If you think you need a tandoor (clay oven) for delicious Indian naan bread, you’re wrong. You don’t even need an oven! Just a simple skillet and you’re done. That simple? Yes!
When traveling, I always eat the most delicious bread. Super fresh, hot and terribly flavorful. That moment when you tear off a piece of fresh bread and eat it. That is so delicious! So when bakers in Iran and Georgia invited me into their bakeries, I couldn’t have my fun.
I was allowed to press the dough against the edge of a red-hot, stone oven. To then prick the bread off with a long, pointed stick. Wow, I kept thinking, at home I want an oven like this too!
Once back in the Netherlands, I am then somewhat disappointed to find myself at a Dutch bakery again. I like the bread at the Dutch bakery but they still can’t match their Iranian and Georgian colleagues who make only one kind of bread.
At Indian restaurants in the Netherlands, I liked to eat naan bread – until the man who helped us told us they used yogurt in naan bread. Excuse me? Yogurt? Also already no more naan bread so?
Hence, I started looking into how to make your own naan bread. And fortunately, it turns out not to be very difficult. You don’t even need such a special (tandoor) oven. Do reserve some time and get your best frying pan ready. And hoppa! Then your naan bread will be ready in no time :).
Is it really that simple? Yes! In the meantime, I swear by this homemade Indian naan bread. While traveling, it is sometimes difficult to get plant-based yogurt, which is why did you know that you can also make this recipe without yogurt? The only difference is that it is slightly less airy.
Making naan bread
Ingredients
- 125 ml lukewarm water
- 4 tbsp vegetable yogurt
- 1,5 tbsp instant yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 250 gram flower
- 1,5 tsp salt
- olive oil
Preparation
- First make a yeast pudding: 2 tbsp lukewarm water, yeast and sugar. Stir well and let stand for about 10 minutes.
- Mix flour and salt in a large bowl
- Make a well in the center and pour in a dash of olive oil
- Then add: vegetable yogurt and the yeast mixture
- Gradually pour in the rest of the water and mix well
- Knead until you get nice dough
- Dress the dough for another 5 minutes on a floured countertop
- Make it into a smooth ball and place in a bowl greased with oil. Place a damp tea towel over it and let rest for about 2 hours
- Place the dough ball back on a floured countertop and press it with all your weight. It is important that you squeeze out the air
- Knead the dough for a few more minutes until all the air is out
- Divide into 6 equal balls and roll into oblong loaves
- Heat a frying pan and fry both sides until they have nice brown spots here and there. Note: not too long, as they will become too (!) crispy.
- Always place a naan bread that is ready under a tea towel. This way they stay good longer
