Celebrity chef Cyrus Todiwala creates serving suggestions for Butt Foods’ new artisan sourdough recipe naan

Cyrus Todiwala

Specialist baker Butt Foods has launched a new naan bread that’s lighter and more bubbly than ever before in response to trends for premium and new wave Indian food dining experiences.

The Baked Earth artisan sourdough recipe naan benefits from a live cultured sourdough with a long fermentation process to improve flavour and texture – creating a naan bread that’s bubbly, soft and suitable for a range of meal applications throughout the day.

The company commissioned celebrity chef and former BBC Food Personality of the Year Cyrus Todiwala OBE to develop a range of uses for the artisan sourdough recipe naans to illustrate the flexibility of the flat breads. He has created a selection of serving suggestions for the naans that show the real versatility of the product which go far beyond the traditional side-of-plate application and which highlight just how many options chefs have to be creative with this new concept in naan breads.

“Naan is brilliant – it’s such a versatile bread. Just use your imagination and the world lies at your feet,” said Cyrus, who has a broad portfolio of restaurants, running Café Spice Namaste, Mr Todiwala’s Kitchen at Heathrow T5, Assado London and The Park Café.

Available in 6 inch and 4 inch sizes, the new naans are perfect for restaurants, hotels, bars and other food service operators, such as street food vendors, that are committed to serving up top quality naan breads, as well as the growing number of new wave contemporary Indian eateries that are offering dining options from breakfast through to evening. 

As a result of its special composition, the Baked Earth artisan sourdough recipe naans can be topped, filled, folded and wrapped, and the serving suggestions created by Cyrus include hand-held ‘sliders’, pizza-style topped naans, foldovers and wraps, and cover meal occasions including breakfast and brunch, snacks and main meals. 

Ideas include Bombay-style minced beef burritos, Indian-style roasted vegetable pizzas and Jungli chicken wraps.

Videos of the dishes created by Cyrus and filmed in the development kitchen of his Café Spice Namaste restaurant in London are available to watch for free on the Butt Foods website in Chef’s Corner. 

Butt Foods has been baking naan breads for more than 25 years, having introduced authentic frozen naan to the foodservice market in 1991. Its latest naan is a light and bubbly Indian bread baked with yoghurt, with toasted kalonji and cumin seeds adding a nutty flavour, made from the company’s unique recipe.

It has been developed in response to its research into the changing UK Indian restaurant scene, which shows the increase in exciting new wave eateries that offer various degrees of all-day dining, depending on location, with menus to suit. 

“New Indian food is moving away from traditional curries into a world of new flavours, snacks and small plates, different presentation and extended meal occasions. We’re very pleased to be launching our Baked Earth artisan sourdough recipe naans, which are really something very special and which have been created to provide restaurants and other eateries with a tasty naan bread that’s both versatile and flexible,” said managing director of Nottingham-based Butt Foods David Williams.

“Our market research has shown a new wave of Indian restaurants bringing exciting new flavours and formats, and we believe our range of Artisan sourdough recipe naans are perfect for these outlets which are providing an alternative experience for diners.

“We were delighted when, in independent research, our product outscored the leading foodservice competitor on taste and texture.” 

The artisan sourdough recipe naan is made from a natural process that takes up to ten days from starter through to mother dough, mature dough and then final dough. No raising agents mean a more natural product and better flavour, with pure butter ghee adding colour and taste.

The Baked Earth artisan sourdough recipe naans are available frozen through Central Foods.

Cyrus, the 2014 BBC Food Personality of the Year, was born and brought up in Bombay. In his bastion Cafe Spice Namaste, Cyrus is known for his refined, elegantly spiced and sophisticated cooking. He has cooked for royalty, presidents and international celebrities and is often invited to be a guest chef at food festivals and hotels from Dubai to Durban, and all across the United Kingdom.

For more information about Butt Foods, to see its latest trend reports or the videos featuring menu ideas created by Cyrus, visit www.buttfoods.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham based PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Milestone celebration for Nottingham bakery Butt Foods

Left to right, Mazhar Butt, Abdul Jabbar Khan and David Williams

Specialist baker Butt Foods has marked 25 years in business with a celebration for staff, as well as the launch of a new brand.

The Nottingham-based business, which supplies a range of naan breads, flatbreads and sub rolls to the food service sector across the UK, has unveiled a new Baked Earth brand. It has also launched a new website which offers serving ideas for chefs and a special section for operators to subscribe to which will give insights into the latest bakery and food trends.

Butt Foods was founded by Mazhar Butt, who opened one of Nottingham’s first Asian restaurants in the 1970s. The idea for a bakery came after a customer failed to show up to collect a special order of naan breads and the young Mazhar found himself with more freshly-baked naan than he knew what to do with.

After wrapping them and putting them on the counter of his shop, they sold ‘like hot cakes’ and the next day customers were back for more after hearing just how good the naan were. 

More than 25 years later and having introduced authentic frozen naan to the foodservice market in 1991, Butt Foods is now one of the largest naan bread suppliers in Europe and also produces a range of other speciality breads from its modern bakery at The Midway on Lenton Industrial Estate. 

To mark the milestone, Mazhar Butt and his senior team hosted a party for staff at the Mogal-E-Azam restaurant in Nottingham, where Mazhar thanked the team and paid tribute to those who had helped him with investment in the early days of the business.

Managing director David Williams, who joined Butt Foods in January 1991, just after it launched, said: “It was a great evening and the chance to reflect on how Butt Foods has grown from small beginnings into one of the UK’s premier suppliers of flatbreads and other bakery products.

“The company owes much to the loyalty and skills of our team, and it was very fitting that Butt Foods’ 25^th birthday should be celebrated with a party for employees. We’re also delighted to unveil our latest brand of craft-baked flatbreads, Baked Earth, which are pretty special, and our new website which offers hints and tips on ways to use our breads, as well as an area for chefs to subscribe to for free and where they will receive key information about trends in the food service sector.”

The award-winning bakery remains family owned and prides itself on keeping abreast of trends and developing new products to satisfy consumer demand in a fast-paced industry, supplying hand-finished frozen sweet and savoury products.

Among the guests at the 25^th birthday celebrations was production manager Abdul Jabbar Khan – the longest serving employee after David Williams - who joined the business in 1992. Many other members of the team have been with the company for several years too, added David.

Each employee was given an engraved pen as a gift to mark the occasion.

For more information about Butt Foods, visit www.buttfoods.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham based PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk