or you can heat them up straight from the freezer.
No Knead Garlic Naan
I am not Indian, and neither is my great grandmother (spoiler alert). I don’t have a “traditional” naan recipe passed down through the generations but what I do have is an understanding of the principles of bread making and with that, I can recreate a naan that’s practical for me and with all the characteristics that I like! For me it has to be super light and airy with those little burn bubbles on the top and to achieve that I have made a “no-knead” wet dough recipe, and baked it fast using a frying pan and the grill to recreate as best as I can that Tandoor oven effect.
Notes
This recipe will make 6 LARGE naans to tear and share at the dinner table. You’ll need a large frying pan “bake” them in and a grill to toast the top.
Difficulty: Easy to make, easy to bake.
My Kitchen Temperature: 20°C/68°F
Start to finish: 3.5-4 hours
Ingredients
For the dough
340g Room temperature Water
50g Plain Yoghurt
15g Caster Sugar
12g Fresh yeast or 7g dry yeast
10g Olive or vegetable oil
500g Strong white bread flour
8g Salt
10g Nigella Seeds
To shape and cook
Vegetable oil
For the garlic butter
125g Room temperature butter
1 Clove Garlic, peeled and finely grated
1 tbsp Chopped Coriander
Pinch of salt
Method
Making the Dough
In a large mixing bowl weigh your water, yoghurt, sugar and yeast and mix together until the yeast is dissolved. Add the oil.
Next add the flour, salt and nigella seeds.
Mix everything together with your dough scraper until it comes together into a dough with no particularly dry bits or wet bits. It will look a little messy at this point and that’s ok just so long as it is well mixed up. Cover the dough with another upturned bowl and let it rest at room temperature for 45 minutes.
First Fold
Oil a small patch of your kitchen surface with vegetable oil and turn your dough out of the bowl onto that oily patch. With fingers and thumb pinch and pick up any edge of the dough, lift it, and fold it over the top to stick back to itself. Work your way around all edges repeating the fold 10-12 times. The idea here is to fold the dough into a smooth ball, all joins and seems stick on that one side, the side facing up, and so the oily underside becomes a smooth surface. Then, turn your dough over, revealing that nice smooth “top” surface, place it back in the bowl, cover again and rest for 30 minutes.
Second Fold
This time, you’ll be doing exactly the same as the first fold BUT only 4-6 folds instead of 10-12. Make sure to turn the dough out of the bowl upside down before you start folding, then turn smooth side up again before placing back in the bowl. Cover and rest again for 30 minutes.
Dividing and Pre-shaping
Use your dough scraper to turn the dough out, upside down onto the oiled table.
Use your fingertips lightly to flatten the dough and cut into six equal size pieces with your dough scraper. If you want to get them exactly the same size, you can weight them out at around 155g each.
Fold each piece up into a loose ball.
Final Proof
Line up your six oily dough balls large oiled tray. Cover loosely with cling film and leave to rest for 45 minutes.
Final Shaping and Baking
Naan breads are super soft because they are baked in a very hot Tandoor oven for a short amount of time. Here at home you’ll be using a frying pan to crisp the bottom and then transferring to a grill to torch the top! So get a large frying pan on a medium/high heat and your grill on (mine goes on full blast) with a shelf inside ready to go.
With your naans puffed up on one tray, oil another tray for shaping. Place a naan ball on your new tray and press with your fingertips to dimple the dough slightly. Be delicate here, less is more, but make sure your fingers go right down so you can feel the table underneath. Then pick the dough up and stretch into that classic teardrop shape.
Place your naan into the frying pan and cook the bottom for 2 minutes, then transfer it to the grill and bake the top for another two minutes. Let the first one be your tester! It should be dark golden underneath, and golden on the top with a few scorches on the biggest bubbles.
Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
For the Butter
Mix up all your butter ingredients together until thoroughly combined. If you are eating your naans straight away, you can spread it with your butter and allow it to melt over the top. If, like me, you are making your bread in advance, allow them to cool completely, spread your butter, and layer them up with a slice or parchment paper in between each one. Place them in an airtight bag and you can keep them in the fridge or freezer until you are ready to use them.
