Simple Garlic Naan Recipe (Traditional Indian Bread) (2024)

FAQs

What is traditional naan made from? ›

Naan traditionally is plain flat bread made using bread flour, Yeast, salt and water. Its cooked in tandoor. Salt could be optional if you are having naan with a curry. (Cause curry usually has salt and the bread might not need it).

Garlic Naan bread is Indian leavened flatbread made with all-purpose flour and spiced with garlic. At restaurants, plain naan bread is usually brushed with garlic butter and served. However, in my recipe, garlic is infused into the bread dough instead and I also top the naan bread with garlic butter.

Naan is essentially a leavened flatbread, which means it contains some form of raising agent to provide its airy texture. Hence for this naan, the raising agent we will be using is yeast. Other variations do exist which may utilise self raising flour or baking powder/baking soda.

Afghan naan is different in shape, texture, and taste from Indian varieties. While the main ingredient – wheat flour – is the same, Afghan bakers hand-shape the dough, rather than rolling it out, and their use of a tandoor results in large, pillowy rounds.

Naan has a thicker, fluffier texture because it is made with yogurt. Pita is thinner bread made with less ingredients (flour, water, salt, etc) and no yogurt. Naan is cooked in a skillet while Pita is usually baked at very high temperatures in the oven.

Aside from more general 'bread' ingredients such as salt, a little sugar, water and some oil, a lot of naan recipes contain yogurt as well. Yogurt can serve a few functions. If you use it with baking soda, it provides the acid that the soda needs to become activated and leaven the bread.

Naan bread is soft, fluffy, and chewy, whereas pita bread is denser with a slightly crispy texture on the outside. Naan bread also has a buttery flavor due to the ghee and buttermilk in the dough, which adds an extra dimension of flavor compared to pita bread's more neutral taste.

Though they're flatbreads, naans traditionally get their bubbly texture from yeast (and, very traditionally, from wild yeasts). Some more modern variations, such as that in Vivek Singh's Curry, use baking powder instead, with Jaffrey also adding extra bicarbonate of soda.

Traditionally, it is cooked in a tandoor (or clay oven), but these days oven-baked naan bread is quite popular. An Indian restaurant menu is incomplete without garlic naan.

About Naan

So most restaurants either use yeast or another leavening agent like baking powder & baking soda. If you order naan in Indian restaurants you may not find the texture & flavor to be the same in every place. Each place may have their own recipe to make these.

What is the primary ingredient in Indian bread called naan? ›

Ingredients and preparation

It is made primarily from white flour or wheat flour and a leavening agent (usually yeast), which results in the formation of air pockets in the dough that impart fluffiness and softness. Other ingredients used to make naan include warm water, salt, ghee (clarified butter), and yogurt.

You need a high enough heat for the baking powder to start reacting and producing gases, and also for the water content in the dough to transform into steam – both of which contribute to the puffing action and bubble formation. If your heat is too low, the naan bread will dry out before bubbles start forming.

Skip: Naan

And like those fluffy spuds, this soft flatbread has little nutritional value. Most naan recipes call for Greek yogurt to give it that airy texture. But that's more than offset by less healthy ingredients like white flour, sugar, and oil.

Now that we know about flatbreads, we can explain why Roti and Naan are so different. Roti (also known as Chapati) is arguably India's most popular flatbread. This unleavened flatbread is one of the most common sides in Northern India and appears in all of India's regions.

Butter Naan

Butter Naan is one of the most loved naans in India. You could judge this from the fact that this naan is usually the only one served in most of the weddings. The use of butter over this naan makes it soft and easy to chew.

OR just make a double batch of this naan so you can use one whole egg! 3. Flour – Bread flour makes the softest, fluffiest naan. But all-purpose/plain flour is very nearly as good.

While it may contain more carbs and sugars, it earns its reputation as a healthy alternative with its relatively generous amounts of protein and fiber. Despite its high carb content, naan can be considered a more nutrient-dense alternative to white bread and pita.

Naan is a leavened, oven-baked flatbread native to India. It resembles pita bread but unlike pita, it has yogurt, milk, sometimes eggs or butter which makes it softer than the pita bread. Our bakers shape it into a ball and slap it on the walls of our tandoor (clay oven).