This naan bread recipe from our good friends over at Staub is incredibly easy to make at home and the result is a super soft and mouthwatering Indian bread that you can enjoy as a side to many meals. And it can easily be adapted to include your favourite seasonings – such as garlic or coconut.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
500 g flour
150 ml lukewarm milk (alternative 150 ml water)
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. dry yeast (alternative 42g fresh yeast)
1 tsp. baking powder
Salt
1 egg
150 ml whole milk yoghurt
30 g soft ghee
Parsley to taste
Additional ingredients: Flour for turning
Method
1. For the dough, sieve the flour in a large bowl. Slightly heat the milk in a pan, add the sugar and yeast, mix it all well until the yeast has dissolved. Add the salt, baking powder, one beaten egg and the yoghurt and mix it all again thoroughly.
2. Pour the milk-yeast mixture onto the flour, add the soft ghee and knead it all thoroughly. Cover with cling film and leave the dough to double in size approximately. This will take about an hour.
3. Divide the dough on a floured work surface into 6 large pieces and shape into balls, cover with a cloth and let them rest for another 10 minutes. Now roll out each dough piece with a rolling pin on a floured work surface into round flatbreads about 0.5cm thick.
4. Heat up a frying pan to a high temperature and prepare the naan bread portions. To do this, add the dough flatbread into the hot frying pan and as soon as it starts to bubble, turn it over and bake on the other side. Repeat this process five times until all dough flatbreads have been baked golden brown. Fry without oil, as it is better to coat the naan with liquid ghee immediately after baking and serve with sprinkled parsley.
5. For a garlic naan, simply peel 1 garlic clove and cut into small slices, lightly fry with 50g ghee in frying pan and then add to the freshly baked naan.
6. For a cheese naan, finely grate 150g cheese (Cheddar or Gouda). Divide the dough on a floured work surface into 6 large pieces and shape into balls, cover with a cloth and let them rest for another 10 minutes. Now roll out each dough piece with a rolling pin on a floured work surface into round flatbreads about 0.5 cm thick. Spread 1-1/2 tbsp. cheese on them, fold the sides of the naan from the outside to the inside, rotate the dough piece and roll out again to 0.5cm. Then bake the naan.
