Naan bakery brings taste of Pakistan to central Minnesota
At first, Gwen Williams didn't understand her husband's frustration with American-made naan bread.
"It was to the point that he'd be ticked off that we were eating it," said Williams, who grew up in Coon Rapids.
But once Williams visited her husband Tahir Sandhu's hometown in the Punjabi region of Pakistan in 2004, she understood the complaint.
"It was like 'Oh OK, now I know what you're talking about,'" said Williams, who would later live in Pakistan with Sandhu for 10 months. "There's a big difference between fresh naan and the frozen naan we were buying here."
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When they returned to the U.S., Williams and Sandhu learned how to make the flatbread of flour, yeast, sugar, eggs and milk. After getting rave reviews from Pakistani immigrants, they started selling naan at local farmers markets.
The farmers market business blossomed into their own commercial bakery called Artisan Naan Bakery -- located inside the Minnesota Street Market Co-Op at 27 Minnesota St. W. It opened a year ago and makes several hundred loaves of naan a day for grocery stores, restaurants and retail sales across the state. They still run farmers market stands and were part of a CSA this past summer.
Their retail window is open from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. on weekdays.
"Being made fresh really sets it apart," Sandhu told the St. Cloud Times. "We send out our naan the day they are made. And people who come up to our window to buy it can see it being made fresh."
While the 4-ounce naans are a bit smaller than traditional Pakistani versions, the bakery makes plain sesame and garlic-flavored versions like Sandhu grew up eating.
Artisan Naan Bakery also puts its own twist on the flatbread with flavored naans, including several popular versions featuring dried fruit.
"It came out of the blueberry muffin," Sandhu said. "I knew it was a delightful thing to eat so I thought 'Why don't we try a blueberry naan?' We made others and it kept snowballing from there."
They also make naans with different spices and others meant to be a pizza crust.
While Artisan Naan Bakery started with just Sandhu and Williams as employees, they now have a handful of part-time workers. They start baking as early as 4:30 a.m. Mondays and Fridays are the busiest baking days.
And the dough is always made fresh and stretched out by hand before baking in the oven.
"There is some skill and difficulty to it," Sandhu said. "When you are tossing a pizza you let gravity do the work. Here, it's the palm that does the work.
"And if you are doing it right, your wrists don't get sore."
An AP Member Exchange shared by the St. Cloud Times