Simple, Yeasted Homemade Naan, A Step-by-Step Guide {Video}
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Naan is one of the simplest bread recipes you could make. There is no kneading, which allows the dough to come together very quickly, and after a short rise, you simply divide, roll, and griddle. The dough is so soft and tender thanks to yogurt, and a brush of melted butter out of the skillet makes them completely irresistible!
My friend Deb messaged me last week with a few questions about making naan. I hadn’t made it in ages, and having recently revisited and loved making homemade tortillas, I felt up for a little project.
As you might imagine, if you search the internet for “naan”, you will find all sorts of recipes, nearly all of which include yogurt, some of which include oil, and others that include eggs.
But what has always perplexed me about naan recipes is the variety of leavening agents. I’ve seen recipes that call for:
- baking soda alone
- a combination of baking soda and baking powder
- a combination of yeast, baking soda, and baking powder
- yeast and baking powder
- yeast alone
Though I knew in my heart I would likely go with a yeast-only naan, I felt the need to explore a little bit. Would there be any reason to include a chemical leaven (baking soda or powder) with yeast? Any reason to use all three leavening agents? Any reason to forgo yeast altogether?
Before I share my results, shall we quickly review the difference between baking soda and baking powder? This is something I will never ever commit to memory, but I enjoyed the recent refresher. This Bob’s Red Mill article was particularly helpful and interesting.
Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder
- Baking soda is a base and reacts with acid (vinegar, yogurt, buttermilk), which produces gaseous carbon dioxide bubbles, which causes baked goods to rise.
- Baking powder is made of baking soda (a base), cream of tartar (an acid), and sometimes cornstarch. Most baking powder is double-acting, meaning CO2 will be produced at two different phases: first when the batter is mixed (due to the liquid in the batter activating the base and acid), then when the dough is placed in the oven (due to the acid being both hot and wet).
- Baking soda is 4 times as strong as baking powder.
- Batters made with baking soda should be baked shortly after mixing because the gaseous bubbles dissipate quickly.
- Batters made with baking powder can be stored for longer (even in the fridge overnight).
Naan Experiments
- I started with the Bread Toast Crumbs dough ratio: 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon instant yeast, 1 cup liquid.
- After several experiments, I found a mix of 1/2 cup Greek yogurt and 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons water created a perfect dough: not too wet, not too stiff. Interestingly, the liquid (yogurt + water) and the flour here weigh the exact amount: 256 g.
- I omitted the sugar. This is something I’m doing more and more with my breads. So many recipes call for a small amount (2 to 3 teaspoons), and I suspect this is mostly to help activate the yeast, especially when using active-dry yeast. With instant yeast, sugar isn’t necessary, and I don’t think such a small amount imparts enough flavor in the dough to warrant including.
- I tried various combinations of baking soda, baking powder, and yeast, and I liked all of them, but, especially when baking soda was in the mix, I could detect a slight metallic taste in the dough. It wasn’t a bad taste, but it was noticeable. I also found the baking soda doughs burned more easily.
- The baking powder-yeast dough compared to the yeast-only dough were nearly identical — similar air bubbles in the pan, similar dough texture, similar flavor — so, in the end, I stuck with yeast alone as a leaven.
Friends, making naan is SO much fun. The dough takes no time to whisk together, rises relatively quickly (just over an hour), and each naan cooks for a minute and 30 seconds stovetop.
I would be happy eating naan and naan alone — sprinkled with sea salt it is irresistible — but it is an especially nice accompaniment to many a stewy dish, namely lentils and curries. Here are a few ideas:
- One-Pot Thai Chicken Curry
- Curried Lentils with Kale and Coconut Milk
- Black Lentils with Spinach and Labneh
- Curried Chickpeas with Cauliflower
PS: Easy, Homemade Pita Bread Recipe
Here’s the play-by-play: Combine 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon instant yeast, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt in a large bowl. As always, a digital scale is best for measuring. (Weight measurements included in the recipe)
Combine 1/2 cup Greek yogurt with 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons boiling water.
Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients, and stir with a spatula to form a ball. You’ll likely need to knead with your hands for about a minute to get the dough to come together (see video for guidance.)
Cover the bowl and let it rise in a warm spot for about an hour and 15 minutes, or until the dough looks slightly puffed.
Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface.
Divide the dough into 4 portions.
Ball each one up.
Roll each into an 8- or 9-inch round.
Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat till it’s very, very hot. Place one round in, cover, and cook for 1 minute. Uncover, flip, and cook for 30 seconds.
Brush each round with melted butter once it is out of the pan.
Stack the cooked, buttered naan on a plate or platter and cover with a towel till ready to serve.
Friends, these are sooooo yummy ….
Simple, Yeasted Homemade Naan
- Total Time: 1 hour 55 minutes
- Yield: 4
Description
Notes:
- As always, for best results, use a digital scale.
- To create a warm spot for your dough to rise: Preheat your oven for 1 minute, then shut it off. Note: Any temperature is fine, but the oven is only on for 1 minute total. You don’t, for example, want to get your oven up to 350ºF and let it heat there for a minute. The oven will likely not rise about 100ºF. You just want a cozy, draft-free spot for your bread to rise.
- Notes for making dough ahead of time: Once the dough is mixed, pour a thin layer of oil over top and turn the dough to coat. Cover bowl, stick in the fridge, and keep it there till about an hour before you are ready to bake the following day. Divide the dough, ball it up, and let it rest for about an hour before rolling out.
- Interestingly, the weight of the flour and the weight of the liquid (water + yogurt), are identical here: 256 g each. I suspect, if you use buttermilk or regular yogurt as long as you keep the total weight of the liquid close to 256 g, the naan will turn out just fine.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (256 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon (4 g) instant yeast
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (136 g) boiling water
- ½ cup (120 g) Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons melted butter, for brushing (I use salted)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and instant yeast. In a medium bowl or a liquid measure, stir or whisk together the water and yogurt. Add the yogurt mixture to the flour mixture and stir to combine with a spatula. When the mixture becomes too stiff, knead with your hands for about a minute or until the flour is incorporated and you have a sticky, wet ball. Cover with a towel or cloth bowl cover, and let rise in a warm spot for 1 to 1.25 hours. (See notes above for creating warm spot. See notes above for making dough ahead of time.)
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide into 4 equal portions, then shape each into a ball. Let rest for 5 minutes.
- Heat a large skillet (something like cast iron is great) over high heat. You want it very, very hot. Using a rolling pin dusted in flour, roll one ball into a thin large round or oval (8- to 9-inches in diameter, roughly), using flour as needed to prevent sticking. Repeat with another round. (I like to start with 2 rounds rolled out; then I roll the remaining 2 while the first 2 are cooking.)
- When the skillet is very hot, transfer rolled out round, dusting off excess flour if possible, to the skillet. Cover. Cook for 1 minute. Close to the end of the minute, you’ll hear the pan hissing a bit … this is a good sign. Flip, and cook for another 30 seconds uncovered. Transfer to a plate and brush the top lightly with melted butter.
- Repeat this process with the remaining dough balls. You may have to adjust the heat as you go. If too much flour is burning in the skillet, turn it off, carefully wipe it out with a dish cloth, then crank the heat back up. As the naan emerge from the skillet, stack them on top of one other in a shallow bowl or plate. Cover with a tea towel to keep warm.
- Prep Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: Yeast
- Cuisine: Indian
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
227 Comments on “Simple, Yeasted Homemade Naan, A Step-by-Step Guide {Video}”
You can pour boiling water into yeast without killing it?
No, you can’t do that. Boiling water will kill yeast. Where are you seeing this instruction? In this recipe, you combine Greek yogurt with boiling water. The cold temperature of the Greek yogurt brings down the temperature of the boiling water so that it’s perfectly lukewarm for the yeast. Hope that helps.
Hello!
