How to Make Naan Bread At Home

Why You'll Love This Recipe:

• The naan is soft, puffy and dotted with dark golden specks just like the ones you get at Indian restaurants.
• The recipe is so simple to make, all you need to do is combine the ingredients into a stand mixer bowl and let the machine do the kneading.
• We also show a number of different ways use naan bread from sandwiches to pizzas and more.

Ingredients In This Recipe

The printable recipe further down the page has the complete list of ingredients, including quantities and step-by-step instructions.

Yeast – I always use instant yeast granules for my bread recipes. This yeast does not require activation and can be added in with the other dry ingredients.

Water – Use warm water, you don’t want to use hot water because, you can kill the yeast. If in doubt use cold tap water.

Flour – I like to use all purpose (plain) flour for making naan. It has less gluten and protein than bread flour (bakers’ flour) which will result in a nice soft flat bread.

However, if all you have is bread flour you can use that. The bread will still be soft but, it will be a little chewy.

Sugar – adds a little sweetness to the flat bread and it also feeds the yeast.

Salt – is a must in bread making, it adds flavour to the bread and without it you will find the bread can be a little bland.

Baking soda also known as sodium bicarbonate is a leaving agent and will produce carbon dioxide when it comes in contact with moisture. It will to rise the dough along with the yeast.

Oil – use a natural flavoured oil like vegetable or canola oil. If you use stronger flavoured oils, you will get the taste of these in the naan.

Yogurt – adds flavour and also helps to give tenderness to the flat bread.

Equipment

• Kitchen scales
• Measuring spoons and cups
• Stand mixer with a dough hook
• Rolling pin
• Cast iron skillet or a skillet with a heavy base

Step By Step Instructions

KNEADING

Step 1 – Place all the ingredients into a large stand mixer bowl. Use the dough hook to knead the dough on low speed for 30 seconds.

Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl, then knead for 5 minutes more on medium speed.

The dough will be wet and sticking to the sides of the bowl (refer to image 1 above).

The slightly higher moisture content in the dough will give you a soft and fluffy bread when cooked.

Climate and the flour you use can affect the moisture content of the dough. So, if your dough happens to be a little drier and doesn’t stick as much to the bowl, this is fine too.

PROOFING

Step 2 & 3– After kneading leave the dough in the mixing bowl, scrape the dough from the hook and the sides of the bowl.

Tightly cover the bowl with plastic food wrap, place in a warm area and allow to double in size.

DIVIDE AND SHAPE

Step 4 – Scrape the dough from the mixing bowl onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 even size balls. Use a rolling pin to roll out each ball into 18 cm (7 inch) rounds.

To stop the dough from sticking to the bench and rolling pin, keep the dough dusted on the top and bottom with flour.

Make sure that the dough is of an even thickness and not rolled out too thin. It needs to be about 3-5mm (0.12 – 0.19 inch) thick, otherwise is won’t puff up properly.

Roll out about 3- 4 flat breads then start cooking. While one flat bread is cooking, roll out another while keeping an eye on the one in the pan.

COOKING

Step 5 – Cook the flat bread in a hot dry cast iron skillet, don’t fry it in oil or butter because, that’s not how traditional naan is made. Naan is traditionally cooked dry on the inside wall of a hot tandoor.

You want to heat the skillet over a high heat and when hot turn the heat to medium.

Tip: This dough is very soft and stretches when picked up and can leave thin patches of dough (these thin patches won’t puff up). If you are having trouble moving the dough from the bench to the skillet, carry it to the pan on a clean dry chopping board.

Cook the first naan in hot skillet over a medium heat. You should see it start to bubble soon after putting into the pan, leave it for a minute or two.

Then take a peek at the bottom, if it is patchy brown and looks cooked, turn it over and cook the other side for 1 -2 minutes more or until it is cooked.

Remove from the pan and place the cooked naan onto a clean tea towel and wrap to keep warm. Continue to cook the remaining naan, stacking each cooked one on the plate as they are done, keep them warm by wrapping in the tea towel.  

Occasionally wipe the pan clean to remove any excess flour in the skillet which will burn and discolor the naan.

