indian naan bread

This Indian Naan Bread recipe is incredibly easy to make at home and the result is a soft and delicious Indian bread that you can have as a side to many meals.

Easy Indian Naan Bread Recipe

c. all-purpose flour

salt

instant yeast

c. milk

c. plain Greek yogurt

sugar

cardamom

turmeric

Tbsp. melted Ghee or butter

Pour the milk into a liquid measuring cup, whisk in the Greek yogurt, and heat in the microwave until warm to the touch (about 110 degrees F). Pour the warm milk into a large bowl or the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Add the sugar, instant yeast, salt, cardamom, turmeric, and 2 1/2 cups of the flour.

Mix well with a wooden spoon or the paddle attachment on your stand mixer. Continue adding flour gradually in small amounts, until a soft dough is formed that cleans the sides of the bowl (it will still be sticky). Knead the dough using the dough attachment on your stand mixer, or by hand until it is smooth and elastic, about 3-5 minutes in the mixer or 10 minutes by hand.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and let it rest at room temperature, covered lightly, for about 2 hours.

After the dough has rested, turn it onto a lightly floured surface and divide the dough into 12 equal pieces, rounding each into a ball shape. The dough will still be a little sticky, but you won't have too much trouble forming it into balls.

Cover the pieces with a towel and let them rest for 30 minutes. While the dough rests, preheat your oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit and place a pizza stone or large cast iron pan on the bottom rack of the oven.

Once the dough has rested for a half hour, one by one, roll each piece into a circle about 6 inches wide. Open up the oven and lay the circle of dough on the hot pizza stone. Spritz the top of the dough with a little water or vegetable oil. Close the oven and bake the naan for about 2-3 minutes, until it is lightly puffed and brown spots begin to appear on the bottom. Turn the naan using tongs and return to oven for another 2 minutes or so.

Remove the naan from the oven and place on a cooling rack or large plate. Brush lightly with Ghee or melted butter. Stack the hot naan on top of each other as it comes out of the oven to help keep the pieces warm.

Sourdough discard naan is the softest and most tender naan you can make at home. This no-yogurt naan recipe is super easy to make and needs no expertise at all. Sourdough gives the tang of yogurt to these naan bread which makes them irresistible.

Sourdough Discard Naan

300 g All-purpose flour 2 ½ cups

112 g Whole milk ½ cup

70 g Sourdough discard

g Vegetable oil 1tbsp

water

Garlic

Butter

Cilantro Chopped (optional)

First, bring the sourdough discard to room temperature. Take it out of the fridge at least 1 ½ to 2 hours before making the dough. Let it get bubbly on the countertop before using it.

Now, combine salt and flour in the bowl of the stand mixer and whisk to combine nicely.

Now add sourdough discard to the water. Mix well and then add oil to it. Whisk well and add to the dry ingredients.

Put the bowl on the stand mixer and attach the dough hook attachment. Start kneading in a stand mixer at speed 2 (KitchenAid). Knead for 7-8 minutes until the dough comes together. Now bump up the speed to 6 on KitchenAid. Keep kneading until the dough leaves the sides of the stand mixer bowl and becomes smooth.

The dough will not be sticky at all and separate itself from the sides of the bowl.

Now remove the sourdough naan dough into a greased bowl. And cover with a cling wrap. (Read recipe notes for kneading with hands)

Step 1 Making the naan dough

Now keep the dough to proof in a warm corner of your kitchen until it doubles up in volume. This step will take longer than a standard sourdough recipe as we have used sourdough discard. This can take 5-8 hours depending on your ambient temperature and how old is your discard. In winter I like to keep the dough for bulk rising inside my oven with the light switched on.

Step 2 Bulk Fermentation/ First Rise

Once the flour has doubled in size and volume, take it out of the bowl and transfer it onto a flour-dusted working surface.

This recipe will make about 8 sourdough discard naans, so divide the dough into 8 equal parts. You can use a weighing scale to divide the dough or just eyeball it.

Then take one piece and gather all the edges to form a round. Flip and rotate under the hand to form a small round ball with a smooth top.

Repeat with the remaining pieces of the dough.

Keep them covered to prevent the surface from drying.

Step 3 Divide the dough and make dough balls

Dust some flour on the rounds and let them rest covered with a clean kitchen towel for about 30 minutes.

In the meanwhile, you can work on the garnishes. I like to add butter and minced garlic in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave it.

Step 4 Rest the dough and Prepare the garnishes:

For rolling a naan, take one dough ball, dust it with flour and start to roll using a rolling pin.

Turn and lightly flour again with all-purpose flour and keep rolling till a thin (about 1 cm thick) oval shape is achieved. Set aside and cover.

Repeat the process with all the dough balls.

Once you have rolled all the naans, cover, them and let them rest for 15 minutes.

This resting allows the gluten to relax so that we can roll it thinner right before putting it on a skillet without much resistance from the dough.

Step 5 Rolling the dough, shaping, and making sourdough discard naan:

Now heat a cast iron skillet. Heat it at a high flame such that it is radiating heat. The skillet needs to be hot to cook the naan, but not burn it.

Take one of the rolled ovals and roll it again using a rolling pin to thin down the edges.

Now lift it in the left hand and apply water on the side facing upward. Use a pastry brush or water spray to apply water.

Now with the watered side facing down place the naan on the skillet. Doing this will give us one flat side and the bubbles will appear on the other side. Exactly as an ideal naan should be.

Cook at medium heat for half a minute or till the bottom side becomes golden. (Observe naan forming little bubbles in images).

Flip and cook the other side for another minute or till evenly cooked.

Step 6 Cooking the naan bread on a cast iron skillet

Remove from heat and immediately brush with the melted garlic butter and sprinkle chopped cilantro.

Cover the sourdough Discard naan immediately with the kitchen towel to keep them soft for longer.

Similarly, cook all the naan bread and brush them with garlic butter.

Serve warm alongside your favorite curry.

Step 7 Garnishing/ flavoring the sourdough naan bread:

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Top 2 indian naan bread recipes from across the web

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Easy Indian Naan Bread Recipe

Sourdough Discard Naan

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