This was my first attempt at naan and it was scrumptious! Thanks for the delicious and informative recipe. We ate it so quickly; I will definitely need to double the next time. My dough was super sticky and a little tricky to roll out- but it’s very rainy today and I was hesitant to over-flour my rolling pin. I cannot wait to make again and try some of your other recipes. Thank You!
Wonderful to hear this Heather! Absolutely use more flour as needed. Question for you: did you use a scale to measure the flour?
No scale here. I’ve told my family that is one of my first post-pandemic purchases. 🙂 I’m trying to restrain unessential deliveries. I’d be happy to know if you have a favored scale.
I hear you 😍 That could be the difference right there — you may just be using a little bit less flour than what is actually called for. Next time, don’t hesitate to use more flour. Until you get a scale, you can reference the photos or the video for what the texture should look like. This is my favorite scale.
Thanks for the recommendation and pointers!
Perfect and easy to make 😊👌
Wonderful to hear this, Riri!
So good! I have been wanting to make this recipe since you posted it because it looked so simple and delicious. This definitely proved to be true! I made mine with vegan yogurt. I measured with a scale but my dough seemed a little more wet than the video but I just added in some extra flour after it rose so it was easier to work with. My only issue was some of the loose flour on the naan burned in the skillet so I had a bit of smoke coming from the pan. But I adjusted the heat, and it did better. I made this along with the curried lentils. Thanks for another great recipe!
So great to hear this worked out well with vegan yogurt! Nice job adding more flour to get the consistency right. Regarding the extra flour burning… one commenter noted she used a bit of oil in the pan and it worked beautifully, so that might be worth trying, too. Lentils + naan = heaven 😍😍😍
Can you tell us the baking powder version? Yeast is hard to find nowadays.
Hi Ann! I can’t remember what I did when I used baking powder (or baking soda?) alone, but I would start with 1/2 teaspoon and see how it goes.
If you’re looking for yeast, Baker’s Authority has some in stock: SAF Instant Yeast
This was a huge hit with our family! So soft and tender and delicious! We polished it off in minutes, I will make double next time. Thanks for a fantastic recipe!!
Wonderful to hear this, Kelly!
I used a scale and my dough was way to sticky to make a ball – or anything close to a ball! I added flour…hoping it will still turn out
Strange! How did they end up turning out?
This was not my first attempt at homemade naan but it was my BEST!
I’m so happy to have found an easy, delicious recipe, that included such wonderfully, thorough instructions!
I did not change a thing and they turned out famously, everyone loved them and couldn’t believe I hadn’t purchased them from a restaurant!
I can’t wait to make them again!
Oh yay! So nice to hear this Jillian! Thanks so much for writing 😍😍😍
We like store bought Naan to make individual pizzas. Can your recipe be used in the same way? I will definitely be trying it either way.
Absolutely!
I make naan with wheat flour,yeast and milk.turns out very good.anyway i””ll try your other recipes.all the best👍👍👍
I am so excited to learn how to make naan. So far I’ve made this recipe twice. The first time I got some burn/smoke (maybe due to the fact that I’m using an All Clad stainless steel pan – I don’t have cast iron), but I corrected it the second time by using slightly less heat, and also more carefully followed Ali’s direction to shake off excess flour. The naan was good the first time, and great the second time. Also, I substituted coconut milk (first time) and coconut yogurt (second time) for the Greek yogurt. Excellent. Even better than the delicious packaged naans from the grocery store!
Hi Jenny!! 😍😍😍 So great to hear you were able to make this work with a non-dairy milk/yogurt … people ask me all the time, and I never know what to say. I can’t wait to try this. And yes, getting the timing/heat right definitely takes some trial and error to prevent burning. Hope you all are well! 💕
Made this yesterday. I was hesitant to make this because of the boiling water, which I haven’t seen before in bread recipes. I used water at 208F from our hot water dispenser. After mixing with the yogurt, I measured the temperature before pouring it in with the yeast. It measured 108F – perfect!
Everything went as planned. The only difficulty was rolling out the sticky dough. It was sticking to the rolling pin and to the surface when I was trying to pick it up. Maybe I need to use more flour at that point.
