Hi everyone…this week on Food For Thought I take you to a factory north of Toronto where they specialize in making naan, an East Indian style flatbread. The company is called FGF Brands, which stands for Functional Gourmet Foods. In Canada you will find their flatbread products in Loblaws and Real Canadian Superstore outlets, with further availability described on the company website. Jim White, a former Toronto Star food columnist and inventor of many President’s Choice products, teamed up with experienced commercial baker Sam Ajmera to create a production process that could manufacture naan on a large scale, but have the product remain very authentic. You can see some of the naan coming out of ‘the world’s largest tandoor’ oven, according to Sam, in the photo at left. I couldn’t take pictures of any other parts of the oven…the technology is a closely-guarded secret.
FGF Brands is also making muffins for Starbucks now, with no added preservatives or artificial ingredients. They can produce thousands of muffins in a day, again in a special oven and cooling rack.
Here is a naan all tricked out as a pizza! Red onion, tomato, fresh basil, mozzarella, couldn’t ask for much more. You can find recipes like this on the FGF Brands website. To listen to my story, just click to play the 5 minute documentary in MP3 format.
