Making naan bread doesn’t require special appliances, knowledge or many ingredients. Ingredients: 2 tablespoons fresh yeast or 1/4 ounce dry yeast, 1/2 cup warm milk, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 cup pure curd, 1 large egg lightly beaten, 3 tablespoons butter plus enough for oiling. 4 cups of flour + extra to roll out the dough, a pinch of salt, 1 tablespoon of black onion seeds (I didn’t use any) and any other seasoning you want to add to the bread (I used garlic powder).
Start by dissolving the yeast in 3 tablespoons of warm milk. I think you have to do this whether you use fresh or dry yeast, but the recipe doesn’t say, and I used dry yeast anyway, so I don’t know exactly. The milk should be slightly above room temperature; if it’s too hot, it kills the live yeast. I heated the entire 1/2 cup of milk, then removed 3 tablespoons. Conversely, you can also remove 5 tablespoons and leave the remaining 3 tablespoons in the pan. *Note: 4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup, so 1/2 cup = 8 tablespoons.
Add 1 teaspoon of sugar. So if you need to add 2 tablespoons of sugar, you would add 5 teaspoons, because 2 teaspoons minus 1 teaspoon, 1 teaspoon = 3 teaspoons. In any case, it doesn’t make much difference if you add 2 tablespoons or 5 teaspoons of sugar.
Now dip the yeast into the milk and let it rise for 10 minutes in a warm place. I left mine in a small cup, so it was overripe, so be sure to put it in a container at least 2 cups in size. When the yeast bubbles up, it’s ready to be served.
Lightly mix the yogurt (I used an electric mixer, I’m not sure if this is necessary). Add the lightly beaten eggs. It probably doesn’t matter if the eggs are beaten or not; what matters is that they are beaten when added to the yogurt. Add 5 teaspoons of sugar and 5 tablespoons of warmed milk. Also, add 3 tablespoons of butter and a pinch of salt. Stir or whisk as desired (I think I’ve whipped everything at this point). However, the recipe says to just add the yeast mixture and 4 cups of flour and knead the dough.
Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes or until smooth (if you don’t like to knead, you can use a bread machine). The recipe says you can add up to 3 tablespoons of water if needed, but I didn’t find that necessary. As always when making the dough, add the amount of flour needed to prevent the dough from sticking.
Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rise for four hours or until it has doubled in size. Again, make sure the container is large enough, although this is not very important this time, as the dough is not watery. As soon as the dough has doubled, knead and knead again for 2 minutes. Divide into 8 equal-sized balls. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out each ball to about 15 cm in diameter. I probably only managed to get about 5-6 cm, so the dough would have been thicker, doughy, and wet when baked or cooked than a thin naan bread.
Once the dough is round, it is lightly oiled. Sprinkle with black onion seeds and season with other spices. My favorite Indian restaurant also sprinkles the naan bread with parsley. Which I think should only be sprinkled very lightly at this point. The garlic powder is sprinkled over the naan bread, then rubbed with a brush to ensure even distribution.
I’ve found that it’s best to let them cool in pairs on a greased cookie sheet or wire rack. The recipe says they should bake at 475 for 3 minutes, but you know they bake quickly and see how they fall apart, but they may need a little more time.
As soon as they are ready, I put them on a rack to cool, but if you are baking them on a griddle. I recommend putting them on a rack to cool as soon as they are done. I was surprised to see big bubbles and perfect browning, just like in a restaurant.
They are best eaten right away, but they are still good when they have hardened after a few days.
So I used brown rice flour for the gluten-free case, but it was too dry. Just like the other gluten-free bread. The strange thing about gluten-free dough is that it is very dry, but the dough itself is very sticky. Also, the dough did not puff up.
So when I divided the dough into eight balls and rolled them out, the dough kept tearing. Then, if you tried to remove it from the baking sheet with a spatula. It would probably break off at the edge of the spatula. Then, they wouldn’t rise when baking in the oven (even though they were baked on a cooling rack) and wouldn’t form nice bubbles.
In the end, I got dry, flat, tasteless crackers (even though I sprinkled them with garlic like everyone else). If you’re gluten-free (unless you’re an expert at making gluten-free dough) and love Indian food. I’d recommend making lentil papadam crackers instead of trying to make gluten-free naans.
About Author:
Sara has completed her education in marketing and started her career as a digital marketer. She is a content writer by profession. And she would love to add multiple things to her knowledge that she can add to her writing style. She writes about garlic naan.