Trying out something new

Sometimes I get really bored if I don’t have anything to do, especially at home. So this christmas and new year holidays, I took most of my spare time at home trying out some recipes I found on the internet…

My first one (and my really realy first time cooking or making something on my own) was Naan Bread, an Indian thin bread. Got this recipe from AllRecipes.com.
It looks simple with the following ingredients and directions (also available on the site):

Ingredients: 7 g active dry yeast 235 ml warm water 50 g white sugar 45 ml milk 1 egg, beaten 10 g salt 615 g bread flour 6 g minced garlic (optional) 55 g butter, melted

Directions In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume. Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes. During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat. At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

I did something wrong with the yeast (Hey, I’m newbie!), I used instant yeast which doesn’t need to be dissolved in warm water but should be mixed with warm water into the mixture. It caused my dough not to rise properly, so to “fix” this I made it thinner than usual and layered. In the end it was giving pretty much the same result as the real naan.

naan dough naan done

A few days after that, tried to make a no bake cookies, which I thought easy by looking at the recipe and didn’t involve any baking. Got this recipe, again, from AllRecipes.com.