For approximately the past 2 years I’ve been vocalising my intention to attempt homemade naan bread, and every time I’ve decided it sounds hard and dismissed the idea. Well, after yet another mediocre shop bought naan I finally decided enough was enough. Beautifully soft, chewy freshly made naan bread is no longer reserved for takeaways and restaurants, my friends!
I’m going to go ahead and assume everybody here loves naan bread as much as I do. How could you not!? Personally, I’m aaall about the garlic naan (actually, I’m all about garlic anything, but that’s another story). If you prefer to keep it simple, you can skip the garlic and coriander for a plain naan. But ask yourself, are you sure??
OK, let’s talk ingredients. The order of preference in this recipe goes ghee > clarified butter > regular butter. I know that ghee and clarified butter are more difficult to get your hands on/make (although Lurpak now do clarified butter in their Cook’s range), so don’t fret if all you’ve got to hand is regular butter. I’ve made this recipe with both butter and clarified butter and it still tastes awesome, just perhaps not quite as authentically Indian.
The recipe below makes enough for 8 medium sized naan breads, which I realise is quite a lot, even for me 😉 They freeze really well though, which means next time you fancy one you’ve got one ready in no time. Just remove from the freezer, pop in the oven at a low-ish temperature (about 140°c) until hot (about 5 minutes) and brush with melted butter. Job done!
Ingredients
- 7g fast action yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 100ml lukewarm water
- 300g strong bread flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 75g melted ghee/clarified butter/butter
- 5 tbsp greek/natural yoghurt
- handful coriander, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 100g melted ghee/clarified butter/butter
Instructions
- Add the yeast, sugar and water together and mix. Set aside and leave until frothy (a few minutes).
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Create a well in the middle of the bowl and add the yeast mixture, melted ghee/butter and yoghurt. Mix until a soft dough forms.
- The dough should be very soft and sticky - if it looks too dry add an extra tablespoon of water. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until soft and stretchy.
- Transfer dough to an oiled bowl and cover loosely with oiled clingfilm or a damp towel. Leave to rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours, until doubled in size.
- If making garlic naan, heat the butter and garlic in a frying pan for a couple of minutes then remove from heat. For non-garlic naan, simply melt the butter.
- Tip dough out onto a floured surface and gently knead to knock the air out. Divide into 8.
- Put a large frying pan over a high heat. Flatten one of the 8 pieces of dough into a teardrop shape and add to the hot pan.
- Cook for 1-2 minutes until it starts to bubble, then turn over and repeat. Remove from frying pan. If planning to freeze, leave to cool then freeze. Otherwise brush with melted butter and sprinkle with chopped coriander.
- Repeat for each naan, keeping remaining ones hot in the oven at a low temperature.
- To reheat frozen naan breads, cook in oven at 140c for 5 minutes, then brush with melted butter.
These look like they were well worth the effort, they look amazing! xo
Oh they definitely were 🙂
These look perfect and JUST like the ones you get in restaurants! I’ve been wanting to try out a naan recipe for so long!
Thanks Lauren!
These look so delicious. But have you ever tried a peshwari naan? They’re on a whole diffent level of YUMMY DELICOUSNESS.
Love Hayley,
Water Painted Dreams
I have, they’re so good! Although, I think garlic naan still wins out for me!
looks amazing!! now I really want to try it 🙂 yummy
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Thanks Anna!