Soft Homemade Naan
Blog,Budget Bites,Dinner |
April 18, 2023
5/5 - (1 vote)

$1.73 RECIPE / $0.22 SERVING

The much-anticipated Homemade Naan recipe follows!

If you’re unfamiliar with naan, it’s a type of flatbread popular in India. It’s not “just” flatbread, to be sure. This stuff is incredible and can be made at home too. It’s soft, pillowy, full of wonderful bubbles, and quite adaptable.

This recipe is my new favorite yeast bread recipe since it is so quick, easy, and tasty. It’s something I can’t get enough of. Scroll down to see how I keep my naan on hand by freezing it!

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PITA BREAD AND NAAN?

How To Make Homemade Naan
Food: How To Make Homemade Naan
Source: The Busy Baker

While both types of bread belong to the “flatbread” family, they come from various parts of the world, have distinct doughs, and are cooked in different ways.

Naan is a South and Central Asian flatbread, while pita is a Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flatbread.

Pita is created using a simple dough consisting only of flour, salt, yeast, and olive oil, whereas naan dough contains ingredients such as yogurt and egg to make it more tender and fluffy.

Pita is baked in a very hot oven, which creates a distinctive hot air pocket in the center of the dough. Naan is prepared on a griddle with lower heat, resulting in several smaller bubbles rather than a single huge air pocket.

WHAT DO YOU SERVE WITH NAAN?

Basically anything. You may use naan to sop up gravies or dip into sauces, construct flatbread “wrap” sandwiches, top it with tomato sauce and cheese for a quick naan pizza, or use it to make quesadillas instead of tortillas.

Here are some of my favorite naan dishes:

  • Dip it in homemade hummus
  • Use it to soak up curries, like this creamy coconut curried lentils
  • Use it as a base for mini pizzas
  • Serve as a side with curred ground beef with peas and potatoes
  • Or wrap it around meat and vegetables for a wrap sandwich, like this homemade chicken shawarma wraps

WHAT TO DO WITH THE LEFTOVERS

To avoid condensation, make sure to let the naan cool completely after cooking. Keep your naan in a gallon-sized zip-top bag until it has cooled.

The naan will keep at room temperature for 1-2 days or refrigerated for 4-5 days. Naan can be frozen for extended storage.

STORE SOME FOR LATER USE

I always end up freezing at least a portion of this recipe because it makes more than one person can eat in a few days.

Allow your naan to cool completely at room temperature before transferring it to a zip-top freezer bag, labeling and dating it, and freezing it. Use up your frozen naan as soon as possible.

At room temperature, frozen naan bread thaws quickly.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAKING GARLIC NAAN

It’s simple to make a garlic-flavored naan using the standard naan recipe below. Simply combine 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder with flour and salt, and then brush the naan with fresh garlic butter once it has been cooked.

To prepare the garlic butter, mince a few garlic cloves and mix them with a few tablespoons of melted butter.

HOMEMADE NAAN RECIPE

It’s easier than you think to make soft, pillowy homemade naan, which is fantastic for sandwiches, pizza, dipping into soups and sauces, and more.
Prep Time: 1 hr 30 mins
Cook Time: 25 mins
Total Time: 1 hr 55 mins
Servings: 8

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 tsp dry active yeast ($0.19)
  • 1 tsp sugar ($0.02)
  • 1/2 cup warm water ($0.00)
  • 2 1/2-3 cups flour, divided ($0.39)
  • 1/2 tsp salt ($0.05)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil ($0.64)
  • 1/3 cup plain yogurt ($0.17)
  • 1 large egg ($0.27)

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Mix the yeast, sugar, and warm water together in a small bowl. Allow sitting for a few minutes, or until frothy on top, after stirring to dissolve. Whisk in the oil, yogurt, and egg after the mixture is foamy.
  2. Combine 1 cup of flour with the salt in a separate medium basin. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour/salt mixture and whisk well. Continue to add half-cup increments of flour until you can no longer whisk it with a spoon (about 1 to 1.5 cups water).
  3. Turn the dough ball out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it for 3 minutes, adding little quantities of flour as needed to keep it from sticking. A total of 2.5 to 3 cups of flour will be used. The dough should be silky smooth and supple, but not sticky. If you knead the dough too much, it will become dry and rigid.
  4. Allow the dough to rise until it has doubled in size, loosely covered (about 1 hour). Flatten the dough into a disc and cut it into 8 equal pieces after it has risen. Form a small ball out of each piece.
  5. Over medium heat, heat a large heavy-bottomed skillet. Roll out one ball at a time until it is 1/4 inch thick or about 6 inches in diameter. Cook until the bottom of the flattened-out dough is golden brown and huge bubbles have formed on the surface in a hot skillet (see photos below). Cook until golden brown on the opposite side. Place the baked flatbread on a platter and cover with a towel to keep warm while you finish the rest. Serve simple or with herbs dusted over top!

NOTES

TIPS: To get the maximum bubbles, wait until just before placing the dough ball in the skillet to roll it out.

I tested with various skillet settings and discovered that a medium heat produces the most bubbles in the dough while preventing the surface from burning.

NUTRITION IN HOMEMADE NAAN

  • Serving: 1 Serving
  • Calories: 250.81 kcal
  • Carbohydrates: 37.23 g
  • Protein: 6.36 g
  • Fat: 8.18 g
  • Sodium: 161.29 mg
  • Fiber: 1.54 g

There is nothing quite like a warm naan with melted butter on top…

STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO MAKING HOMEMADE NAAN

Homemade Naan
Food: Homemade Naan
Source: The Busy Baker
  1. To begin, dissolve 2 tablespoons of yeast and 1 tablespoon of sugar in 1/2 cup of warm water. Allow for a few minutes for the mixture to get foamy. In the meantime, whisk together 1/3 cup plain yogurt (standard or Greek-style), 1/4 cup olive oil, and one big egg.
  2. Whisk the yogurt, oil, and egg into the foamy yeast mixture until smooth.
  3. Only 1 cup of flour and 1/2 teaspoon of salt should be combined in a separate bowl.
  4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients dish and whisk well.
  5. Continue to add flour, a half-cup at a time, until the dough forms a cohesive ball that you can’t stir with a spoon.
  6. Knead for 3 minutes on a lightly floured surface. As needed (to keep the dough from sticking), add little amounts of flour until you have a smooth, very soft ball of dough. For the dough, I used roughly 2.75 cups of flour. If you knead the dough too much, it will become stiff and dry, preventing the traditional bubbles.
  7. Form the dough into a ball, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in size (the photo is BEFORE it has risen).
  8. After it has risen, softly flatten it and cut it into 8 pieces of similar size.
  9. Make a smooth ball out of each piece.
  10. In a medium-sized skillet, heat the oil. Roll out a ball of dough until it is 1/4 inch thick and about 6 inches in diameter while you wait for the skillet to heat up.
  11. Cook the flattened-out dough in a heated skillet on one side until huge bubbles form and the side that touches the griddle is golden brown. The bubbles will begin small, as shown above, but will ultimately develop and merge to make larger bubbles.
  12. Cook until golden brown on the opposite side. The first side of the naan is smooth and uniformly brown, however, the second side (where the bubbles were) has a varied texture or pattern on the browned surface.
  13. Here’s the second side with the burnt bubbles exposed.
  14. Stack the naan on a platter and cover with a clean towel to stay warm.
  15. Brush melted butter, garlic butter, or classic ghee over the naan!