There are a few ways to get to naan — some skip the yeast, some skip the dairy and go vegan with plant milk and oil. This is the version I keep coming back to: yeast-leavened, milk and yogurt in the dough, cooked on a hot tawa with a lid to trap steam and puff it up. No tandoor, no oven required, and the dairy is what gives it that soft, slightly tangy chew instead of a flatbread texture.
Garlic Naan#
Ingredients#
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- ¾ cup warm milk
- ¼ cup plain yogurt
- 2 tbsp oil, plus more for the bowl
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
Garlic butter topping
- 4 tbsp butter, melted
- 4–5 garlic cloves, finely minced or grated
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
- Flaky salt, to finish
Method#
Bloom the yeast. In a small bowl, whisk the warm milk (not hot — it’ll kill the yeast) with the sugar, then sprinkle over the yeast. Let it sit for 5–10 minutes until foamy on top. If it doesn’t foam, the yeast is dead — start over with fresh yeast.
Make the dough. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add the bloomed yeast mixture, yogurt, and oil. Mix until it comes together into a shaggy dough, then knead by hand for 8–10 minutes (or 5–6 in a stand mixer) until smooth and elastic. It should be soft and slightly tacky but not sticking to your hands — add a splash more milk or a dusting of flour to correct.
First rise. Lightly oil a clean bowl, add the dough, and turn it to coat. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let it rise somewhere warm for 1–1.5 hours, until roughly doubled in size.
Make the garlic butter. While the dough rises, melt the butter and stir in the minced garlic and coriander. Set aside — you’ll brush this on both raw and again right after cooking.
Shape. Punch down the dough and divide into 8 equal pieces, rolling each into a ball. Cover and let them rest for 10 minutes — this relaxes the gluten so they roll out easily. On a floured surface, roll each ball into an oval about ½cm thick. Brush the top of each with a little garlic butter before it goes on the tawa.
Cook on the tawa. Heat a heavy tawa or cast-iron pan over medium-high heat until very hot. Place a naan in the pan, garlic-butter side up, and cover with a lid. Cook for 1–2 minutes until bubbles form and the underside is browned in spots.
Flip and finish. Flip the naan and cook the second side uncovered for 1–2 minutes, pressing gently with a folded cloth or spatula if it’s not puffing evenly, until charred spots appear. Remove and immediately brush with more garlic butter.
Repeat and stack. Cook the remaining naan the same way, stacking them in a cloth-lined container as they come off the pan to keep them soft and warm.
Notes#
- Instant yeast goes straight into the dry mix in a lot of recipes, but blooming it in warm milk first confirms it’s alive before you commit the whole batch — worth the extra 10 minutes.
- Yogurt is doing more than the milk here — it’s what keeps the naan soft the next day instead of turning leathery. Don’t cut it for more milk.
- If your tawa isn’t heavy enough to hold heat, the naan won’t char properly before the inside cooks through — cast iron or a thick carbon steel pan works best.
- Leftover dough balls freeze well after step 5 (shaped, before the rest) — thaw at room temperature for an hour before rolling and cooking.