Naan bread

Make your own Indian flatbreads at home and you'll never go back to buying them. Delicious eaten warm, these naans are ideal served as a side dish to your favourite curry recipe

Prep:20 mins
Cook:35 mins
plus rising and proving

Serves 8
More effort

Nutrition per serving

kcal 224
fat 8g
saturates 4g
carbs 31g
sugars 3g
fibre 1g
protein 6g
salt 0.42g

Ingredients

1 x 7g sachet dried yeast
2 tsp golden caster sugar
300g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
½ tsp baking powder
25g butter or ghee, melted, plus extra 2-3 tbsp for greasing and brushing
150ml natural yogurt
1 tbsp nigella seeds

Method

Put 125ml warm water into a bowl and sprinkle over the yeast and 1 tsp of the sugar. Leave for 10-15 mins or until frothy. In a larger bowl put the flour, remaining sugar, ½ tsp salt and baking powder. Mix together then make a well in the centre in which to pour the melted butter, yogurt, nigella seeds and yeast mixture. Stir well, then start to bring the mixture together with your hands. If it’s very wet add a spoonful of flour but if it’s dry add a splash more warm water. It should be a very soft dough but not so wet that it won’t come together into a ball of dough. When you’re happy with the consistency, start kneading, first in the bowl then transfer the mixture onto a well floured surface and continue to knead for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic but still soft. Grease a large bowl with extra melted butter or ghee then shape the dough into a ball and place in the prepared bowl. Cover with cling film and leave in a warm place for about 1 hr or until doubled in size.
Divide the dough into 6 balls and put them on a baking tray dusted with flour, then cover the tray with a damp tea towel. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over a high heat. Take one of the balls of dough and roll it out to form a teardrop shape that’s approximately 21cm long and around 13cm at the widest part. When the pan is very hot, carefully lay the naan bread into it. Let it dry fry and puff up for about 3 mins, then turn over and cook on the other side for another 3-4 mins or until cooked through and charred in patches. Heat oven to its lowest setting and put the cooked naan bread on a baking sheet. Brush with a little melted butter and put it on the baking sheet and cover with foil. Keep warm in the oven and layer up the cooked naans one on top of each other as you make them, brushing each one with melted butter or ghee as you go. Serve warm with curry or dips.