Re-heating
To bring your naans back to full freshness for dinner, heat your oven to180°C Fan/356°F/ Gas Mark 5. Bake a buttered naan form the fridge for 4-5 minutes or from frozen for 10-12 minutes.
Polar Breads
We’ve been here before with Polar Breads on the blog and as with all things recipes evolve, so here we are again with a slightly updated version. These little flat rye rolls are a great variation for your sandwiches, the one I made here is smoked salmon, avocado, and fennel remoulade.
Notes
This recipe will make 6 polar breads. They’ll be baked on a flat griddle or in a frying pan if you don’t have one.
Difficulty: Easy to make, tricky to bake
My Kitchen Temperature: 20°C/68°F
Start to finish: 2.5-3.5 hours
Ingredients
For the dough
230g Room temperature Water
40g Plain Yoghurt
10g Honey
10g Fresh yeast or 5g dry yeast
330g Strong white bread flour
45g Wholemeal rye flour
6g Salt
For the Fennel Remoulade
1 Fennel bulb
10g Lemon juice
5g Wholegrain mustard
25g Mayonnaise
25g Plain yoghurt
1 tsp Chopped dill
Salt
To Finish
Butter
Smoked Salmon
Avocado
Spinach Leaves
Lemon
Method
Making the Dough
In a large mixing bowl whisk together your water, yoghurt, honey and yeast until the yeast is dissolved.
Next add the bread flour, rye flour and salt.
Mix everything with your dough scraper until it comes together into a rough dough and then turn it out onto a clean table. Knead your dough well for 8 minutes without dusting with any flour, at first it will be sticky, do your best to stay patient and light fingered with it. Use your dough scraper to help unstick yourself from time to time and clean up a bit.
Roll your dough into a ball and place it back into the bowl. Sprinkle the top with a little flour, cover with a clean cloth and rest at room temperature for 60-90 minutes.
Dividing and Pre-shaping
Dust the top of your dough and use your dough scraper to turn it out onto the table. Make sure the dough comes out of the bowl upside down, sticky side up.
Use your fingertips lightly to flatten the dough and cut into six equal sized pieces with your dough scraper. If you like to get them exactly the same size, weigh them out at around 110g each. Fold each piece into a ball by pinching an edge with finger and thumb and folding it over the dough almost to the other side. Keep turning and folding the dough, working your way round until you end up with a bouncy ball of dough. All the seams and joins should end up on one side, and the underside should be smooth and tight. Roll it over bringing the smooth side to the top. Dust lightly with flour and rest your dough balls next to each other on a tray under a proving cloth for 30 minutes to puff slightly and relax.
Shaping
Remove the cloth from the top of your dough. The dough balls should have relaxed and spread slightly. One by one, use a rolling pin and a little dust to roll the balls into 15cm disks. Dust them well, and line them back up on the tray ready for baking
Baking
When you are ready heat a flat griddle or frying pan to a medium heat. Your polars are going to take 4 minutes on each side to use the first one as your tester.
Prick it all over with a fork on both sides just before you bake (this will stop it from ballooning up when it bakes) and place on your griddle or pan. At the two minute mark have a peep at the underside and it should be beginning to brown nicely. If you think it’s going too dark quick or nothing is happening, tweak the heat on the hob, or shift the polar’s position on the griddle and keep an eye on things for the next two minutes. Then flip it over for the final 4 minutes on the other side.
When your polar breads are done allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
When they are cool slice them in half for a sandwich and if you’re freezing them, slice them all and place them in a ziploc bag. That way, you can get them out as you like and put them in the toaster straight from frozen.
For the fennel remoulade
Slice the bottom root from your fennel bulb and put it in the compost. Cut the bulb in half down the middle and slice it longways as thin as you can. Place your sliced fennel in a sieve over a bowl and season generously with salt. Toss the fennel in the salt and let it rest for 30 minutes. This will draw the moisture out of the fennel, so your remoulade doesn’t end up watery!
Squeeze out the rest of the moisture from the fennel and place it in a mixing bowl.
Add the lemon juice, mustard, mayonnaise, yoghurt, and chopped dill and mix everything together, keep it in the fridge until you need it.
Build your sandwich
Slice your polar bread and toast in the toaster. Butter both top and bottom pieces, add a layer of spinach leaves and sliced avocado onto one. Season with salt and then layer up your smoked salmon with the fennel remoulade, finish with a squeeze of lemon top with the other half of the polar bread!
