If you have a tortilla press in your restaurant, it’s safe to say you need to mass-produce dough. Whether you have a Mexican or Indian restaurant, it’s important to understand how to create your foodstuff properly. This is even more true when you have to make flatbreads. One of the most famous flatbreads on the market, and the one that will be heavily popular if you have an Indian or Greek restaurant, is naan bread.

As you read more, we’ll explore naan bread’s history and how you can best make it with different tortilla machines. Finally, we’ll go into the various parts of a tortilla press and how your naan should look after you make it. Overall, you’ll have a solid understanding of naan’s history, recipes, and results to make the best kind for your restaurant. Let’s look at the best way you can use your tortilla press to make naan bread. 

What Is Naan Bread?

Naan bread is oven-baked—although we’ll be using the tortilla press here—leavened flat bread. It’s an amazing cuisine in many countries, such as India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. It’s composed of yogurt, dough, and flour, making it the premiere appetizer for any restaurant with a tortilla press. Anyone can make it, though, as a wide variety of recipes use naan, and it’s becoming increasingly popular outside the Indian and Middle Eastern sphere of restaurants. Consider, for example, the Mexican restaurants dotting the South. They’re also huge proponents of naan bread.

A Brief History of Naan Bread

The origin of naan bread was much longer ago than you think. We find it mentioned for the first time during 1300 AD by the musician and poet Amir Khosrow, but the formula for making it and the result is far older. We have noticed people in ancient India through Egypt using it since the creation of yeast. The Moghuls often used naan for royal families, where it was a delicacy.

Amir Khusrau mentioned two kinds in his writings: Naan-e-Tanuri and Naan-e-Tunuk. Naan-e-Tunuk was a thin and light bread. Naan-e-Tanuri was heavy. It was also baked in a tandoor, which is the predecessor of the ovens we have today and is still on the market, especially for various restaurants.

Naan is the old Persian word for “bread.” In the Western sphere, it’s often made in one way and served only in Indian and Middle Eastern restaurants. However, Indian restaurants worldwide also serve it. Over the centuries, it has spread to Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, and the Chinese region of Xingjian. Eventually, it even found its way to the Gulf of Persia.

How Do You Make It?

Naan bread is relatively simple to make. Get all-purpose flour, baking soda, yogurt, salt, and oil. You mustn’t put too much salt in it because it’ll overpower much of the taste. No one wants salty naan. If you want to go old school, you can substitute ghee for your oil.

Always put the dry ingredients in first, and add your curd, oil, and butter and your oil or ghee substitute afterward. Crumble everything together and add some milk until the dough is nice and soft. Finally, roll the dough until it’s soft and of a smooth consistency. Don’t keep kneading your dough until you notice how rotund it is. Let it rest gently for five to six hours, then gently knead the dough again into balls. Roll them into a triangle. If you need to, you can use flour here as well. Alternatively, a commercial dough roller helps here. It can mass roll your tortillas without you having to do it manually.

This next step is where you need your tortilla press machine. Take your tortillas and feed them into the tortilla press machine. With the tortilla press machines from our site, you can press up to four medium-sized tortillas in one go—perfect if you have a particularly busy day or rush hour. After that, you should see that the dough is noticeably crisp at the edges, and it might bubble a bit at the top and bottom. Ensure you apply water to the tortillas before pressing them, and place a muslin cloth over the top.

After this, your naan should be ready to go, and you should showcase it to your customers, who can enjoy it fresh! This is the primary way you would use your tortilla press to make naan bread.

Famous Recipes and Dinners

There are a ton of different meals you can make that include naan. There’s a reason why it’s considered a staple side or even a main dish in most Indian and Middle Eastern restaurants. Rajma kidney bean curry, for instance, is a simple and easy meal to make, packed with protein and ready in under 30 minutes. You can dip your naan inside. Paneer korma is another curry you make with Indian cottage cheese, spices, and coconut milk. These meals pair extremely well with naan bread since you can dip your naan in either of them and enjoy your meal.

Benefits of Using a Commercial Tortilla Press To “Press” Your Bread

A commercial tortilla press has many benefits. Unlike a tortilla press for residential use, the commercial tortilla machine is perfect for knocking out multiple rolls of dough in one fell swoop. It makes a great addition to any kitchen because it’s efficient and saves time. You don’t have to do much manual labor; you can start your machine by pressing a button. This saves you a ton of energy. It’s always good to have a machine that can do the work for you. Even better, this will keep your overhead costs low. Who needs more kitchen staff working in the back room when you have machinery that will perform tasks for you?

What Does the Result Look Like?

Your naan should be slightly crisp at the edges and blackened in some places at the top. That said, if the entire top of the bread is blackened, you might have overdone it in the tortilla press and kept it in there too long. The entire circumference of the bread should be browned with light splotches. In many ways, you have to play this by ear, and you can only do so with experience.

If you’re interested in looking at some of our tortilla press machines, you can buy some here at Pro Restaurant Services! We have the best tools for your restaurant’s kitchen. Shop Pro Restaurant Services today!