Naan without Yeast

Naan is an Indian flatbread made will all purpose flour. It is essentially made with naturally fermenting the dough with yogurt and heat.

Being a north Indian, Naan evokes memories of dhaba, dal makhani, Paneer Do Pyaza and many such rich punjabi dishes.

It is not wonder that I have made and eaten Naan several times. Some times it turned out gorgeous and sometimes it didn’t.

The reason for not turning out great usually that it would not stick to the griddle or tawa and would keep on slipping from it making it difficult to evenly cook or making the process of balancing tawa and naan into a kitchen dance.

All it needed was little water applied on it before placing on the tawa. And I was set.

I made some of the best naans using this tip. My recipe is also very similar with just a bit of tweaking to suit my taste. I made her recipe as well.

Today I will share her recipe and her method.

Print Recipe

Naan

Naan is an Indian flatbread made will all purpose flour. It is essentially made with naturally fermenting the dough with yogurt and heat.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Resting Time5 hours hrs

Total Time5 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Course: Bread, Festival, Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine: Indian, Vegetarian

Keyword: Bakery, eggless, Quick & Easy, Quick Meal

Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

• 3 cup all purpose flour
• ½ cup sour yogurt homemade curd at room temperature
• 1 tsp sugar
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp ghee clarified butter
• ¼ cup nigella seeds onion seeds, kalonji
• lukewarm water for kneading
• to taste salt

Instructions

• For even mixing, sift flour, baking powder and soda together in a large bowl. Create a small well in the center of dry mixture. Add salt, sugar, curd and ghee in the well. Mix well using your hands or wooden spoon. Allow it to rest for couple of minutes.
• Using your fingertips, knead the dough into a firm dough ball while adding lukewarm water 1 tablespoon at a time. Knead for 5-6 minutes. Form a smooth ball and allow it to rest covered with a cling film in a warm corner for 4-5 hours.
• When ready to cook, If you have a tandoor preheat it or heat up a tawa. Break the dough into smaller dough balls. Press the dough ball into a small disc, sprinkle nigella seeds on it. Roll out the dough into tear shaped naan. The seeds will now stick well to the naan. Apply little water on top of the naan using your fingers or a pastry brush.
• Place it on the hot tawa with wet side down on tawa. Cook on medium flame, the naan will puff up, now flip over the tawa allowing the naan to directly cook on the flame from other side, still sticking to tawa from one side. If you are using a tandoor, then stick the naan on the dome lid of the tandoor and allow it to puff. Then gently scrape it off the lid and allow it to cook on the wire rack of the tandoor from the other side.
• Apply ghee while serving. Serve hot with some delectable main dish.