On an impulse, my partner decided he wanted to make some curry recipe he found online. It turned out pretty tasty, but that’s not the star of today’s show. No, this is a recipe that comes on the side: a good, homemade naan.
Now, naan is traditionally cooked in a super-hot kiln oven, which obviously I can’t replicate in my kitchen. It’s also usually made with yogurt, but I don’t often have plain yogurt on hand. I have some vanilla yogurt, but I didn’t want to try to see if that would work the same. So, instead, I just put together a no-yogurt naan recipe.
The resulting flatbreads are super easy to cook, a little chewy and a lot fluffy, and perfect with a curry. Plus, the only take a few hours, including rising time, and the actual cooking is super fast and super simple. And really, how can you argue with results like this?
The recipe below makes six good-sized flatbreads. It’s not super jazzed up, it’s just bread, but you can brush it with garlic-butter or herb-infused oil when they’re done frying and are still nice and hot. In my case, I just put curry on top. Delicious!
No-Yogurt Naan
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Whisk
- Rubber Spatula
- Cast Iron Skillet
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
- 1 Tsp Active Dry Yeast
- ½ Cup Water Warm, around 105°F
- 1 Tbsp Sugar
- 2 Tbsp Milk
- 1½ Tbsp Egg Whisked; a bit more than half an egg
- ½ Tsp Salt
- 1¾ Cup Bread Flour
- 2 Tbsp Butter Melted; ghee also works
Instructions
- Proof your yeast by mixing the warm water, sugar, and yeast in a small bowl or mixing cup. Cover and set aside for 10 minutes and it should foam up.
- Whisk the egg, take what you need, then whisk the milk into the egg.
- Sift together the flour and salt in your mixing bowl.
- Add the yeast mix, melted butter, and egg mix to the flour. Mix to combine using your spatula. Once you have a mostly-combined dough, work it a bit with your hands to fully mix. You don't need to full-on knead it, but it won't hurt if you do a bit of kneading to mix.
- Form the dough into a ball, put it back in your mixing bowl, and cover it with a tea towel. Let it rise for about 1-2 hours.
- On a lightly floured surface, cut the dough ball into six pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Place the balls on a flat surface or baking sheet, cover with your towel, and let rise again, for about 15-30 minutes.
- Using a rolling pin, roll each dough ball out flat. You're aiming for about 3-5mm thick.
- Heat your cast iron skillet over high heat, until it's starting to lightly smoke. To cook the naan, place one flat dough on the skillet and cook for about 1-1.5 minutes. Then, flip it and cook the other side for about 1 minute.
- Serve warm and enjoy!