Double Shallot Labneh with Whole Wheat Naan

Soft and Tender Flatbreads with a Creamy Luscious Yogurt Spread

I enjoy making my own labneh, the thick, strained, almost cream cheese-like in texture, yogurt. This time I was going for a version to be served with flatbread and eaten with a lamb chop meal. I like to start with good whole milk plain yogurt and don’t recommend using Dannon. It contains additives that keep it from draining properly. Use Chobani or any other good brand. After stirring it up with a little salt and minced shallots, I then put it in a cheesecloth lined strainer, sat it over a bowl, folded over the cheesecloth, covered it in plastic wrap, sat two cans on top in order to weigh it down, and refrigerated it overnight.

After draining, I removed it from the cheesecloth and added more salt. When it was time to serve it I swirled on some of my best extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled it with urfa biber, Aleppo pepper and chopped parsley. I then topped it with some crispy fried shallots. These are a staple in my kitchen. I buy them at my local Vietnamese market and they can be easily ordered online. They added the perfect crunch and sweet flavor to the labneh.

Since I’ve been on a naan baking jag lately and have been trying out different recipes, I chose to go with naan, instead of other types of flatbreads. I tried King Arthur’s Whole Wheat recipe because I really liked the fact that one of the ingredients is the leftover liquid that comes from straining yogurt. Seeing as I had it on hand from making the labneh, and mine had been flavored with shallots, I thought this would be a nice flavor addition. Their recipe included a raita for dipping, but I didn’t make it as I had made the labneh.

This ended up being one of my favorite naan recipes. It’s a very easy dough to work with and it produced a tender and fluffy naan. Not liking mine quite as thick as they suggested, I simply rolled them out larger than they specified. I didn’t use a griddle for cooking them. Instead, I used a large skillet on my stovetop and they cooked up very easily. Whole wheat flour gives them a lot more flavor rather than using only all purpose flour. It’s another great recipe from King Arthur, which doesn’t surprise me. They know what they’re doing. 

As to the overall outcome? I couldn’t have been happier with both elements. This is the kind of food I love. They were a perfect accompaniment to simply cooked lamb chops and even the non-yogurt fan in my home readily scooped this up. So, there you have it. 

Here is the link to the naan recipe:

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/whole-wheat-naan-with-raita-recipe