Soft Flour Tacos
These are a MASSIVE dinner time hit. Teeny tiny flour wraps that are so easy to make it’s ridiculous. After you’ve done your work in the kitchen making these and a selection of fillings it’s time for EVERYONE to get creative at the table, building their perfect, bite sized, tasty taco and because they are so little, you can easily eat 4 or 5. Have fun and scroll down for my choice of filling I made for the Sunday Brunch guests.
Notes
This recipe will make 20 soft tacos.
Once again for these I’ve used a large flat griddle across two hobs on my stove but of course you can use a griddle pan or frying pan just the same.
Difficulty: Easy easy easy…
These aren’t made form a yeasted dough, just a little baking powder for PUFF, which means that you needn’t worry about your kitchen temperature..
Start to finish: 1-1.5hours
Ingredients
350g White bread flour or plain flour (really doesn’t matter)
5g Salt
5g Baking Powder
35g Olive oil or butter
190g Warm water
Method
Making the Dough
In a large mixing bowl whisk together your flour, salt and baking powder. Add your olive oil or butter, mix/rub it in till it’s gone.
Next add the water and mix everything with your dough scraper until it comes together into a rough dough. Turn it out onto the table and knead it for 1-2 minutes.
Dividing
Use the flat side of your dough scraper to cut the dough into 20 pieces. If you (like me) are easily pleased by the sight of them all being exactly the same, weight each piece out at around 29g.
Roll your dough pieces into balls (tricky I know, they are very small!) and line them up on a tray. Loosely cover the tray with clingfilm and let them rest up for 30 minutes so the dough can relax. This way when you roll them, you’ll be able to get them super thin.
Shaping
Use a rolling pin and plenty of dust to roll out your balls into thin 15cm disks.
Baking
When you are ready heat a flat griddle or frying pan to a high heat. Your tacos take only 30 seconds each side. They have to bake hot and quick otherwise they will get too crispy so take your time to bake them all in batches that you are comfortable with, On a large griddle I can comfortably bake four at once but if you prefer complete control feel free to just do them one at a time.
When your tacos are done allow to cool completely on a wire rack, overlap each one slightly so that the steam between keeps them nice and soft.
My Taco Filling for Sunday brunch
Feel free to get creative when filling your tacos, and try to touch all bases in terms of texture and flavour.
Here I have done some marinated crispy chicken, fresh iceberg, crunchy pickled veg and a silky chipotle mayo finished with fragrant mint and parsley. Use your imagination here and go to town! When everything is ready put all your elements out on the dinner table and get the whole family building their perfect tacos.
Chicken
4 Skin on chicken legs, boned
1 Clove of garlic, peeled and finely grated
1 tbsp Chopped thyme leaves
1 tbsp Plain yoghurt
Olive oil
Salt
In a large bowl mix the yoghurt, garlic and thyme leaves. Add the chicken to the bowl and mix making sure the chicken is evenly coated in the marinade. Leave in the fridge to marinate for an hour or ideally, overnight.
Heat a large frying pan to a medium heat, add a good drizzle of olive oil and your chicken, skin side down. To get the chicken good and crispy you’ll be cooking for the majority of the time skin side down and just turning over to finish. Give it 10-12 minutes to crisp up that skin and you should see the heat creeping up the side of the chicken too. Turn it over for a final 4-5 minutes to make sure the chicken is cooked through and rest for 20-30 minutes before slicing.
Pickled vegetables
1 Carrot
A small wedge of white cabbage
15g Sugar
40g Red wine vinegar
A pinch of salt
Peel and slice your carrot into matchsticks as thin as you can, then thinly slice an equal amount of your white cabbage.
Mix everything together in a bowl and transfer to a ziploc bag. Squeeze out as much of the air as you can and seal the bag, let your veg pickle gently for 30 minutes or overnight in the fridge. Drain the liquid before serving.
For the chipotle mayo
100g Mayonnaise
10g Chipotle paste
Mix together, job done, chipotle mayo!
To finish
Finely shredded iceberg lettuce
Chopped mint and parsley
Lime wedge
It’s been so fun to put these breads together for you, I hope you have as much fun making and eating them too!