And the end result..

The line was crossed from Chapati to Naan only its Persian/Iranian not Indian... the differences are.....olive oil not butter...wild yeast/sourdough not a yogurt culture and no baking powder.. which is just lazy and nasty...and shows a lack of confidence in the leavening process..

Iranian naan has a few dead ringer recipes...which doesn't shock me at all..  most cultures do...

It took 10 minutes..there was more but I ate it... its all soft and chewey... dressed with oil, salt and cumin...

I had to pay nearly $5 for bread that was not as good or fresh....Im still annoyed....and not doing it again.... even a day old my bread is a week fresher than anyone elses...and not cardboardy...

Tameing the wild yeast....

First you catch the yeast... you make a flour, water and honey slurry... then take it for a walk out doors... sit in the shade, let it breathe.... and seduce the yeast thats floating around everywhere to come and grace your slurry with its presence..... 

Mine took about a week to get lively...adjusting the ratios till I got it at 50/50.... and twice what I need on a given day.... its all gurgley... one cup of the starter to one cup of flower... is just right...
since it works out to 1-1/2 cups four to 1 cup water...the magical 3 to one ratio... I use half the glass...... then fill it up again with half water an half flour slurry and it mutates into sourdough...

The reason I use a glass is so I can see bubbles come up the sides which tells me all is well on the yeast ranch... the critters are healthy an happy..... I use half of it each day an recharge the yeast food....I could dry or freeze it for later.... but this is easier... you can see the dough ball working in the background under the glass thanks to my little microbial slaves....

Sourdough....chapati

I keep doing flat bread.. I can make the sexy Italian an French types...but its the chapatti and pita that fit my life best... its versatile... I roll it out as thin as a match stick or thinner...but it raises on the burner..I stick it in the pizza oven and it goes mad because the heat is so even.. it gets this pretty pita pocket, swells up all at once an can't make it through the door.... I'm mentally stuck on open flame to make my bread... be it a gas burner or coals... BBQ or campfire... this is how the chapati starts.....rolled out matchstick rather than paper thin.... then it goes direct on the grate over a lit burner...

You can see how it starts puffing here and there...I move it around so it cooks evenly..the turn it over when its at a point I like it....

The idea is to keep it flexable...and a little char is ok with me...so I'm kind of lax about turning it...

Its just like I like it...

The grate is from my kettle grill......I use the thing everywhere...

food the other f word...

Today I opted for chicken liver pate... which I happen to like but only make every few years or so because of refrigeration issues... travel and logistics..

But today was the day.. I took 1.25 lbs of chicken livers an onion, a few garlic cloves.. random spices, a pair of anchovies cooked it all together.... braised the livers.. softened the onions till they were translucent... skinned an de-fatted the livers... then ran it all through a food processor..with a shot of vodka to punish the livers and a little olive oil to smoothe it out......an cause I didnt have chicken stock..or port

There other ways to do it.... you can add bacon, labani, cream cheese, port....mushrooms... pork fat... but. I figure salt, pepper, onion and garlic and an anchovie is pretty good for a start... I put parsley an red pepper on top... later a couple of hard boiled eggs are going to be chopped for a garnish..... the jar is a screw top... which I like cause they fit in in my carry on bag...and don't break.....they work fine for hummis, olive spread, pate and things of that nature...... tahini I carry in the jar from the store... an pack around it...

bits an pieces

You peel bell/sweet peppers the same way you do chilis.. char and blister them over a fire, then put em in a paper bag so the skin an flesh seprates.......then assuming you've finished peeling them........ yes then you toss about 8 bell peppers in 1/3 cup olive oil along with 3Tbsp red wine or "basalmic" vinegar.. 1/2 cup chopped scallions a crushed clove of garlic..salt an fresh ground black pepper to taste... a little rosemary..and its all good under the hood..add some to the hummis an make it pink... have it by its self...put it on kefta.. its sort of a condiment..but not...I can't find a rule saying you cant make a sanwich out of it...I like it out of the jar by its self..

Hummis is as hummis do....

I'm lazy...so I use canned garbanzos..I look at the labels, no salt.. just garbanzos AKA chickpeas and water..I was pretty irate after havin to pay $4+ for hummis...

You can get the dried beans an cook them yourself then instead of 75 cents or $1 you pay 10 cents... but thats on you...I use cans for speed... weavels can't get in the can...an Im lazy...

I usually pass the garbanzos through a food processor... and leave a little texture..but this time I used a blender an made it smooth like peanut butter....

anyway... you drain the garbanzos and empty the contents into blender with a couple of cloves of garlic..and enough olive oil or tahini so it doesnt clog up... you also add lemon and salt to taste.

The proportions are for a 1 lb can.. or 3/4 cups dried chick peas.. the recommended ratios are..

3/4 lemon juice

1/4 cup tahini..... yeah well..sesame oil...olive oil all have the same function....I do like tahini.. but its bitter in the back of the throat... you can get away with peanut butter... but its anarchy...

1/3 to 1/2 cup water.... if I use anything its the bean juice...but I like thick hummis..

The recipe says a clove of garlic...Ummm.... 3 is more on point, cause I like the burn from raw garlic...

Salt to taste... "they" say 1/2 teaspoon.. whatever... half of that will be just as good...

Fresh ground black pepper to taste.. I use red flake.. but...its always your world so you can have it however you want... you can peel an add sweet peppers,  chop black olives into it..green olives, clamata olives...herbs... anything you want...

Cumin on top of it works for me.....no tahini.. just olive oil.. but it changes all the time.

The days effort, the soon or whenever bread..... and a photo of what the hummis looks like, I recycled whats her faces container.... I have others that are better...but some days things are how they are..I have no idea how the photo got all tweaked.. but you can see the dough ball and how the hummis peaks, so its all good..

Container 101...at home I use whatever is close at hand be it the vile tupperware or ziplock storage junk....I'll reuse yogurt containers... cause Im cheap...and well, cheap... thrifty an frugal etc... but I want good quality if Im traveling...so I use screw tops... or did till I discovered the glass wire tops... which I intended to use for shaving soap, but happen to be uber sexy for holding my lunch...the thick glass keeps the temp even...I can see what the real is inside and.... screw tops leak no matter how good they are..

That being said...I made olive spread while I was getting busy with the food processor.... olives, anchovies, garlic..capers.. parmasean...

I got some chicken livers to make pate later.. just because... anyway.. lunch can be fun.. boiled or pickled eggs, flat bread, hummis,olive spread, pate, labani, pickled an marinated mushrooms... roasted peppers....cold cumber & yogurt soup...fruit..ya know?

If I want to piss people off ....I take a burner an make chapatis and stick food on the spot...

I love civiche...and leche de tigre...greek salads.. boccatini and grape tomatoes.. but thats all another day.. I need more glass containers...an bigger ones..

Sourdough updated...

The wild yeast capture operation was a success..... bread was made and eaten... more starter sits on the fridge.... I just wanted to make sure I have my skills where I want them.. I can also start a fire with flint an steel....rock bangin too if I have to.. 

But I digress.... I mostly make chapatti... with no yeast or other leavening soooo.. its an exercise in the arcane....in the end it was pretty classic sour dough...and a nice crusty thing... but chapatti work for me...

I ate half of the new sourdough before I decided to take a photo....

Then it started taking on porn overtones...