⚠️ Untested Recipe: This recipe hasn’t been tested yet. Measurements and instructions may need adjustment.
Of course, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to replicate at home the super-hot oven used when baking naan bread the traditional way. But you can get pretty close! This recipe uses both a frying pan and the oven - first pan-frying to get the right surface, then finishing in the oven. If you want, you can skip the frying pan step, and the bread will still turn out well.
Ingredients
Dough
- 3 g fresh yeast (3 pinches) or 1 g instant yeast
- 200 g cold water (2 dl)
- 25 g neutral oil (2 tbsp)
- 50 g yoghurt (½ dl)
- 6 g salt (1 tsp)
- 4 g sugar (1 tsp)
- 300 g wheat flour (5 dl)
For Brushing
- 25 g melted butter
- optional: 1 garlic clove, minced
- optional: nigella seeds to sprinkle on top
Instructions
Mix all dough ingredients together in a bowl. The loose dough doesn’t need to be kneaded, just stirred until it just comes together - either by hand or with a dough mixer. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and let the dough ferment at room temperature for about 8 hours.
Scrape the dough onto a floured work surface (use wheat flour) and divide it into four pieces. Fold the dough pieces into small bundles and let them proof on the counter under a tea towel for about 1 hour.
Set the oven to 250°C (480°F) well in advance, at least 30 minutes before baking. Place an oven rack in the middle of the oven.
Heat a frying pan to between high heat and medium heat. Stretch out one of the dough pieces as thin as you can without the dough breaking. Fry in the pan, about 30 seconds on each side so the dough gets color. Place in the oven and bake the bread for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, fry the next bread.
Brush finished baked bread with melted butter and serve immediately!
Notes
Two-stage cooking: The pan-frying creates the characteristic charred spots, while the oven cooking ensures the bread is cooked through and puffs up.
Pan temperature: Medium-high heat is ideal. Too hot and they’ll burn; too cool and they won’t get those characteristic spots.
Stretching: Stretch the dough as thin as possible without tearing. Don’t worry if it’s not perfectly round - rustic shapes are authentic!
Garlic butter: Mix minced garlic into the melted butter for extra flavor.
Nigella seeds: These small black seeds (also called kalonji) add authentic flavor. Find them at Indian grocery stores.
Timing: The 8-hour fermentation develops great flavor. If you’re in a hurry, you can reduce this to 4-5 hours with more yeast.
Storage: Best when freshly made, but you can freeze them and then thaw in a very hot oven for a few minutes.
Effort level: 2 out of 5 - simple and forgiving.
Skip the pan? If you don’t want to use the frying pan, you can bake them directly in the oven at 250°C for about 6-7 minutes. They won’t have the charred spots but will still taste good.
Source: Bröd, bröd, bröd: recept, råd och genvägar by Martin Johansson