I use an old damp folded tea towel to wipe the skillet, if you do this be careful not to get burned by steam. You could even hold the damp tea towel with tongs when you wipe the pan.

Recipe Tips

Even Sized Naan – Use kitchen scales to get the total weight of the dough then divide into 12. Then use this weight to weigh the dough into smaller portions.

On average the total weight of the dough is about 1.10 kg (2.4 lb) when divided into 12 the weight of each dough ball is about 90 grams (3.2 oz).

Dust With Flour – This dough is sticky, to make handling easier dust the bench and lightly coat the dough pieces in flour.

Skillet Size – The cast iron skillet I use is about 20 cm (7.9 inch) in diameter which is ideal for the 18 cm (7 inch) rolled out flat breads.

If your skillet is smaller, make the naan a little smaller to accommodate the size of the skillet.

To make smaller naan you could either:

• Roll out the dough into smaller circles and make them sightly thicker or
• make a few more naans by weighing out smaller pieces of dough.

Dust Off Excess Flour – Before cooking remove any excess flour, this will help to keep the pan and flat breads clean. If you get flour in the pan the tiny bits tend to burn and can discolour the naan. If this happens wipe the pan clean with a damp tea towel.

Wrap To Keep Warm – Line a plate with a clean tea towel and stack the naans on top after they are cooked, keep covered with another clean tea towel to keep warm.

Yogurt Alternatives – You could use either cream, sour cream or buttermilk. These are not in a traditional naan recipe but, are good alternatives if you don’t have yogurt.

Make Mini Naan Bread these are great for kids, small eaters or for when you want to serve these at a party.

Instead of making 12 naan as outlined in the recipe make dough balls that weigh about 60 grams (2 ounces) each.

As mentioned early the average total weight of the dough for this recipe is about 1.10 kg (2.4 pounds). If you make each dough ball around 60 grams (2 ounces) you would get about 18 mini naan from this recipe. Roll them out to about 10 – 12 cm (4 inches) in diameter.

Variations

Turn This Into A Garlic Naan Bread Recipe by adding two minced garlic cloves to the dough.

Brush With Plain Butter – Hot plain or garlic naan can be brushed with melted butter. 

Brush with Flavoured Butter – If you like fresh garlic, mix in two minced garlic cloves into the butter and brush this over the hot naan.

Alternatively, you can make garlic butter by mixing in a little garlic powder into melted butter.

One of our favorite combinations is to mix garlic powder and onion powder into melted butter.

You could also spread melted butter over the naan and sprinkle on garlic powder or a mix of garlic and onion powder. Don’t be heavy handed with the garlic powder, if too much is used the garlic flavour is too strong.

How To Use

Naan is typically torn into small pieces and used to scoop up food so, any boneless meat curries, vegetable or lentil style dishes will be good with naan.

Basically, any dish that has a thick gravy style sauce would be ideal, for example; Balti chicken, mixed vegetable curries, rogan josh, chicken tikka masala, beef madras, something else here, simple chickpea curry, something else here and dum aloo.

However, you can use naan to make other things like wraps, pizzas or sandwiches see below for ideas.

Things To Make With Naan

The ideas below are a great way to use up any leftover fresh or frozen naan you may have.

Naan Wraps

Use this easy naan bread recipe to make naan wraps, especially when you have some left over thick curry like my Balti chicken or with tikka or tandoori chicken pieces as a filling.

Here’s how to make a naan wrap:

1. Warm the naan until soft and pliable using a grill, microwave or dry skillet.
2. Arrange a layer of lettuce or finely shredded cabbage down the centre of the wrap.
3. Add your choice of other fillings like; finely sliced red onion, sliced tomato, grated carrot, diced cucumber, slices of fresh chilli, cucumber raita, plain yogurt, squeeze of lemon juice or coriander.
4. Add a hot meat or meatless filling then roll up to up to enclose and enjoy.

Tip: Eating a naan wrap can be messy especially when using a curry filling. To make it easier to eat, wrap it tightly in a piece of grease proof paper or foil.

Naan Pizza Ideas

To make naan flatbread pizzas you will first need to preheat the oven 220°C (425°F).

