Naan is a delicious Indian flatbread. It is one of the most commonly ordered breads in Indian restaurants both in India and in the western world.
Naan is traditionally cooked in a clay oven known as a tandoor. This imparts a delicious smoky flavor to the bread. Most kitchens, including home kitchens in India, do not have tandoor ovens, so authentic naan can be tough to duplicate at home.
Fortunately, through trial and error, I’ve learned to make delicious naan bread at home, on my stove top.
Here is my naan bread recipe, along with instructions for how to make it yourself. If you prefer a photo tutorial, please visit How to Make Naan Without a Tandoor Oven.
To make my naan bread recipe you’ll need:
1. A large bowl with a lid. (In place of the lid you can use plastic wrap or foil.)
2. A cast iron griddle. If you don’t have a cast iron griddle, you may use any skillet you have, but cast iron works best as it helps to impart a smoky flavor to the naan bread.
3. A lid that fits on top of the griddle or skillet you’re using. I like to use a glass lid that is nicely domed so I can watch the naan as it cooks. A dome-shaped lid gives the naan room to rise.
4. Gas or electric range
5. Rolling pin.
6. Spatula
7. Pastry brush
Prepare the Naan Bread Dough
Ingredients:
2 cups of warm, body temperature water
3/4 tablespoon yeast
3/4 tablespoon salt
3 cups of white, all purpose flour
Garlic salt (optional)
ghee or a combination of oil and melted butter or margarine
Procedure:
Put the warm water into a large bowl and stir in the yeast and salt.
Stir in the flour, and mix until the flour is well blended. It is not necessary to over mix the flour and it is not necessary to knead the dough. This should only take about a minute.
Once the dough is mixed up, loosely cover the bowl with a lid or with plastic wrap or foil.
Set the bowl in a warm place to rise for three hours.
Once the dough has risen, you may use it immediately, or refrigerate it for up to a week.
Now It’s Time to Cook the Naan Bread
1. Preheat your griddle or skillet on the stove top at medium high heat for about four minutes.
2. While the griddle is heating, pull off a piece of dough, the size of a small peach, and place it on a floured surface.
3. Roll out the dough until it is between 1/8″ and 1/4″ thick. Naan is traditionally rolled out in a teardrop shape, but you can roll it out in any shape you want.
4. Once the griddle is hot, place about a half a tablespoon of ghee or a combination of melted butter and oil onto the griddle and spread it around. It will probably smoke a bit when you do this, which is perfectly normal.
5. Place the rolled out naan dough onto the hot griddle, and immediately cover it with a lid.
6. The dough will begin to bubble and puff up. When it does, use a spatula to take a quick peek at the bottom of the naan bread. It if is brown, lift it up and spread a bit more ghee or oil and butter onto the griddle and flip the naan over. Depending on how hot your griddle is, this generally takes a minute or two.
7. After flipping the naan over, replace the lid and continue cooking for about a minute, or until the other side is brown.
8. Remove the naan from the pan and place it onto a plate. If desired, use a pastry brush to spread on some melted butter and sprinkle with a bit of garlic salt.
If you’d like step-by-step photos of how to make naan bread please visit my slideshow.
I hope you will enjoy this delicious naan bread recipe as much as I do.
