Soft, pillow-y naan is what dreams are made of. This recipe is definitely the BEST naan recipe, and it is so simple. In my opinion there is nothing better than some fresh, garlic buttered naan.
But I am getting ahead of myself.
Okay.
This is it.
This is THE recipe.
Here is my absolutely delicious, foolproof and easy way to make delicious soft naan right at home.
First things first.
What is Naan?
Naan is a leavened flatbread traditionally cooked in an earthen pot called a Tandoor. Famous for it’s charred flavour, burnt bits, and beautifully soft texture, Naan is perhaps the most well known export from South Asia behind Butter Chicken. Naan is especially popular in North Indian and Pakistani cooking and is perfect to pair with rich and creamy curries, dahls and chutneys.
I must admit at this point, that to this date, one of my favourite snacks is a cheese stuffed Naan with loads of ghee and garlic. Absolutely NOTHING can beat it.
But we don’t have a Tandoor?
Of course not everyone has access to a Tandoor. Nor do I! This doesn’t mean you cannot make AMAZING Naan at home (Dare I say, make the Best naan at home!). I simply make do with what I have at home. Ideally what you need to create is a very hot environment for the Naan to cook and eventually char. I have tried this numerous different ways and I have come up with what I think are the best methods –
1. On a flat pan/tava
This is probably the easiest way to cook the Naan and doesn’t require any special equipment apart from a pair of tongs to help you pick up the Naan from the pan. This allows you to carefully place the Naan over the open gas flame (if you have a gas stove!) and develop lovely char.
2. In an oven, with a baking stone
I find this to be the most fiddly, but still yields absolutely delicious Naan. All you need to do is pre heat your oven and baking stone to 230 degrees Celsius for at least 1 hour (yup!! you want this to get really hot!). Once ready, roll out your naan and very carefully place onto the baking stone. The naan will take just about a few minutes each side to cook. Note that this method won’t give you super charred bits, but will still brown the naan really well.
3. On a grill/BBQ
Oh yes you will get some charred and Smokey flavour with this method, as well as some fun grill lines! The deal here is simple, pop the the naan after rolling onto the grill (do this carefully! We don’t want dough falling through the grill) and leave it there for a minute or so until you are able to easily lift up the naan. Flip over and finish cooking. Easy does it!
What makes Naan different to Pita?
In essence the two are actually quite similar – soft, pillow-y breads that have a bit of charred colour to them.
Naan, however, has some yogurt in the recipe which makes the dough a bit tart and acidic. The result is a bit more bite and richer bread flavour than Pita bread.
Now, could you just use pita bread where a recipe says serve with Naan. Sure – again, they are so similar! Or you can follow my easy recipe and not worry about it at all.
How to make Naan Bread?
Firstly, it’s not Naan bread. I’ve deliberately written that to capture common search phrases. It is just Naan, and that directly refers to the soft flatbread.
To make the naan we simply start with combining lukewarm water, lukewarm milk, sugar and yeast. We set this aside to bloom for at least 10 minutes until you see a nice thick layer of foam. Super important to let your yeast bloom and feed off the sugar prior to mixing everything together. This step will ensure your dough rises and leaves you with soft, pillow-y naan.
In the meantime, combine your dry ingredients. My recipe uses a little bit of ground garlic powder and onion seeds which are completely optional but I find gives the naan beautiful flavour. To this add the vegetable oil, yogurt and then the bloomed yeast mixture and use a dough hook on your stand mixer to knead for at least 5 minutes. You can also do this by hand for roughly 10 minutes. Be sure to add more flour to the dough if it seems sticky – it should come together nicely into 1 ball that isn’t tacky to touch.
Once the dough has come together, simply rub some vegetable oil or ghee between your palms and then spread over the dough before returning it to a bowl to rest with a lid or tea towel covering it. Rest the dough for at least 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size. If it is particularly cold, simply let the dough rise in the oven that has been pre-warmed.