Making a naan pizza is easy, all you need to do is place the naan on tray lined with baking paper, spread on a thin layer of pizza sauce, our Napoli sauce or our easy marina sauce would also be great for this.

Next, add your desired toppings and cheese. Place into the hot oven and cook until the cheese has melted.

If you already have a favorite pizza topping you could use that. If you’ve never made a pizza before try one of these simple but tasty naan pizza toppings.

Naan margherita pizza – Evenly spread a thin layer tomato pizza sauce on the naan, then scatter over some mozzarella cheese. Bake in a hot oven until the cheese has melted.

Remove from the oven, grate some parmesan cheese and sprinkle over the top with a few torn basil leaves.

Pepperoni naan pizza – Spread an even thin layer tomato pizza sauce on the naan base, sprinkle over some grated mozzarella cheese, arrange a single layer of pepperoni slices over the top. Bake in a hot oven until the cheese has melted.

Veggie naan pizza – Spread an even thin layer tomato pizza sauce on the naan base. Top with a thin layer of; drained and chopped sundried tomatoes, drained roasted bottled capcium, thin slices of mushrooms, slices of red onion, sliced black olives and spinach leaves.

Crumble over some feta cheese. Scatter on some roughly chopped cashews or pinenuts and top with grated mozzarella. Bake in a hot oven until the cheese has melted.

Naan Sandwich

Make mini naans as outlined in our recipe tips section to make naan sandwiches. These are great as a breakfast sandwich or for grilled sandwiches.

Egg and cheese breakfast naan sandwich – Warm two pieces of mini naan in the oven, microwave or toaster.

Top one naan with 2 scrambled eggs, slices of cheese and tomato, season with salt and pepper. Top with the remaining naan, cut in half and enjoy.

Bacon and cheese grilled naan sandwich – Place slices of cooked bacon and cheese between two mini naans, then place in a sandwich press, cook until the naan becomes brown and the cheese melts.

If you don’t have a sandwich press, use a skillet and cook over a low medium heat. Cook one side first until brown, then carefully turn over to cook the other side.

Serving Suggestions

Tips for serving naan at a party.

These are great to serve at party as a side to Indian food but don’t make these on the day, because you will be too busy with other things. Instead make the naan a week or two before and freeze.

Get more from the recipe by making mini naan, these are an ideal size for parties. See my recipe tips section above for detail on how to make mini naan bread.

After making the naan allow them cool completely, if you like brush the tops with melted plain or garlic butter.

Arrange in stacks of 6 or 8 or 10 and wrap tightly in foil paper, then seal in plastic wrap and freeze until needed.

Several hours before the start of the party, take the naan from the freeze, remove and discard the plastic but keep the foil on.

About 30 minutes before serving, put the naan still in foil on a baking tray and into a preheated 180°C (360°F) oven to warm through. After these are warmed all you need to do is carefully open the foil and serve the naan.

Why Use A Cast Iron Skillet

The characteristic golden specks that are dotted over the bread is traditional made in a tandoori oven.

A tandoor oven is essentially a clay oven that is fired by charcoal or wood and can reach temperatures as high as 480°C (900°F). It is used to cook and bake many different foods. 

When used to make naan bread, the dough is slapped to the inside of the clay, the high heat inside the oven makes the dough puff and expand giving it the distinctive blistered look.

To achieve this at home the easiest and most convenient way is to use a cast iron skillet.

Using a cast iron skillet is not only quicker than making naan bread in the oven, it looks closer to ones that are made in a tandoor.

The reason I like using a cast iron skillet is that it is thicker and better at retaining heat than the average skillet, making it easier to control the temperature.

If you do use a normal skillet, use one with a thick bottom and pay attention to the heat and adjust the heat often during cooking to avoid burning.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Bread Recipes

You might also like this recipe for no knead bread rolls, or this easy focaccia bread recipe, or this soft flour tortilla recipe or these easy bread recipes:

• Hawaiian dinner rolls
• Cheese bread sticks
• Pizza dough
• Beer bread
• Spinach bread
• Homemade pita bread
• Apple cinnamon pull apart bread
• Cob Bread
• Crescent roll dough