The naan was burning a bit on the first side. I’ll experiment next time with the heat level and perhaps try a bit of oil on the skillet.
I’m also thinking of using bread flour instead of AP flour next time.
But end result was delicious! Family ate it up quickly! Looking forward to trying again.
Wonderful to hear this Paul! Bread flour will definitely absorb more water than ap flour, and it should make your dough less sticky. And definitely use four as needed when rolling out the balls. Question: are you using a scale to measure the flour?
And getting the heat level right definitely takes some trial and error. Glad your family approved!
yes, I used a digital scale, so pretty sure about the quantities.
Looking forward to making it again, with the variations.
Ok, great to hear!
This was amazing – the best naan I’ve ever made, and I’ve tried a couple of different recipes.
One thing to note though is that I used plain full-fat yogurt instead of Greek yogurt, using the same weights in the recipe, and (probably because of the more liquid-y consistency of the regular yogurt), found the dough to be extremely wet, almost like a slurry. Added a quarter cup to half a cup-ish of flour to get the sticky but workable texture in the recipe. Just a note for anybody wanting to do the same thing I did!
So great to hear this, Sierra! And great note/tip re regular yogurt. I’m glad you were able to make it work with more flour!
This was my first attempt at naan and it was wonderful! The naan was very soft, less bready than restaurant versions.
I used active dry yeast, so I activated the yeast in lukewarm water and then mixed it with the yogurt…except I was careless and added 1 cup of water instead of 1/2! I noticed right away and ended up doubling the batch. I dumped another teaspoon of active dry yeast right into the mixed batter before adding more flour and yogurt. I did an overnight rise in the fridge. So, even though I screwed up the directions, the dough was forgiving and worked out just fine! After letting the dough rest for an hour-and-a-half out of the fridge, it was very easy to roll out with several dustings of flour.
An aside, I love your peasant bread and focaccia recipes–I’m so late to the game! the rest of the internet seem to know about it. I purchased BTC and the recommended spatula! Your recipes have changed my life for the better (but not my waistline perhaps)–I make some kind of bread every over day or so.
Oh Anna! So nice to hear all of this 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thank you for buying BTC. So glad you got the GIR, too … it’s my favorite. And nice work making adjustments for the extra water, etc. So glad these turned out well for you 😍😍🍞🍞
Love this recipe! So easy! S0000 Delicious. I double the recipe because it’s sooooo good!
Yay! So great to hear this, Kim!
Hi! Has anyone used a baking steel for this recipe?
Hi Jake! I haven’t yet, but I think you absolutely could. I’ve been making pita on the Baking Steel. I would preheat it at 550ºF. I have been lining a sheet pan with parchment paper, placing the pita rounds on top, and placing the whole pan directly on the Steel. The pan buckles a little bit, but it’s been working out well. Alternatively, you could place each naan on its own sheet of parchment — I would cut them to size. Then, transfer to Steel using a peel — bake the naan on the parchment. In terms of timing, I would just keep an eye: maybe 2-4 minutes?
Awesome! This is so helpful!
I’m making a big batch for a group dinner tonight. I did a test run last night with the steel and it went pretty well. I baked them for about 2.5 mins / 1 min on each side and they could have been a bit crispier. This was also one of my first times using my new steel, and I may not have given the oven quite enough time to get hot.
I tried 2 shaped with the rolling pin and 2 shaped with my hands like a pizza. I think both turned out pretty well, although I think I’m gonna go with hand shaping tonight for the big batch.
Thanks for the response and the recipe!
Great to hear this Jake! Good luck with the group dinner… so fun! I can totally see how hand shaping would be easier, especially if you are doing a bunch of them. And regarding the Steel, I do heat it for about 45 minutes at 550F before using it.
Also, I’ll note that I did bake it on parchment, two at a time. Might be a good idea to cut my parchment in half so that I can pull them independently of each other.
Yeah, that will totally help!
