Naan recipe – chewy & fluffy!

So many naan recipes are nothing more than a basic flatbread recipe. But this one? Fluffy, bubbly and CHEWY, just like you get at Indian restaurants. It’s so incredible, you’d swear it’s just been pulled from a tandoor!

Bonus: It’s mind-bogglingly easy. Yes, really!

🌶 Welcome back to Indian Week! 🌶

This week there will be three brand new, iconic Indian recipes to make your very own Indian feast:

1. Palak Paneer – The famous Indian Spinach Curry with homemade Paneer (cheese!)

2. Naan – This recipe, FIVE YEARS in the making, it’s finally here!

3. Samosas – Oh yes we did … and it’s AMAZING!!!

Plus a colourful side salad – a Cabbage & Carrot Thoran-style Salad! (PS I am literally obsessed with that salad…)

Naan recipe

Truly fluffy, chewy, bubbly naan has eluded me for years. Every other recipe I tried – and believe me, I’ve tried so many I’ve lost count – are just basic flatbread recipes with no real crumb integrity and absolutely none of the signature elasticity that real restaurant naan has.

As for the versions made without yeast? Forget it. They were more like pancakes.

Fact: You can’t make naan that bubbles up like THIS without using yeast!! ↓↓↓

It’s difficult to capture how chewy and fluffy this naan bread is in a photo – so let me try to show you instead with some live action:

Yerrrrrssss. And the most incredible thing? Naan dough is so easy to make. There is no kneading involved. Really. There is nothing tricky about it at all!

What goes in Naan

Here’s what you need to make the puffiest, fluffiest, bubbliest naan of your life. No fiercely hot tandoor required (unless that’s how you roll … )

• Flour – Bread flour produces a slightly fluffier, softer naan than using plain/all-purpose flour. But the difference is actually quite marginal, so I’m not going to recommend it as strongly as I do in other recipes where using bread flour really makes a difference (eg. like in our favourite Crusty Artisan Bread).

  So in short, use bread flour if you have it. But if you don’t, I wouldn’t make a special trip to the supermarket because this naan is excellent made with all-purpose/plain flour too;

• Yeast – Instant / rapid-rise yeast is called for here. 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. However, for this recipe, we found that the naan is fluffier if dissolved in warm water first. Yes, we’ve made a LOT of naan in recent weeks!!!

• Ghee or butter – Ghee is basically the same thing as clarified butter. This is simply normal butter but with milk solids and water removed, leaving behind pure butter fat. Ghee has a more intense butter flavour than normal butter, with the added bonus that unlike butter, it doesn’t burn even on high heat.

  You can either make your own Ghee (it’s cheaper, really easy and keeps for months), buy it, or just use normal butter; and

• Egg, milk, white sugar, salt – All fairly standard bread inclusions. I use cow’s milk, but given the small quantity used in this recipe, I see no reason why non-dairy alternatives wouldn’t work.

“No yoghurt?” I used to be an advocate of yoghurt in naan bread, believing it to be the “secret ingredient” that made naan different from “just another flatbread”.

But actually, yogurt weighs the naan down and makes it a bit gummier inside. Added yoghurt is no challenge for the nuclear-level 480°C heat of a tandoor … but in a home kitchen, the naan is better without yogurt. It’s just fluffier!

How to make Naan

This section may look lengthy, but I promise this naan recipe is not hard. I’m just breaking down the steps for you and showing thorough process photos so you can have total confidence that you’ll nail this – even if you’re new to working with yeast doughs.

And guess what? Naan dough doesn’t requiring kneading!!

Bloom the yeast

First step: Let’s get the yeast activated and ready to work its magic on our naan dough.

1. Mix instant yeast with warm water and sugar – This is not a typical step you see in bread-making when using instant yeast. Usually the whole point of instant yeast is that you can add it straight into dough without mixing with warm water and letting it foam first.

