Indian Naan bread recipe
This post gives you two recipes to make your own Indian naan bread by hand or in your bread machine.
I love Indian food. The bread that is served with an Indian meal is one of the most important elements. Flatbread is commonly used to pick up the meat and vegetables off the plate and for mopping up the sauce.
This Indian Naan bread recipe (2 options) will help you make your own homemade naan bread, either by hand or in your bread machine.
Different types of Indian Bread
There are several different types of flatbread in India; roti, chapati, kulcha, naan, paratha, to name but a few. All are produced in different ways and with different ingredients, but they all do the same job.
This recipe is dedicated to the plain naan.
What is naan bread?
Indian Naan bread is a leavened flatbread that is traditionally baked in a clay tandoor oven. Tandoor ovens can reach temperatures of up to 480C, so this gives the bread a sort of partly scorched appearance on the outside when cooked properly.
There are many different types of naan bread. All naan types have their own naan bread flavours.
There is a plain naan, the butter naan, the lacha naan, the garlic naan, the Peshawari naan, the keema naan, the Pudina naan…..the list goes on. And each is different.
I used to love keema naans which are stuffed naans, often stuffed with some form of minced meat. But more recently I prefer sweet Peshawari naans that vary a lot between restaurant and restaurant. Generally, they have some type of dried fruit inside, mostly coconut or raisins.
Below are two different naan recipes:
This first homemade naan bread recipe is a very easy naan recipe that is probably closest to the plain naan or oven-baked naan.
You can play around more with the second easy naan recipe in the bread machine. Changing some of the ingredients can give you some results resembling a garlic naan recipe or a Peshawari naan.
This interesting link gives you a bit more information on the different types of naan. Maybe you can help me perfect my recipe by playing around with the ingredients?
My favourite Indian Restaurant
My favourite naan bread of all time is the Peshawari naan they make at the New Tandoor restaurant in Gouda, the Netherlands.
I have been going to this restaurant for more than 20 years as it was my local ‘curry house’ when I lived in the Netherlands.
They make THE most fantastic naan bread. I have never had anything so good. I would always order at least two Peshwari naans there with my meal.
They can do this as they have their own clay tandoor oven in the back. If you ever are nearby Gouda, please go and visit them – their lamb madras or lamb vindaloo are both fantastically delicious meals.
Anyhow, they never shared their Indian bread recipe, so this is my next best alternative. It is not as good as the real thing at the New Tandoor, but I do not yet have a clay oven to play with.
Two naan bread recipes
Below I will give you a choice of two recipes, as you may or may not have access to a bread machine. The bread machine does make life easier as you just add the ingredients and let the machine do the work.
But when I make it by hand I feel more of a sense of achievement (but it does make more mess).
The naan shown in the picture above was cooked in my normal oven. This is why they look uniformly cooked.
You can also cook these on a hot surface like a cast-iron skillet or under the grill. The result is slightly different as it gives a slightly better singed effect as you can see below.
One day I hope to have a clay oven to make the perfect naan for my perfect favourite chicken curry……..
How to make naan bread by hand
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Indian Naan bread recipe by hand
This naan bread recipe will give you about 3 large naan breads. These will be slightly thinner than the ones produced in the bread machine recipe.
Ingredients
- 280g plain flour
- ½ tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp quick-acting dry yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp oil
- 60ml plain yoghurt (I like to use Greek yoghurt)
- 100ml water
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp melted ghee (or butter)
Instructions
- Mix the yeast, sugar and 3 tbsp water (warm) in a small bowl. Set it apart for 5 minutes.
- Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Then add then yeast mix, the rest of the water, the cumin seeds and the yoghurt. Knead it carefully until it is well mixed into a nice dough. Use the oil if you need to.
- Then cover with a damp cloth and place in a warm place for more than an hour.
- Knead the dough again for 5 minutes on a floured work surface. Then divide into 3 pieces and roll into balls.
- Cover the dough balls with a damp cloth for 15 minutes.
- Then roll out the dough to about 7mm thick.
- Place the naan dough on a baking tray and sprinkle with the fresh coriander and brush with some melted ghee.
- Then put into a pre-heated oven at 260C. Alternatively, put under the grill or cook in a hot pan or pizza oven.
- Keep an eye on the bread to make sure it does not burn.
- It is ready when it has browned and bits are just beginning to singe.
Notes
Brush with melted ghee (or butter) and serve up together with whatever delicious curry you have prepared.
But in the meantime, we make do by using our Ooni Koda 12 Gas Powered Pizza Oven which can reach 500C, like a real tandoori oven!
The results are pretty good!
How to make great Indian naan bread in the bread machine
Indian Naan bread recipe in the bread machine
This bread machine recipe for leavened naan bread will give you about 6 slightly fluffier naans than the manual version. Also a bit tastier if you experiment with coconut and/or honey!
Ingredients
- 560g plain flour
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 1/2 tbsp quick acting dry yeast
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander
- 120ml plain yoghurt (I like to use Greek yoghurt)
- 200m water
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp butter (or ghee)
- 1 tbsp melted butter (or ghee)
- Optional:
- 1 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp creamed coconut (chopped)
- 2 tbsp garlic purree
Instructions
- Add the water and yoghurt to the bread machine. Then put the flour on top.
- In the four corners place the salt, cumin seeds, butter (ghee if you have it), and optionally the honey, coconut or garlic, or a mix. Make an indentation in the middle of the flour to put the yeast in.
- Put the machine on a cycle for pizza dough and let it do its thing. (My machine, which is a Tefal, takes about 1 ½ hours for this cycle).
- When it is finished, you should have a nice bread dough. Separate the dough into 6 pieces.
- Then rollout the dough to about 7mm thick.
- Place the naan dough on a baking tray and sprinkle with the fresh coriander and brush with some melted ghee.
- Then put into a pre-heated oven at 260C. Alternatively, put under the grill or cook in a hot pan or pizza oven.
- Keep an eye on the bread to make sure it does not burn.
- It is ready when it has browned and bits are just beginning to singe, and the bread puffs up.
Notes
Brush with melted ghee and serve up together with whatever delicious curry you have prepared.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 478Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 11mgSodium: 1254mgCarbohydrates: 85gFiber: 5gSugar: 10gProtein: 13g
This nutrition information was automatically calculated by Nutritionix, but may not be 100% accurate.
Or alternatively, try these recipes: