Naan Recipe

Naan is traditionally cooked in a tandoor; our home version uses a grill (broiler).

Makes 10.

Preparation time: about 40 minutes (excludes dough rising time)

We use a 20ml tablespoon and 250ml measuring cup for all of our recipes.

235ml (1 cup minus 3 teaspoons) full cream milk
1 teaspoon (5g) sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons (5g) instant dried yeast
550g (3 2/3 cups) plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons (9g) fine table salt
135g (1/2 cup) Greek style natural yoghurt (about 9.7g fat per 100g)
1 large egg (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
1 1/2 tablespoons (30ml) oil (we use a mild-flavoured oil, such as sunflower)
About 24g (2 tablespoons) flour, to flour work surface when kneading dough
1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) oil, for oiling bowl
20g ghee or butter

Place milk in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until no longer cold, but not more than body temperature (this may only take a few seconds). Remove from heat. If you have accidentally overheated the milk, allow it to cool before using because the yeast will be killed if the milk is too hot. Add sugar and yeast to milk and stir. Set milk mixture aside in a warm place for about 10 minutes.

Stir flour and salt together in a large bowl until well combined. Make a well in the centre of the flour and set aside.

After about 10 minutes, the milk mixture should have a frothy layer on the top.

Add the yoghurt, egg and oil to the milk mixture and stir to combine. Pour into the well in the flour.

Combine dough ingredients using a spoon, then use your hands to bring the dough together. The dough should be soft and sticky at this stage.

Lightly flour a clean work surface using some of the reserved flour.

Knead dough for about seven minutes, flouring the work surface with more of the reserved flour if the dough starts to stick. The dough should become smooth and elastic. Form dough into a ball.

Place the extra 1/2 teaspoon oil in a large bowl. Add the dough and turn dough a couple of times to coat with oil.

Cover bowl with a clean damp tea towel to prevent dough drying out. Place bowl in a warm place until dough has doubled in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. The warmer the area the faster the dough will rise.

Place a large, heavy duty oven tray in the oven about 10cm below the grill (broiler) — the naan needs space to puff without hitting the grill element.

Preheat grill on high heat.

Using your hand, press down on the dough to remove some of the air. Take one fifth of the dough (about 200 grams) and cover the remaining dough with a clean damp tea towel. Divide the portion of dough into two equal pieces and roll each into a ball. On a clean work surface, use your fingertips or a rolling pin to flatten each ball out to the desired shape about 3-5mm thick.

Place the two dough shapes onto the preheated tray. Place under the grill and cook until the naan is puffed with a few brown spots (about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes). Using tongs, flip the naan over and cook for about one minute until lightly browned.

Remove naan from the tray (leave tray under grill to stay hot) and lightly brush the top of each naan with melted ghee or butter.

Repeat with the remaining dough.

Serve naan warm with your favourite curry. Cooked naan are suitable to freeze. © www.exclusivelyfood.com.au