Homemade Naan Bread
Making Naan bread at home is not difficult to do and so worthwhile.
To speed up the cooking process have two pans or a pan and flat hot plate heating on your hob. If they have a good surface you won’t need to grease them.
You can use ghee or butter in this recipe. When brushing the naan with butter, it’s best to clarify the butter – melt and leave to settle then pour off leaving the milk solids behind.
Makes 8
2 ½ cups (about 300g) white soft wheat flour “00” or use high-grade flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 ½ teaspoons dried yeast
125-150ml warm water
¼ cup plain, unsweetened thick yoghurt
25g butter, melted
To finish
melted butter
black sesame seeds for sprinkling
Sift the flour and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook (or you can mix by hand). Make a well in the middle of the flour.
Place the sugar and yeast into a small bowl. Pour in half the warm water and leave in a warm place to allow the yeast to froth, about 5 minutes. The water is better on the hotter side of warm.
Add the yoghurt and melted butter into the well in the flour, along with the frothy yeast mixture. Begin to mix the dough adding the remaining warm water until the dough is soft and a little sticky. Mix until the dough is smooth, at least 5 minutes. Cover the bowl with a beeswax cover or similar and then a tea towel. Leave in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size. Depending on the temperature of your kitchen this will take 1-2 hours.
Heat a large frying pan over high heat. Place the oven on low. Line a shallow baking tray with baking paper.
Tip the dough out onto a floured bench (using a spatula scrape out any dough sticking to the sides of the bowl) and knock back to remove air then divide into 8 pieces. Roll a piece into a teardrop shape and place in the hot pan. When it starts to bubble, turn it over and cook the other side. This side will darken in patches. Remove from the pan and brush with melted butter and sprinkle with the black sesame seeds. Place on prepared tray and keep warm in the oven. Repeat with remaining dough.