This morning as I lay on my bed in a semi-conscious state, a delicate state between sleep and mindfulness, I kept thinking of my Keto based diet, and how I don’t really miss any fun at all. People often associate dieting to restricting, starving, and depriving oneself of their favourite delicacies. Two things I missed early on in my weight loss journey were my favourite Dosas (being of Indian origin it’s sacrilegious to stay away from the ‘Dosa’), and my other favourite — Indian Bread otherwise known as Roti or ‘Naan’. This morning I woke up with such overwhelming craving for soft, yummy garlic naan and the image of it melting away in my mouth. The craving for a Naan was so much that I decided to make one anyway, but minus all that carb-laden refined flour. I remembered a recipe which I had downloaded from the internet that I never got around to trying. It is from a website called Sugar Free Londoner and they have some amazing Gluten and Sugar free recipes. So, if this is the day for the Low-Carb Naan, so be it!
The next thing to do was to listen to some good old music, as I always do while I cook or bake. This is the day the Universe has granted to me, and ‘thou shalt listen to some good old rock music’, or so I told myself 😉…It works all the time for me, to help me relax, while going through the various dicing, kneading and cleaning-up after the kitchen adventure (which is something I totally dislike about cooking, but I do it anyway). My choice of music for the day was a band from US called Greta Van Fleet, a bunch of young lads, who strongly reminded me of a young Led Zeppelin. I turned on the volume and got totally immersed in to the “Highway Tunes” by the young rockers. I do even feel that I work much faster when I have some good old’ rock music on!!
Looking outside my kitchen window, I was surprised to see the sunshine and chirping birds in my backyard, fluttering around the patio. I guess the plants and the birds were all fooled by the cheerful weather outside; even the trees were in bloom. Hey, it was still winter, but what the heck, I will take it with gratitude. It can’t get any better than today to make some Naan and satiate my poor tummy.
I prefer to use certified Organic and Gluten-free ingredients as much as I can. I was also mildly Celiac and lactose intolerant growing up, though I can live with cheese and butter now. It took approximately 5 minutes to prepare the dough and I rested it for 10 minutes so that the coconut flour and the psyllium husks can absorb the moisture (both coconut flour and psyllium husks absorb moisture so make allowance for extra wet ingredients to make up for the absorption factor). Coconut flour is slightly on the higher side of carbs compared to Almond flour, not by much though, however, it is a great alternative for those who are on nut free/tree nut free diet. I also find it much more suited for Indian style breads and rotis, or even flat breads. This recipe, which I followed to the T, makes 6 Naan breads, soft and fluffy and there is no overpowering taste of coconut flour at all. Please try this amazingly yummy Naan and let me know what you think. All the ingredients are sourced locally here in Australia. Am sure wherever you are in the world these simple ingredients are available at your local supermarket or grocer.
The dough is soft and not sticky at all. I made it into a ball and rested it for 10 minutes before dividing it into 6 portions and rolled it flat to half-centimetre-thick Naans.
I am sure you can do a better job in making an equally portioned naan dough. I am always in a hurry and sometimes aesthetics takes a back seat when it comes to presentation.
Couldn’t be any happier with the Naans peeps, I have my favourite Naan without throwing me out of my state of Ketosis and Life is, as always good, should you really seek goodness in everything. Until next time, keep baking and keep rocking!
For those who are interested in the Macros I am posting the macros below.
Nutrition Facts Keto Naan Bread
Amount Per Serving (55 grams) Calories 91
Fat 6.4g, Carbohydrates 12.5g, Fiber 8.9g, Sugar 1.4g, Protein 3.5g
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
The Method
Dry Ingredients
3/4 cup / 75g coconut flour, 2 tbsp psyllium husk powder, 1 tsp xanthan gum, 1 tsp baking powder, GENEROUS pinch salt, 1 tbsp nigella and/or sesame seeds
Wet Ingredients
1 cup hot water, 1/4 cup / 60g full fat natural yoghurt, 2 tbsp coconut oil / olive oil melted
Topping
2 tbsp coconut oil / butter / olive oil melted, handful of chopped parsley or coriander / cilantro, generous pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius / 356 Fahrenheit.
- Mix all dry ingredients in another bowl – coconut flour, psyllium husk powder, xanthan gum and salt. Make sure there are no lumps.
- Add the wet ingredients – hot water, yoghurt, melted coconut oil or olive oil – and stir together until a dough form.
- Form a dough ball and let it sit for a few minutes until the coconut flour and the psyllium have absorbed all the moisture and the dough is not sticky.
- Cut the dough into 6 pieces and roll them out between two sheets of parchment paper into long flatbreads, about 1/2 cm thick.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until browned (baking time will depend on how thick your flatbreads are). If large air bubbles form, pierce with a fork during baking. If necessary, rotate the baking sheet so the flatbreads brown equally and/or turn on the grill/broiler at the end to ensure they crisp and brown on top.
Note: I did bake another 3 to 5 minutes to give it a crispier texture on the outside, and surprisingly enough the bread was soft and fluffy inside still. I did top it up with white Sesame seeds before baking. The indentations in the middle are from poking the breads while baking to release the air pockets.
About the Author
George Samuel is a food entrepreneur, currently working on a low-carb food startup business in Melbourne Australia. He has 30 years of experience as Project Manager in the IT and Telecomm sector. Food is his passion and he has appeared on Victorian Channel 31 delivering cookery shows for Black and White digital media in 2012. He is passionate about clean eating and whole foods and is also a big advocate of sugar free living. His mission is to help people to live a disease-free lifestyle.
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Disclaimer: The featured image is for demonstration only and does not represent the actual product.
