Garlic Naan

Garlic Naan

Naan is a type or leavened oven baked flat bread that originated in India, a very popular bread especially in the South East Asian region and the Indian Subcontinent. Traditionally this type of bread is cooked in a tandoor or clay oven which also distinguishes it from the nearly similar bread called roti as the latter is cooked in an iron griddle. This bread is usually paired with curries in which it is used to scoop out the meat as well as the sauce but there are other variations of naan where it is stuffed with a meat mixture, nuts and fruits and even potatoes.

For this recipe I will not be using a tandoor as I don’t have one but we will be cooking it in an oven, I will be adding some twist by adding some garlic to it, a great bread to pair with Chicken Tikka Masala, Butter Chicken or just on its own specially when served straight from the oven.

Ingredients

1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 1/2 tsp sugar
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
6 tbsp ghee
3 tbsp cream
3 cloves garlic, minced

Method

1. In a bowl combine together yeast, sugar and warm water, mix well until yeast is fully dissolved. Cover it with a damp cloth then set aside for 10 minutes.
2. At this point the mixture will become frothy, mix in the flour, salt, garlic, ghee and cream. Mix until it forms a soft dough. Once mixed place in a floured board and knead until texture is consistent and elastic.
3. Form into a big ball then place in a greased bowl and cover with damp cloth. Rest for 1 1/2 hours.
4. At this point the dough will have doubled in size, now deflate and knead 10 more minutes.
5. Divide the dough into 8 small balls then flatten each one out forming an oval shape flat bread. The thickness should resemble a thin crust pizza.
6. Using a preheated oven at 200C place the naan in a tray, brush with ghee on top and cover with aluminium foil; this prevents it from burning the thin dough.
7. Bake naan until it puffs up (it might take between 5-8 minutes), then flip it over, once it gets lightly brown remove from oven then serve immediately.