   But, for naan, we found that blooming instant yeast in a warm water and sugar mixture (ie. letting it sit until it goes foamy) makes the naan fluffier and softer. It’s also an excellent safety test to ensure your yeast is still alive – nothing worse than discovering your yeast is dead once your bread is in the oven! ;;

2. Leave until foamy – Leave the mixture for 10 minutes until it becomes foamy, which means the yeast is alive and kicking. The warm water “wakes up” the yeast and the sugar helps too because yeast “eats” sugar to do its thing;

Make Naan dough

3. Mix dry and wet ingredients – In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt), then add the foamy yeast, butter / ghee, and the milk + eggs;

4. Mix – Start by mixing with a firm rubber spatula or a wooden spoon to bring the dough together. We use spoons for no reason other than saving a sticky mess on your hands!

Bring together into ball

5. Bring together by hand – Once the mixture is too stiff to practically mix with a spatula, switch to hands. You don’t need to knead the dough, just mix it with your hands to bring it together into a cohesive dough;

6. The dough – Once the dough comes together, it should be sticky and soft enough to easily come together into a ball. But it should not be so sticky that the dough sticks to your hands – see picture above for right texture. If the dough is too sticky, sprinkle over a little flour and work that in;

Rise dough 1 to 1.5 hours – let it double in size

7. Proof dough – Once the butter / ghee is incorporated, shape dough into a ball. Cover with cling-wrap then put the bowl somewhere warm to let it proof – about 1 – 1.5 hours, until it has doubled in volume;

8. Doubled in volume – The dough pictured above is after proofing for 1 1/2 hours. It has actually more than doubled because it was a very (no really, a very!) hot day. It’s ok if it more than doubles – mine is probably closer to triple. But if the dough rises way too much (as in even more than triple), then the yeast can run out of oomph and not rise properly when cooked. Try to limit proofing to doubling in size!

Divide into six balls

9. Cut into six pieces – Lift the dough out of the bowl on to a lightly floured surface. Cut into 6 equal pieces. This makes ~15 – 16 cm / 6 – 6.5″ diameter naans which are a nice individual serving size and comfortably cooked in a skillet;

10. Shape into balls – Make the top surface smooth by tucking the dough surface to the base;

Rise 15 minutes – let increase in size 50%

11. Rise 15 minutes, 50% increase in size – Place the balls on a lightly floured tray, and cover loosely with a a lightweight tea towel (ie just place it on top, don’t tuck it tightly under the tray). Leave to rise in a warm place for 15 minutes until they increase in size by about 50%. It doesn’t take long;

12. After rising – Photo #12 is what they look like after 15 minutes. Ready to roll out and cook!

Roll out

13. Flatten on lightly floured surface – Pick up a piece and flat it down lightly on a lightly floured surface;

14. Roll out into  3 – 4mm / 0.12 – 0.16″ thick rounds (about 16cm / 6.5″ wide). The thickness really affects the outcome. Too thin = crispier and not fluffy enough. Too thick and you won’t get the bubbles. We want the best of both worlds, ie. it should bubble up when cooked, be soft and fluffy inside and the naan itself should be floppy, not stiff.  3 – 4mm / 0.12 – 0.16″ thick is the perfect thickness – so pull out that ruler! 😉

Cook Naan

15. Hot skillet – Heat a well-seasoned* cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until it is just starting to smoke. Then place the naan in and leave to cook without touching. If you’re like me, you’ll get a kick out of watching the surface blister up and go all bubbly – it’s an extremely satisfying moment!

    * Well-seasoned skillets: If you maintain your cast iron skillets properly, they should be naturally non-stick and lightly greased! 😇 That’s all you need to make naan. But if it’s not, just pour 1/2 tsp vegetable oil on a paper towel then rub it over the base. Don’t pour the oil in, naan is not meant to be pan fried in oil, it’s “dry”-cooked.

    I use a Lodge brand cast iron skillet – more on it here (excellent value, and indestructible!).

