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1
Wake the Yeast
10 Mins
Warm water, ~40°C (104°F)
Pour 240 ml of warm water into a jug, stir in the sugar, then sprinkle the yeast over the top. Leave it for 10 minutes until it turns foamy and smells yeasty. This is the leavening that will make the naan puff in the oven — if nothing foams, the yeast is dead and the dough will stay flat, so start again with a fresh packet.
Foam is the proof the yeast is alive. No foam after 10 minutes means the water was too hot or the yeast too old.
Done when: A thick layer of foam covers the surface of the water.
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2
Mix and Knead the Leavened Dough
15 Mins
Room temperature, ~22°C (72°F)
Sift 500 g of flour with the salt into a large bowl. Add the yoghurt, the oil and the foamy yeast water, and mix with your hand until a shaggy dough forms. Turn it onto a clean surface and knead for 8–10 minutes until it is soft, smooth and elastic and springs back slowly when pressed.
Knead until the dough stops tearing when you stretch it — that stretch is the gluten that will trap the yeast gas and puff the naan.
Done when: The dough is smooth, soft and springs back slowly when pressed.
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3
Let the Dough Rise
90 Mins
Warm spot, ~28°C (82°F)
Shape the dough into a ball, brush it lightly with oil, cover the bowl with a clean cloth or cling film and leave it in a warm place for 90 minutes until it has doubled in size. This long, slow rise is the heart of naan: the yeast and the yoghurt work together to fill the dough with gas, so that in the fierce heat of the oven it balloons and blisters. An unleavened chapati never rises like this, and a pan-fried paratha never puffs like this — the rise is what makes naan naan.
A switched-off oven with the light on is a perfect warm spot. In a cold kitchen the rise can take 2 hours — judge by size, not by the clock.
Done when: The dough has doubled and a pressed finger leaves a dent that fills back slowly.
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4
Shape the Teardrops
10 Mins
Room temperature, ~22°C (72°F)
Knock the risen dough back gently and divide it into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, then roll or stretch it by hand into a teardrop about 25 cm long and 3–4 mm thick, thinner in the middle and slightly thicker at the edges. Sprinkle with nigella seeds and press them in lightly. Keep the rest covered while you work so the dough does not dry out.
Stretch by hand rather than forcing the rolling pin — hand-stretching keeps the air in the dough, and that air is what puffs in the oven.
Done when: Eight thin teardrops, even and supple, with seeds pressed in.
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5
Bake Blistered-Hot Like a Tandoor
20 Mins
250°C (480°F)
Put a baking stone, a baking steel or an upturned heavy baking tray in the oven and heat it to 250°C (480°F) for at least 30 minutes — the stone stands in for the blazing wall of a clay tandoor, and it must be fiercely hot before the naan touches it. Lay two naans on the hot stone and bake for 3–4 minutes until they puff up like balloons and blister golden-brown. No tandoor, no stone? Use a cast-iron skillet on high heat instead: cook each naan for 2 minutes per side until puffed and blistered. Either way, this is baking in fierce dry heat, not griddle-frying in oil — that is the line between naan and chapati or paratha.
Do not open the oven to peek in the first 2 minutes — the puff collapses if the heat escapes. Work in batches and keep the oven door shut.
Done when: Each naan is puffed, blistered and golden-brown in patches, with a soft chewy crumb inside.
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6
Brush with Butter and Serve
5 Mins
Serve hot, ~60°C (140°F)
The moment a naan leaves the oven, brush it generously all over with the melted butter — the hot bread drinks it in and turns glossy, and that butter sheen is what makes it butter naan. Stack the finished naans under a clean cloth so they stay soft and warm, and serve straight away, two per person, torn open while they are still steaming.
Butter the naans while they are hot, not after they cool — cold bread will not absorb the butter and the shine never comes.
Done when: The naans are glossy with butter, warm, soft and pliable.
auto_awesome Finishing Touches & Plating
Serve the naans hot from the cloth-covered stack, two per person, with a saucy curry to tear and scoop with. Brush on any butter left in the bowl before the basket reaches the table.
India
1h 5m