Awesome recipe. I will be using this regularly. The naan tastes just like the one we get from the best Indian restaurant in our city. Followed your recipe exactly as is and it is perfect!
So great to hear this, AC! Thanks so much for writing 😍😍😍
Beautiful naan! Thank you again, Ali!
Wonderful to hear this, Pey-Lih!
Hi Ali, can I make this recipe with sourdough starter instead of yeast? And if yes, what proportion would you recommend?
I haven’t tried, but I would start with 50 g of starter and see how it works!
Hello! I have made your rustic sourdough and your focaccia breads and they are so wonderful!! My family gobbles them up.
I am in the middle of making the Naan and am wondering about making them all the way through and then hearing them up for dinner. Will this work? Or should I just refrigerate the dough and cook right before dinner?
*heating! Not hearing, haha!
Absolutely! Make them all the way through and re-heat (😍) before dinner. So nice to hear all of this!
I can’t believe I make my own naan!so easy! So yummy!
Oh yay! Great to hear this, Doris. Thanks for all of your comments today 🙂
My husband told me never to buy Naan again after making these! They are so easy and delicious! I did set all the smoke detectors off in the house-so next time will turn the fan over the range on! Oops! 🙂 They freeze wonderfully too-if you can stop yourself from eating the whole stack.
Kathleen, yay! I am constantly setting off my smoke detectors, naan or otherwise 🙂 🙂 🙂 So nice to hear all of this.
So glad to see the note that they freeze well! I’d been wondering that (though I expect my daughter will polish them off) now that we’re 2 at home instead of 4 like we were over the summer.
Yes, they freeze beautifully. I love having good bread on hand in the freezer … such a treat to pull out with a bowl of soup or dal or chili.
These were SO delicious for the level of effort! I ended up dividing the dough into 8 rounds to make half moon-shaped, thin naans. It was perfect with a side of homemade Indian paneer curry.
Wonderful to hear this, Aru!
Thank you so much! I had just about given up on making decent home made naan. I told the hubs That your recipe would be my final attempt. Well. This recipe is just excellent! Your video is super helpful and i really appreciate that you include the weights. This will be made again! Thank you!
So wonderful to hear this, Merle! Glad you didn’t give up 🙂 🙂 🙂 I find weights crucial for bread recipes. Thanks for writing!
So easy and so good! I swopped part of the AP flour for 1/2 cup of spelt flour; since I didn’t have a full 1/2 cup of greek yogurt I topped it up with oat milk. All went well! I added more flour as needed to the initial dough, and rolling out was a breeze. My naan are chewy and delicious, and I love knowing I can get an easy bread on the table to go with soups or whatever else so quickly. (Tonight it was chili. No cornmeal to make cornbread!)
Before now my favourite naan was made with avocado, but that’s obv not easy to have on hand all the time. Thank you!
Wonderful to hear this, Gabrielle! I am so intrigued by the avocado naan, too — it makes sense from a fat/oil perspective. But yes, it’s not always easy to have a ripe avocado on hand. Thanks for writing!
Can these be frozen and if so at what point? Before rolling and cooking or after?
Hi Kaye! I would freeze them after you cook them. Let them cool completely. Transfer to an airtight container or bag. You may want to layer with sheets of wax paper or parchment if you’re imagining removing one or two naan at a time from the freezer.
Whoyaaaa!
Yay 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
This recipe is perfect. I don’t think I can ever buy store naan again. I didn’t have yogurt, so I used buttermilk instead, keeping it to 256g with the water. I had to add a bit more flour after the rising, but that was fine. Only issue…my fire alarm kept going off! Thank you for making me feel like a rock star in the kitchen!
Oh yay! So nice to hear this Suz! I am constantly setting off my fire alarm with this one as well. Glad the buttermilk worked and that you were able to get the consistency right with more flour. Thanks so much for writing!
Best naan I’ve ever made! The problem was not eating it all before the rest of dinner was ready. Thanks for the precise and easy to follow directions.
Yay! So nice to hear this, Carla 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thanks so much for writing.