Tandoori naan bread without a tandoor oven can be tricky, but my recipe and techniques aim to recreate that British Indian curry house style.
This recipe will make 8 “appropriately” sized naan, but feel free to go bigger and they freeze wonderfully!
The Naan, King Of Indian Flatbread
I am from Birmingham and if Brum was a country Chicken Balti & fresh naan bread would likely have been the national dish during my yoof.
Every single visit to a curry house consisted of poppadoms, kachumber salad, raita & followed by onion bhaji then a curry and the majestic tandoori naan bread.
If you are here you don’t need me to explain how good a fresh plain naan is! Slathered in ghee and ready to perform all the heavy lifting for your curry sauce.
Any curry house worth its weight in salt cooks these delicious flatbreads in a tandoor oven. A clay pot with a fire at the base.
They reach a beastly temperature of 500°C or around 950°F. The breads are slapped on the side the base cooking on the wall and the presentation side blisters in the fierce dry heat.
Achieving this at home is no mean feat!
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it better to make the dough by hand or with a mixer?
The making of the dough really is very simple and requires no special skills.
If you have made any bread in the past then you are already overqualified and I have not noticed any difference in the bread made by either method!
I typically use a stand mixer with a dough hook to make this because it contains the mess. However it is easy to make by hand, you just have more cleaning to do.
Do I have to use a blow torch and pizza steel?
The technique in this recipe aims to “fake up” a tandoor oven.
As a result, your oven needs to be as hot as it can be, but you also need something in there to simulate the walls of a tandoor.
I use a pizza steel, a pizza stone will also work, as will a heavy baking tray or even a heavy-based frying pan.
I also use a plumbers blow torch to apply hotspots to the bread and encourage it to bubble and “delaminate”, it will take 15-20 seconds to apply 3 or 4 hot spots, then close the oven.
Can I freeze these naan breads?
I ALWAYS have a stash of these in my freezer because they freeze and reheat wonderfully.
When the homemade naan comes out of the oven wrap them in a clean tea towel until cooked. Then place them in a bag in your serving size and freeze.
To reheat you can either defrost for best results or cook from frozen. Wrap them in foil leaving some air in the foil tent and drop in the oven at 150-160°C or 300-320°F and cook for either 10-12 minutes or 20-25 minutes.
Serving Suggestions
As for serving suggestions, well curry of course! In case you had not noticed I have a few.
I have everything from chicken tikka masala, chicken rezala to achar gosht and chicken keema, chicken chasni to shahi paneer. Simply click on “curry corner” in my menu and you have almost 100 to choose from.
They also make a fun “sandwich” to hold my magical fish finger and bean curry.
You can even make homemade naan bread pizza, but only when you have finished my curry list!
Equipment Used
I only mention brands of equipment if I think that they make a material difference to a recipe. But if you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments section below the recipe.
- Oven.
- Plumbers blowtorch (Optional).
- Pizza stone, steel or heavy baking tray.
- Mixing bowl or stand mixer.
- Rolling pin.
- Kitchen tongs.
- Small saucepan or microwave to heat the milk a little.
- Weighing scales and or measuring jug, cups and spoons.
Homemade Naan Bread Recipe
An Indian curry ain't complete without a Tandoori style naan bread and my version is as close as I can get to those in the Great British Curry House.
Ingredients
- 400g (~3 Cups) Plain Flour
- 1 Tbsp Sugar
- 7g (1 Packet) Instant Dried Yeast
- 1 Tsp Salt
- 4 Tbsp Natural Yoghurt
- 2 Tbsp Melted Ghee
- 85ml (⅓ Cup + 1 Tsp) Full Fat milk
- 85ml (⅓ Cup + 1 Tsp) Warm Water
Instructions
- Sift the flour, sugar and yeast into a bowl and add the salt, yoghurt, ghee, water, and milk to the bowl.
- Bring it together to make a rough dough ball.
- Knead on a lightly floured surface for 5-10 minutes until smooth. You can do this with a dough hook in a stand mixer and it will take 4-5 minutes.
- Place in a clean covered bowl and allow to sit for an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
- Heat your oven as hot as it will go (use fan mode if you have one) and place a heavy baking tray or even better a pizza stone or steel in there to heat up.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knock back again.
- Cut the dough into 8 even balls and roll into a naan bread shapes around 5-7mm thick.
- Throw the naan into the oven onto the heated baking tray or pizza steel and cook for 3-4 minutes.
- If you have a blow torch, use it to blister the top of the flatbreads and then close the oven and cook for 90 seconds.
- Serve hot brushed with lots of ghee and coriander!
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 226Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 10mgSodium: 304mgCarbohydrates: 40gFiber: 2gSugar: 1gProtein: 6g
Calorific details are provided by a third-party application and are to be used as indicative figures only.
Tessa
Sunday 2nd of June 2024
As it's instant yeast that you mix with the flour (rather than creating a sponge) - can I leave out the sugar?
Thanks
Brian Jones
Monday 3rd of June 2024
Yes I use instant yeast... I've never tried omitting the sugar so I am not 100% certain what would happen, sugar is typically added to yeasted doughs give the yeast something to "feed" on and I would guess that omitting it would result in a bread with less elasticity.
Enjoy.
Brian
Daniey
Saturday 29th of May 2021
Hi Brian have you changed the wet quantities in this recipe I’m sure it was 100ml of milk and water and a tsp sugar or am I going mad? I normally make this every week for my food truck but haven’t for a while.
Brian Jones
Tuesday 8th of June 2021
Hey Dainey... Yes well spotted, I've been reviewing some older recipes and have removed a tablespoon of milk and water, for me it makes the dough slightly easier to work with but has little impact on the final dough, feel free to keep running with 100ml if each if you are ok with working with a slightly wetter dough :)
Stacey Russon
Friday 30th of October 2020
Hi there, is there anything else I can use instead of ghee, I don't have that and want naan bread to go with this weekends curry?
Brian Jones
Saturday 31st of October 2020
Hi Stacey, you could use melted butter or an oil, I am personally not a fan of either, but when needs must... If using oil go for something neutral and if you are using butter go for unsalted. Enjoy :)
Jennifer Stewart
Sunday 9th of August 2015
I love naan bread because of it's texture. I only eat bread that has a crust with some chew. Everyone in US likes that white bread crap you get at the grocery. I like naan because it holds up to all the olive oil I put on it and doesn't get soggy:) Thanks for the recipe:) What can I use in place of the rye bread. That is not a flavor that I particularly like...
Brian Jones
Monday 10th of August 2015
I love naan for the same reason, you can make this with straight up plain flour you may need a little less so knock the quantity back by 50g and then just judge it from there, you are after a really soft and light dough and then just proceed as the recipe. You could also use wholewheat flour too in much the same way as rye :)
Donna
Tuesday 4th of August 2015
Perfect timing! I have been craving a good naan bread, and this popped out at me today and sounds fantastic :) Added to the menu for the week!
Brian Jones
Tuesday 4th of August 2015
I searched for years to get a naan bread recipe without having a tandoor (that I have been threatening to build for years) and this is as good as I have got... You can skip the rye flour if you like but I quite like the little bit of earthiness it adds :)