Garlic Naan Bread is pretty easy to make and doesn’t require yeast so it’s possible you have all the ingredients you need right now. Naan is served with many popular Indian dishes but lately it’s being used to make pizza too. So why not try your hand at this easy yeast free bread recipe?
One downside to living in a small community is the lack of diversity in the food department. Wouldn’t it be great to live in a booming metropolis and have a huge variety of international foods at your fingertips? But that comes with a pretty high price tag and a lot of other stuff that might not be appealing to everyone. So, I prefer to make the best of it. Instead of driving a few hours for authentic Indian food, I’ve learned to make it at home. If you’re going to try making Garlic Naan Bread, you’ll have to check out Butter Chicken and Aloo Gobi too.
Jump to Recipe
The first time I made naan it turned out pretty good. I wanted to try again and use a few different methods so I knew what worked best with the equipment I have. So of course I consulted the best source of information: youtube! There were 2,110,000 videos to choose from. I watched a few and compared methods and ingredients then stuck with the common elements and went for it.
I like the recipe and method from Manjula’s Kitchen. The dough is easy to mix up with your hands. Make sure your yogurt is room temperature. The dough needs to rise for quite a while since there’s no yeast. It should sit for 2-3 hours at least and hopefully rise to near double in size. Be patient.
Once the dough has risen, knead it again, divide into 4 balls and let it rest again. This time only 10 or 15 minutes. Then shape into naan. Use your hands, pressing, stretching or, what works well is a rolling pin. You won’t get perfect shapes. Which is exactly what you want for that authentic look.
Some online videos recommend cooking naan in a dry metal frying pan. The concept is the dough will stick to the pan, allowing you to flip the pan over and use the flame from your gas burners to char the other side, without the naan falling out. The youtube personalities make it look easy and assure that the bread would stick to the pan, but I couldn’t get that to happen. How ironic is that? The one time you want something to stick to a pan, it doesn’t.
Luckily I’ve discovered a good ole cast iron pan gives you great results. They are non stick if well seasoned and they get really hot and hold their heat. Similar to a tandoor oven which is the traditional way to cook Naan Bread. You get that signature blistered appearance which is just what you’re looking for. For a really authentic finish, if you’re brave enough, hold them over the open fire of your gas stove.
They take no time at all to cook. Press down any bubbles that appear on the surface. Once the naan looks dry at the edges and sometimes puffs up, it’s time to flip. They take about 2-3 minutes per side but the second side usually cooks a bit faster.
I once cooked some on a pizza stone in a very hot oven and they were ok. They puffed up more than in a frying pan and were a little more crispy and dry than I wanted. But, the upside was you could cook 2 or 3 naan at once on the stone.
I like to add the garlic butter to one side of the naan once it’s flipped. Traditional naan is made with ghee, which is clarified butter. Making your own if fairly straight forward. You basically are removing the water and milk proteins by gently boiling them away. Using unsalted butter is preferred because the salt content intensifies as it clarifies. This method allows you to use butter that can withstand a much higher heat than regular butter. Add some fresh crushed garlic to the warm ghee and brush liberally.
Remove the naan from the pan when the other side is cooked, then flip onto a serving platter. Brush the other side with more garlic butter and sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh cilantro. Since you’re cooking the naan in a very hot pan you don’t want to add the garlic to the bread before cooking. It will burn and taste bitter.
You can make plain naan if you want but they wouldn’t look like this.
Here’s the recipe:
Equipment
- 1 Cast Iron Pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour plus more for dusting and kneading
- ¼ tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ cup yogurt at room temperature
- 1 Tbsp oil plus more for oiling dough
- ¼ cup lukewarm water
- 1 Tbsp finely minced garlic about 2 cloves
- 1 Tbsp ghee or clarified butter
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 1 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add yogurt and oil and combine with fingers. Add water slowly, continuing to mix with your hands.
- Lightly dust a clean surface with flour and knead dough well until all ingredients are well incorporated. Shape dough into a ball, put into a clean bowl and apply a little oil on the surface. Roll the dough around to ensure it's covered with oil.
- Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let rise for 2-3 hours in a location without a draft.
- Once dough has risen to about double in size, knead again with a bit of flour and divide into 4 balls. Oil lightly and cover, allowing to rest for about 10-15 minutes.
- Shape into naan by rolling each ball in flour, then rolling or pressing into ovals.
- In a hot dry cast iron pan, lay one naan inside. Cook for 2-3 minutes per side, pressing down on any bubbles that may form. The second side may cook faster than the first. Turn when naan is starting to brown.
- If desired, hold cooked naan over flame to create more authentic char marks.
- Mince garlic and mix with melted butter. Brush over warm naan, then sprinkle with sea salt and fresh cilantro if desired.