    If using another type of skillet, do the same light oil rub. But you should not really be making naan in non-stick coated skillets – the high heat required destroys the non-stick coating!

16. 60 to 90 seconds cooking, then flip – It should only take 60 – 90 seconds for the underside to cook until it’s nicely browned. Then use tongs to turn;

Brush with ghee

17. After flip, 45 – 60 seconds more – The blistered side (photo #17) will only take around 45 seconds to cook. You’re just looking for a little charring on the blisters and for the surface of the second side to be cooked.

    Aim for fast cooking (also as not to burn the ghee). The faster it cooks, the closer you get to real naan like that cooked in the fierce heat of a tandoor, and the fluffier your naan will be!

    The slower it cooks, on the other hand, the less fluffy the naan will be. 2 to 2 1/2 minutes total is ideal. Beyond this, the naan will start to dry out inside and you’ll lose the signature texture; and finally

18. Brush with ghee or butter (optionally also garlic – but yes you absolutely should!) –- Remove naan from the stove, then brush with melted ghee or butter while it’s still hot. Garlic is an optional extra, but it’s so good!

    For an authentic finishing touch, add a sprinkle of nigella seeds for a delicious onion-y pops!

Cheese Naan recipe!

I’m going to be honest, I’ve no idea whether you can even find Cheese Naan in India (please chime in, in the comments!). But it’s a firm favourite around my neck of the wood. Certainly this Cheese-loving Carb Monster considers Cheese Naan one of the great achievements of modern mankind.

Authentic or not, it’s amazing! (And really, what is it but the equivalent of an Indian-style grilled cheese sandwich – yum!?)

How to make Cheese Naan

In restaurants, cheese naan is usually made by cooking plain naan first, then cutting a slit and stuffing inside the naan with cheese to melt.

That’s quite tedious and involves burnt fingertip agony I’m yet to fall in love with, so I’ve opted for a much simpler method:

1. Brush naan first with garlic butter, if desired (because like mentioned, well, why not? Now you have Indian-style cheesy garlic bread! 😉)

2. Pile cheese in the middle, then bundle it up like a money bag;

3. Twist the top to seal;

4. Flip over then roll out;

5. Cook in a hot skillet just like normal naan;

6. When you flip, it will puff up dramatically! Don’t get too excited, because it then deflates. 😂 But it looks impressive – even if nobody else saw it!

Here’s what the inside of the cheese naan looks like – in case you’re wondering if I used enough cheese 😂 Be still my beating heart … ( excitement or cholesterol sirens? I can’t quite distinguish 🤔)

What to serve with naan

I feel like I’m stating the obvious here by saying that the most natural, most obvious way to use naan is to scoop and slop up curries – Butter Chicken, Rogan Josh, Dal, Tikka Masala, to name a few!

Also think uses as a wrap: Stuff them, say, with Tandoori Chicken or Chicken Tikka (use the Chicken Tikka part of Tikka Marsala), along with some fresh Indian Tomato Salad with Mint Sauce for a complete meal in a wrap.

But then I realised: I’ve been devouring an inordinate amount of naan just as it is. Straight out of the skillet, with and without butter, cold, warm, reheated – and loving it like it is.

The lesson? Naan this good you can have it every which way. It’s 100% incredible. Make it once and I guarantee you’ll be addicted for life! – Nagi x

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🌶 Indian week!🌶

Just to recap, it’s Indian Week here at RecipeTin Eats! A week when I’m sharing 4 brand new recipes to make your own epic Indian feast at home:

• Palak Paneer – Indian Spinach Curry with homemade cheese curds!

• Naan – this recipe, the fluffiest homemade naan of your life…

• Thoran-style Indian Cabbage Salad – made with a spiced coconut “sambal” of sorts, I am ridiculously obsessed with this salad!

• Samosas – World’s best savoury snack! ( … according to me)

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Watch how to make it

Life of Dozer

Mmm, naan…. (we agree Dozer!)