Indian Naan Flat Bread

About Me: I'm a Food & Crafts blogger at www.ShopCookMake.com


To go with the delicious Chana Masala I made the other day, my friend suggested preparing Naan.

Naan is a flat Indian bread. I was surprised to learn that it originated in Central Asia.

Roti is another popular variation, but that one is made in a skillet on the stove. And just as delicious.

Naan is made with a little yogurt which gives it a nice softness.  

Step 1: Ingredients

2 cups Flour
3/4 cup Warm Water
2 tbsp Oil
2.5 tbsp Yogurt
Pinch of Baking Soda
Pinch of Salt
1/2 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Yeast
 

Comments

[Aleator777]

Gotta love Naan! Thank you for this. Now I need to find a decent curry dish to go along side.

[satyr2k2]

Not sure what is different for me but at 350 it definitely does not take 3-5 minutes. More like 10-15. Even at 450 I was having to leave the naan in the oven for close to 10 minutes just to get it to golden, not even brown.

[ShopCookMake]

Are you placing the bread near the top of the oven. I put mine really close to the top so they would get brown while cooking. Try baking them at 450 degrees near the top. That way, they should only take 5 minutes or less. But definitely keep an eye on them, so they don't burn.

[deamonlord]

The naan is something to be cooked very quickly. Otherwise, it will become hard and dry. And I live in Pakistan and people also use diluted milk to apply on the face of the naan. It gives it a nice reddish color

[jamesvs400a]

good recipe, when i make bread it is always easier to add the dry ingredients to the wet. with the exception of the yeast. :)

this help with the distribution of the yeast and oil which is good if your lazy and can't be bothered with a lot of kneading ;)

[ShopCookMake]

That's a good idea. I like to proof the yeast before adding it because I've had a few batches of bad yeast. Plus my kitchenaid does the kneading for me. I'm too
Lazy to knead for 10 minutes a loaf of bread.

[jamesvs400a]

oh yes i've had that problem before. unfortunately where i am, all the dried yeast have anti foaming agent added to it so it looks dead untill the bread starts to rise.

because the dried yeast is just the spores and not living yet. you can put it in the freezer to extent the life.

alternatively you can use fresh yeast if you can get it. health food shops are good places to look. i used to just buy it from my local baker with a boston bun :). it's good if you can break it up. if it's liquefying then its old.

for fresh yeast use about the same amount as dried. 5g (1/6OZ) per 300g( 2 cups) of flour

[Divergent Reality]

-In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, oil, yogurt and baking soda. Don't mix it yet!

When do you mix?

[ShopCookMake]

Mix it after adding the water with the yeast and sugar.

[jakerobinson]

Hey ShopCookMake

I love naan bread.... moved to the UK for 4 years and Curry was about the only food to eat! (sorry Brits) Of course, Curry is the National Dish...

anyway. i make curry at home about once a week but now i'm glad to know I can add the requisit Naan bread to make it complete!

question: What type of oil do you use? olive? veggy?

Thanks and great 'ible...

[ShopCookMake]

I used olive oil, but some people use canola or even sunflower oil.

[eparton]

what kind of flour...?

[ShopCookMake]

Wheat... All purpose wheat flour

[freakyqwerty]

Looks very nice but isn't it spelt Nan instead of Naan?
(or at least that's what it says on my indian menu...)

[jennahilary]

It's spelled Naan.

[VidDroog]

I believe it is generally spelled with a double "a" to reasonably represent a long aaah sound as apposed to a short, in the transliteration from the Hindi/Marathi/etc (from Sanskrit) language and the Devanagari script of 50 some letters....many of which there is no equivalent in the Roman alphabet..; and possibly earlier from Persian/Arabic/Urdu which write the word also with a long "aaah" (an elongating alif under the vowel "a". Some confusion arises from the Turkic transliteration to "nan" of its version of flat bread..(sort of twice transliterated since Ataturk romanized the formerly Arabic/Persian script during his modernization of Turkey).

In a Tandoori oven it is slapped to the inside walls of the very hot oven to quickly bubble up while cooking and if your not quick enough to remove as it reaches perfection, it may fall to its fiery doom...feeding the Tandoori gods.....

[ShopCookMake]

Interesting, I've seen it as 'Naan' everywhere. I'll look into it.

[MrPotatoHead]

I've always seen Naan everywhere... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naan

Good and simple instructables!
Small detail, in the "related" word of this instructables you've added vegan. Since there's yogurt in it, I doubt those crazy vegan will make it... :P

[ShopCookMake]

You're right! It's not Vegan. Probably they could substitute for Soy Yogurt.

[freakyqwerty]

Strange… Oh well.
Also what does the yeast do? Because as it is a flat bread it doesn't rise?

[ShopCookMake]

The dough needs to rise before baking. The term 'flat bread' refers to its shape after it has cooled down. When you make this recipe, notice that the bread rises a bit in the oven, then becomes flat again.

[KingJaymz]

Do you know how much flour by weight it is? Flour can vary radically (from 4oz to over 7oz) by volume measure per cup. If you don't know the weight, can you tell us if you shake the flour canister or intentionally condense it before measuring? Without a more specific idea, results will vary radically.

[ShopCookMake]

I know what you mean about measurements by weight. But I can tell you that I din't shake the canister or pressed the flour while measuring it. I wouldn't worry about exact measurements because you'll need to flour the surface you'll use to flatten the dough. I'd say, start with 4 ounces and build up from there until the dough isn't sticky

[joreknight]

the recipe is pretty much like the one for "tortillas de harina" but sans the yogurt part.

[ssamudram]

Nice Recipe Thanks for sharing, What temp should we set the Oven at ? Thanks.

[ShopCookMake]

350 degrees