Naan Bread

My boyfriend is from India, so you can assume I was a little nervous to make him naan bread. I got this recipe originally from the BBC and I’m writing it here so I can remember it for my own reference. This is my Baking Cupboard Journal after all. I did tweak the recipe a little bit by adding garlic and coriander to the final product though. Find the BBC recipe here.

Naan bread is so easy to make, and when you make it yourself, you will never go back to the dry shop-bought stuff. Serve it up with your favourite Indian dishes or whip some up for an exciting snack.

Ingredients and Method

• 125 ml lukewarm water in a jug
• 7 g dried fast-action yeast
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 300 g strong white bread flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder + extra for greasing
• 25 g butter, melted
• 150 ml natural yoghurt
• 1 tsp nigella seeds
• For the garnish:
• 50 g melted butter
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• Handful of coriander, chopped.

1. Sprinkle the yeast into the lukewarm water along with 1 tsp of the sugar. Leave to activate for 15 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder, the rest of the sugar, and salt. Make a well in the centre and add the yoghurt, melted butter, nigella seeds and yeast mixture. Mix everything together with the end of a wooden spoon and then your hands as it gets tougher to mix. If it’s too dry, add more lukewarm water. If it’s too wet, add more flour. Bring the mix together to form a dough.
3. Knead the dough on a well-floured work surface for around 10 minutes until the dough is nice and elastic.
4. Brush the extra butter around a large mixing bowl, place the naan dough inside and cover with cling film. Leave to rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
5. Once risen, take the dough out of the bowl and divide into six even pieces, rolling them each back into a ball. Here comes the shaping part. Take one piece of dough between the fingers of one hand and, with the thumb and index finger of your other hand, slightly tease the top of the dough to give way to a triangular shape. On a floured work surface, roll the dough out to about 1/2 cm thick. Feel free to stretch the dough into the desired triangle shape with your fingers. We’re going for an isosceles or a scalene triangle shape. Repeat with the rest of the dough pieces and let them rest on the side while you heat your oven and pan up.
6. Heat your frying pan to a high heat. Don’t be tempted to add any grease to the pan—it’s not needed. Heat your oven to a low setting, around 100 C / 1/2 Gas. Put a baking tray in the oven to warm up When the frying pan is hot enough, add one of the naan breads and dry fry for 3-4 minutes. It is supposed to puff up so don’t squash it with a spatula—this kind of defeats the purpose. Flip the naan over and allow to cook for 3 more minutes. Place on the preheated oven tray and cover with foil in the oven while you dry fry the rest of the naan breads.
7. Once your naan breads are all cooked, melt some butter in the microwave and add in the crushed garlic and chopped coriander. Mix to combine. Place the naans on a large board and brush them with the garlic butter. Sprinkle more chopped coriander over the added pizzazz.