Easy Indian Naan Bread Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the ingredient in naan? ›

Flour, yeast, milk, and butter make a tender dough that's simply seasoned with garlic and salt, but there is a wide array of naan bread flavors. You'll find everything from coconut and raisin-stuffed bread to saucy lamb-topped naan in restaurants and home kitchens around the world.

The recipe also works with standard active / dry yeast, but we've found the naan is slightly fluffier and softer using instant yeast. Unusually, we dissolve the instant yeast in warm water then leave it to become foamy – a step usually bypassed with instant yeast, which is typically mixed straight into dough.

But the basic ingredients remain the same: all-purpose flour, water, and yeast. In some cases, people add plain yogurt, ghee, milk, or egg for extra texture and flavor. The traditional method of cooking naan involves using a hot clay tandoor oven with charcoal or wood fire.

Naan bread is soft, fluffy, and chewy, whereas pita bread is denser with a slightly crispy texture on the outside. Naan bread also has a buttery flavor due to the ghee and buttermilk in the dough, which adds an extra dimension of flavor compared to pita bread's more neutral taste.

While it may contain more carbs and sugars, it earns its reputation as a healthy alternative with its relatively generous amounts of protein and fiber. Despite its high carb content, naan can be considered a more nutrient-dense alternative to white bread and pita.

About Naan

In the modern days, yeast & other leavening agents have replaced the bread starter. So most restaurants either use yeast or another leavening agent like baking powder & baking soda. If you order naan in Indian restaurants you may not find the texture & flavor to be the same in every place.

The full-fat dairy in this naan recipe gives it a soft texture and rich taste. You can use a 2% or fat-free Greek yogurt, your bread may just not be as pillowy soft. Olive oil. Canola or avocado oil can be used in place of olive oil.

If you don't see the dough puffing up, you should turn up the heat under the griddle. Take the naan with thongs and turn on an adjacent gas burner. Flip the naan on top of this gas burner and leave until it's nicely charred.

ˈnän ˈnan. variants or less commonly nan. : a round flat leavened bread especially of the Indian subcontinent.

Is egg used in naan? ›

That's right, sorry dear vegetarians! Many restaurants, be it small or big, make it a point to add eggs to their dough for preparing Naan, this gives the Naan a perfect texture and also gives it that perfect chewy-ness that combines well with your gravy.

One of the most familiar South Asian flatbreads are naan, which are leavened and typically made of maida, a refined wheat flour.

It is made primarily from white flour or wheat flour and a leavening agent (usually yeast), which results in the formation of air pockets in the dough that impart fluffiness and softness. Other ingredients used to make naan include warm water, salt, ghee (clarified butter), and yogurt.

One of the most familiar South Asian flatbreads are naan, which are leavened and typically made of maida, a refined wheat flour.

Unfortunately, most naan you'll get at Indian restaurants is not vegan, as the dough often contains yogurt (or milk) and it's brushed with melted butter. While there are a handful of store-bought vegan naan options, they are pretty lackluster and taste more like store-bought pita bread.

Naan is a flatbread, whereas bread comes in loaves. Naan is higher in fat, protein, and carbohydrates than loaf bread.