The inspiration for this pizza really came from a longing in my stomach to make Indian flat bread (aka Naan) again. We just enjoyed Indian Dal with the aforementioned naan a couple of weeks ago, so I couldn’t justify the same meal so soon. But there must be another use for the naan, and thus was born today’s oh-so-delicious meal.
The prep can be as simple or as complicated as you want. I assure you that once you have all of your ingredients assembled, putting together the pizzas is a very speedy process. Here’s where you get to choose your own kitchen adventure. I prefer to make everything from scratch. That might not be your preference. Unless your name is Anita Joshi (you know who you are), then I won’t insist you make the naan. If, however, your name is not Anita Joshi and you would still like to make this manna from heaven bread, please do, but be sure and come back to tell me how easy and yummy it was.
Naan
When I wanted to learn to make the perfect naan, I knew exactly where to go to find the perfect teacher: online. Watch the video and follow Manjula’s directions and your naan will be as perfect as hers (and mine).
For the rest of you who would rather not play with yeast and warm water, you have a couple of options. You can probably buy flat bread of some kind at your local grocery store, or just use tortillas. We’ve done the tortillas in the past, but you will compromise in flavor what you gain in ease from either of the store-bought options.
Toppings
You know what you like on pizza, so go crazy! We went with veggies and non-dairy cheese. Go figure. To make the veggies even yummier, I tossed them in olive oil, added a bit of salt and pepper, and spread them on a baking sheet, then placed them in a 500* oven for a few minutes to warm them all the way through and take off the crunchy edge.
Assembling your individual pizzas is the fun part, and everyone can add their own preferences. I started with a piece of naan, spread a layer of jarred marinara sauce, and then layered my toppings.
Once the pizza is all decked out, I carefully placed it on my baking stone, which was still set and hot at 500* from baking the naan. Don’t worry if you don’t have a baking stone, use a cookie sheet instead. Keep an eye on the pizza because it will only need two-three minutes in the oven – just long enough for the cheese to melt.
These tasted so much better than I expected! I don’t know exactly what I expected, but wow. I especially loved the grilled cherry tomatoes because every bite was a burst of juicy tomato flavor. The squash provided a nice subtle crunch, and the green pepper a mild complementing flavor to pull it all together.
Your pizza will be completely different from mine because it will be smothered in your favorite toppings. I can’t wait to hear about your yumminess!
Oh, my gosh.
Pooja makes a wonderful Naan that she starts in a bread maker.
I can’t wait to try yours.
Thanks for the heads-up about the video!
This is the easiest bread I’ve ever made, and takes less than 15 minutes to make the dough. The trick is planning ahead so there’s enough time for the dough to rise before you’re ready to bake them.
Don’t know about the pizza, but the Naan is amazing. (I couldn’t wait.)
Jim said it’s like candy…
Made it this morning and set it aside to rise, went out in the beautiful sunshine, came back 4 hours later and baked it. Very, very simple recipe. I’ll be doing this often!
Thanks, A, for sharing!
I agree with Jim! How wonderful that you made it and enjoyed it so much. Okay, so you didn’t make the pizza, but did you eat anything else with your naan?
You are brilliant Arminda! I wonder if you can make this naan in a thinner version to use as a wrap! Oooooh with falafel, tabouleh and some sort of a creamy tahini dressing inside. I am loving this blog!
Maybe I’ll have you write a guest post on my brilliance, Anita :-)
I absolutely love your idea of using it as a wrap with falafel and other such yumminess stuffed inside. I’m going to tuck that away for the very near future.