does naan bread use chemical or natural leavening agents ?
It's a kind of biscuit. To be bread, it has to rise - and to rise, it either has to have Yeast or chemical leavening agents. Shortbread (along with pretty much all biscuits) doesn't have either.
Yeast, chemical leavening agents (bicarb etc...) and air (when it's incorporated into the batter before it's baked, e.g creaming the butter and sugar together).
Making bread involves a step called leavening (usually), and that's the part of the operation where your question regarding bread making chemistry is pointing. A leavening agent causes gas to be produced. Be sure to read enough to differentiate the effect of steam (created inside the dough mass) on the finished bread from leavening. Point your cursor to the link and surf on over to our friends at Wikipedia to get the straight scoop. These folks are down with it.
The function of leavening agents is to cause the baked goods (breads, cakes, etc.) to rise. There are different types of leavening agents, such as yeast, baking powder and baking soda. Eggs are also sometimes used as a leavening agent, especially in some pound cake recipes. Without leavening, the baked goods will not only be flat, but won't taste as good, either.
Leavened bread has "leavening" added to the dough. Leavening can be yeast, baking soda or baking powder, or natural yeasts absorbed from the air which create sour dough. Unleavened bread does not have leavening of any kind.
The leavening of bread is the ingredient which aids in the rising process. Yeast is the typical leavening agent used to make bread. Depending on the bread, there are variations of yeast to choose from including active dry yeast and quick-rise yeast.
"Without leavening, bread will not rise and stays flat."
Leavening agents are the ingredients that make the baked goods rise so they are light and airy. It could be yeast, baking soda, or baking powder. Sometimes in cakes, the eggs are whipped into a froth to add air to the cake and this acts as a leavening agent.
Quick bread is any bread leavened with leavening agents other than yeast or eggs. ... Quick breads include many cakes, brownies and cookies—as well as banana bread, beer bread, biscuits, cornbread, muffins, pancakes, scones, and soda bread.
Normally not. Bread flour is does not contain chemical leavening agents, whereas self raising flour does. (So you'd be adding in additional raising agents which will probably mess up the end result). Also, self raising flour has a lower protein and gluten content, when compared to bread flour; this means that if you were to make bread with self raising flour, it would be prone to collapsing and is likely to remain undderisen/crumbly.
Leavening is what causes the bread to rise. The difference between say a tortilla and a biscuit.
Yeast is called a leavening agent. The growing yeast produces carbon dioxide which collects in the dough and makes the bread rise. With out a leavening agent bread would be flat