Naan Bread

I should preface this by stating I'm not Indian. I've never been professionally trained in Indian cuisine (or any other type of cuisine actually!) This is not a traditional recipe and it's not cooked in a traditional tandoor clay oven. This is just me trying to re-create a very difficult recipe in the average domestic kitchen.



Naan Bread
Makes 4

1/3 cup milk
1 tspn dry yeast
180g bread flour
1/4 tspn baking powder
1/8 tspn salt
1 tspn sesame seeds
1 tspn nigella (or kalonji) seeds
2 tspn vegetable oil
1/3 cup natural yoghurt

Warm the milk (in the microwave or on the stove) until it is lukewarm, then stir in the yeast and set it aside for 5 minutes.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl then mix in the sesame and nigella seeds. Tip in the milk, oil and half of the yoghurt. Mix the dough well with your fingers or a fork. If the dough is too dry then add a bit more yoghurt. If it's too wet then add some more flour.

Once you get the dough to a good consistency (soft and tacky, but not sticky), turn it onto your kitchen bench and knead it well for 5-10 minutes.

Rub a small amount of oil on the inside of a large clean bowl, gently put the dough into it then cover and leave the bowl somewhere warm for a few hours - until the naan has doubled in size.

Preheat your oven to 200C and lay some baking paper on the bottom of a good-sized baking tray.

Slice the ball of dough into quarters and gently roll out each quarter until they are about 6-7mm thick. Carefully place the naan onto the baking tray. To keep the bread from drying out too much in the oven, dip your fingers into a small bowl of water and flick the water droplets over a piece of dough. Repeat this for each piece of naan.

Cook the bread on the top shelf of the oven for 8 minutes, then turn the naan over and bake for further 6 minutes.