Bread

Garlic Naan

Name: Garlic Naan
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 500 g plain flour (maida), plus extra for dusting; 2 tsp instant dry yeast; 2 tsp sugar; 8 g fine sea salt (about 1.5% of the flour); 4 tsp butter or oil; 240 ml lukewarm milk; water, as needed for dough; 6 garlic cloves, crushed; 2 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped; 1 tsp nigella seeds (kalonji); 30 g butter, for brushing

Proper naan takes time — the yeast needs a good hour or two to give the dough its pillowy open crumb — but the actual cooking is seconds under a hot grill. The garlic butter and nigella seeds that go on top are what make it restaurant-quality at home.

2 hr 30 minServes 4 mild

Method

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in a small bowl of lukewarm water. Add salt, stir and cover. Leave for 10–20 minutes until the mixture is frothy and active. No froth means dead yeast or water too hot — start again.
Tip the flour into a large bowl. Pour in the yeast mixture, lukewarm milk and enough warm water to bring it together, then knead to a soft dough. Rub with butter or oil, cover and leave in a warm place for 1–2 hours until doubled in size.
Knock back the dough and knead for a further 2 minutes . Divide into tennis-ball-sized portions.
Preheat the oven to 240 °C with the grill setting on.
Roll each ball into a teardrop or oval shape. Scatter crushed garlic, coriander and nigella seeds over the surface and press lightly so they adhere.
Bake one or two naans at a time for about 1.5 minutes per side until puffed and lightly charred.
Brush generously with butter as soon as they come out of the oven.

Cook's note. Use grill-and-convection mode if your oven has it — the dry heat from above gives the char, the convection heat from below keeps the bread soft inside.

The story

Naan is Central Asian in origin — the word appears in Persian poetry from the 12th century — and came to the Indian subcontinent along the same Silk Road routes as the tandoor oven. The garlic-topped variant is a modern restaurant invention, developed in the post-Independence period when Indian restaurants began catering to diners who wanted something to scoop up gravy.