Homemade Naan Bread

A few years ago we had the opportunity to live in Japan with our little family. One of the highlights for me was sampling all of the unique cuisine. Not only did we eat delicious Japanese food, but we tried many different ethnic foods. One of our absolute favorite restaurants was a local, family-owned Indian restaurant. With maybe 8-10 small tables in the room, the smell of curries wafting through the air and naan bread the size of your head to lap it up…I can almost taste it all today. I still dream about the garlic-cheese naan I ordered every time, hot from the tandoor oven, to this day. This homemade naan bread reminds me of the soft pillowy, cheesy naan of my memories. Delicious!

After our youngest was born (in Japan) one of the first meals I ate, aside from my clinic stay, was this amazing naan bread. All of our kids were always happy going to eat there because they could eat as much delicious naan as possible. When we moved back stateside, we searched for an Indian restaurant that lived up to the hype and memories. Sadly, we haven’t been able to find one and plane tickets for a family of six to Japan for dinner aren’t in the budget.

Instead I got creative and cooked it up myself. The first time we sank our teeth into this homemade naan bread, dripping with garlic butter and oozing with cheese evoked all the memories of our favorite Indian restaurant in Japan. Even though this recipe isn’t quite as traditional (I subbed milk instead of yogurt and used a griddle instead of a tandoor oven), I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Looking for Naan Bread in a Pizza Oven?

This naan is delicious dunked in some vegetable curry, butter chicken or chicken saag. If you go the extra step and add in the cheese and garlic butter it will take your meal over the top! Even better than the flavor of this naan bread are the memories they evoke when we smell it, taste it and reflect on the wonderful time we spent as a family abroad.

Homemade Naan Bread

Amy

Homemade naan bread is pillowy soft and so delicious. This is a version of our very favorite Indian naan bread, stuffed with cheese and enjoyed with curry.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 4 minutes mins

Rise Time 2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 49 minutes mins

Course Bread, Side Dish

Cuisine Indian

Servings 12 pieces

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 ½ cups milk warmed, see recipe notes
• ½ teaspoon instant yeast
• ½ teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3-3.5 cups all purpose flour
• 3-4 Tablespoons melted butter
• 2 cloves garlic minced, optional
• 12 slices Havarti cheese or other creamy/melty cheese, optional

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Instructions

 

• Warm the milk in the microwave or on the stove to around 90-100 degrees F (about temperature of baby's bathwater). Add the instant yeast and sugar to the milk.
• Pour the milk mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer (or bowl to knead by hand). Add the salt and all purpose flour. Knead for 5 minutes in a mixer or about 8-10 minutes by hand. The dough should be smooth and form a ball. Let the dough rise for about an hour or until doubled in size.
• Separate the dough into 12 equal pieces and shape into a loose ball. Cover and let rest for about 20-30 minutes.
• While the dough is resting, preheat a griddle to 400 degrees or warm up a frying pan. You could also use a pizza stone in a hot oven (450-500 degrees).
• Roll out each ball of dough into a circle (about 6-8 inches in diameter). You may have to let the dough rest for 10 seconds and then continue rolling depending on how thin you want your naan bread.
• For plain naan: Grill on the griddle about 1-2 minutes per side until golden brown spots appear on the bread. Brush with melted butter and serve warm or at room temperature.
• For garlic cheese naan: Roll the naan into a 6-8 inch circle. Put a square slice of cheese in the middle of the circle and fold the naan over the cheese, pinching the edges closed as you go. Continue rolling it out if needed with the cheese inside the naan bread. It will be more in the shape of a rectangle. Grill about 2 minutes per side. Add the minced garlic to the melted butter and brush on the naan bread. Enjoy warm!

Notes

 

Milk Temperature: It’s important to use warm milk to help activate the yeast and encourage the bread in rising. I like to keep the temperature around 90-100 degrees F.

 

Instant Yeast: I like using SAF Instant yeast. 

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