Naan Recipe
The British cookbook author learned this recipe from her aunt Harsha, and included it in her “Made in India: Recipes from an Indian Family Kitchen” in 2015. It is simple to make, and results in crackly-soft flatbreads singed by heat and yielding to tenderness within, with a faint tang of yogurt. It is exactly the sort of thing you’d love to dip in a pool of curry again and again. Just set up an assembly line to roll out the dough and cook it in a hot pan. Once you make the recipe two or three times you’ll never buy naan again.
Ingredients
- 250 gramsall purpose flour
- 1 tbspneutral oil
- 2 tbspwhole-milk yogurt
- 3 gramsactive dry yeast
- 1 tspsugar
- 1 tspkosher salt
- 0.5 teaspoonbaking powder
- 0.5 cupwhole milk, warmed
Instructions
- 1
With a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, put flour in the stand fixer bowl. Make a well in the middle, and add the oil, yogurt, yeast, sugar, salt and baking powder. Mix on low until well combined.
- 2
Add the warm milk in splashes, mixing until it comes together into a dough.
- 3
Continue to mix in the stand mixer on low for 5 minutes. Note that the dough will be very sticky so make sure your flour your hands and the surface.
- 4
Flour your hands, and knead the dough into a round ball. Rub a teaspoon of oil over the exterior of the dough, and place it in a clean mixing bowl.
- 5
Cover with a dish towel, and place in a warm spot to rise for 60 to 90 minutes, or until it has doubled in size.
- 6
Using a knife, divide the dough into 6 pieces. Take each piece, roll it into a ball and flatten it between your palms. Dust the dough with flour, and roll each piece out into an oval of about 5 by 8 inches.
- 7
Place a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, and allow it to get hot. When it is, cook one naan in it for 30 to 40 seconds on one side, or until it begins to bubble, then use a spatula to flip it over to cook the other side for about the same amount of time, checking regularly to make sure that it does not burn. Flip the naan one more time, and press on it lightly with your spatula for 10 to 15 seconds, then remove to a warm platter. Repeat with the rest of the dough. (Keep the finished naan in a low oven, or wrap in foil until ready to serve.)