Recipe: Indian Naan Bread

Last Christmas I got the best bread cookbook from John’s mom, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Their method is simple: combine all of your ingredients, don’t over-knead, and let it rise for at least 3-4 hours for optimal taste and texture. Their recipe for whole wheat bread has been my go-to recipe since I received the book. I’ve made it probably two dozen times! Making your own bread is completely easy. I don’t know why it gets such a bad wrap. It just takes time, the ingredients and method couldn’t be simpler.

The best thing about this recipe is that it’s totally versatile. So when we were craving naan bread and didn’t want to buy the overpriced stuff from Whole Foods or get take out (because ordering food I could make myself makes me feel too guilty), I made a batch of this bread and cooked it up in my cast iron pan naan-style.

Homemade Naan Bread
4 cups whole wheat bread flour
2 cups AP flour
1.5 tbsp. yeast
1.5 tbsp. salt (I use kosher)
3 cups lukewarm water
1 tbsp. EVOO

Get your flours, yeast, and salt in one bowl and mix together to combine.

Next add your 3 cups of lukewarm water. My method is to add 2 cups and then stir in with a spoon as much as I can. I slowly add the third cup of water while kneading the rest with my hands to combine.

Don’t over-knead! You just want everything to be combined with very little flour left behind, you want the dough to be moist to the touch but not overly sticky, you don’t want it super crumbly or dry either.

When you have a uniform ball put 1 tbsp. of EVOO in a clean bowl. Coat the inside of the bowl with the EVOO, cover with a towel, and let rise for at least 3-4 hours. I went about 6 with this batch because I made it at 10AM.

Your dough should rise almost all the way to the top of the bowl. The EVOO helps it from sticking to the sides while it rises.

I separated my batch into small balls to roll out perfectly sized naan from. This batch yielded 18 dough balls.

Flour liberally! I roll mine out with a french pin, one of my must have kitchen essentials, but you could use any rolling pin. I rolled my naan super thin for quick cooking.

When you’re reading to start cooking spray your cast iron with cooking spray and bring to medium-high heat. Drop the naan in, once it starts to bubble up it’s time to flip! The thin naan takes about 2-3 minutes on each side to fully cook. Keep flipping to your desired state of doneness.

Delicious, authentic, and hearty naan bread!

We top ours with Patak’s Garlic Relish, something our friend Mel turned us on to. Be careful, this stuff is addicting! Spicy, garlicy, and savory. The perfect naan topping!