Now work out whether you are using the oven or the BBQ/grill or a flat pan. If using the oven with baking stone, now is the time to start pre-heating your oven (or when you have about 1 hour to spare before serving). If using a grill or BBQ, make sure you have enough prep time before you cook the naans such that the grill or BBQ is nice and hot and ready to cook the naan. Thankfully the flat pan method has minimal prep!
Preparing to Cook the Naan
After the dough has rested, place the dough onto a floured surface and punch out all of the air . Knead the dough by hand for a couple of minutes. Now if you want perfectly sized naan, weigh out your dough and then divide this by 5. Weigh out 5 equal balls or simply roll 5 equal looking balls. Roll these out into circles roughly 0.5 cm (1/8 inch) thick and set aside for a couple of minutes.
If you are using the flat-pan method, now is the time to pre-heat that. While the dough rests for a little bit, prepare your brushing mixture of ghee or butter (or both), some freshly grated garlic and fresh coriander leaves (chopped fine).
Take your rolled out dough and place over the flat pan, baking stone, or grill and cook for a couple of minutes until you see bubbles form. Use tongs to flip the naan over onto the baking stone or grill, but if you are using a flatpan use the tongs to directly expose the uncooked side of the naan to the flame of your gas stove. If you don’t have a gas stove, simply turn over on the flat pan.
Get ready to serve!
Remove the hot naan and place onto a plate or serving basket, then brush generously with the prepared ghee/butter mixture. Your home should honestly smell so incredible at this point! Continue until you’ve made all of your naan.
Here is my recipe
This recipe follows using the flat-pan or Tava, but read above for details on using an oven or a BBQ.
The BEST Naan
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
- 220 g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 125 ml warm water
- 8 g sugar
- 4.5 g instant yeast
- 22 ml warm milk
- 1 tbsp. full fat yogurt
- 1/4 tsp onion seeds
- 1.5 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tbsp. ghee
- 1/2 tsp chopped coriander
- 1/4 tsp ground garlic powder
Instructions
- Combine the warm water, warm milk, sugar and yeast. Whisk this together for 30 seconds and then set aside for at least 10 minutes until frothy
- Combine the flour, salt, onion seeds, yeast mixture, yogurt, oil, and the garlic powder if using
- Use the dough hook attachment of your stand mixer and knead the dough for 5 minutes. You can do this by hand as well – it will take about 10 minutes. Add 1/2 tsp of flour at a time if the dough isn't coming together. Knead the dough until it forms one big ball
- Spread a small amount of ghee or butter over your palms and gently coat the dough with it. Place back into a bowl and cover with a lid or damp tea towel. Let the dough rest for a minimm of 1 hr or until dobuled in size
- After the dough has doubled, turn the dough out onto a floured space and punch the air out. Knead the doug well then weigh ot the dough – it should be between 400-420g
- Make 5 equal balls (mine are usually between 80-85g) and set under a tea towel
- Use a rolling pin to roll the dough ball into a circle roughly 0.5cm (1/8 inch) in thickness and set aside to rest. Roll out the remaining 4 balls and keep aside for 5 minutes
- Heat up a flat pan/tawa over medium high heat
- White the pan heats up, melt the ghee or butter and add the chopped coriander and garlic. Set this aside
- Lift one of the circles of dough and place onto the flat pan. Let the Naan cook for a minute of or until you see bubbled form before lifting it using tongs and flipping over (if you do not have a gas stove) or flipping onto the flames directly (if you do have a gas stove) to develop charred bits. Use the tongs to move the naan around over the flames to get an even char before removing and setting aside onto a plate
- Brush the Naan immediately with the prepared ghee or butter mixture and repeat step 10 and 11 until all 5 naans are cooked
- Serve hot with your favourite curry or make an easy wrap
And there you have it! Serve up your naan with your favourite Indian food like butter chicken, dahl, kadhi, or literally anything. On a boring and lazy Sunday you will see me make a batch of these and make some wraps at home with leftovers I have. The possibilities are endless!
As always, please comment below if you enjoyed my recipe and be sure to share your photos with me on Instagram @theminiaturelife. Also DM me your photos because otherwise, if your profile is private, I just won’t be able to see them.
