WHAT CAN YOU DO with flour, water, milk, yeast and salt? You can turn them into Naan, just as I did this week. Naan is an ancient, Central-Asian flatbread with a wonderfully-wheaty taste and a crisp but chewy texture. I like to form the dough into long “snowshoe” shapes, and serve them with dinner or as an appetizer at parties. The dough is remarkably easy to make, and forming it with wet fingers is fun-fun-fun:
I should probably mention that most modern recipes for Naan dough call for baking powder and sugar. However, the Naan-making nomads of Central Asia didn’t use baking powder or sugar for their breads, and consequently neither do I.
Snowshoe Naan
Ingredients for 10 loaves, roughly 12 inches long, and 7 inches wide
1 packet dry active yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
2 cups warm water (110F degrees)
1 cup warm milk (110F degrees)
5-6 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp salt (plus extra for sprinkling tops of loaves)
A little olive oil or vegetable spray for greasing the bowl of dough
Sesame Seeds or fresh or dried herbs, for topping the breads
Optional: 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted (for brushing the bread after it has baked)
Special equipment — A large pizza stone OR unglazed ceramic tiles on which to bake the snowshoes. Lacking either, you could use a well-seasoned cast-iron pan which is at least 12 inches in diameter. From my own experiments, it is unglazed ceramic tiles (above) which make the best baking surface for Naan.
1. Making the dough — Pour the water and milk into a large bowl; sprinkle on the yeast and salt. Then stir in about 2 cups of flour, always stirring in the same direction. Stir in more flour, about a 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough becomes too stiff to stir.
2. Kneading the dough — Dump the dough onto a floured board, sprinkle more flour on top, and then knead the dough for ten minutes.
3. The first (and only!) rise — Wash and dry the bowl, and then grease it lightly with olive oil or vegetable spray. Then return the dough to the bowl. Flip the dough so that each side is coated with oil or spray. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
Let the dough rise until double — 2-3 hours. If you are impatient (like me), set the bowl on a heating pad set to the lowest setting, and dough will double in about 1 hour.
4. Preheating the oven — One hour before you are ready to bake the dough, set the pizza stone, unglazed ceramic tiles or cast-iron pan on the middle oven rack. Preheat the oven to 500F.
5. Forming the dough – Deflate the dough, and pour it onto your floured surface. Form it into a rough rectangle, and then cut the rectangle in half. Cover one half of the dough with plastic wrap.
Cut the other half into 5 equal pieces. Cover all but one of those pieces with plastic wrap.
Here comes the fun part. Roll out one piece of dough into a rectangular shape about 8 inches long and 5 inches wide. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and the sesame seeds or herbs. Then, with very wet fingers, make lots of indentations all over the dough, as pictured above.
Now lift the dough onto your wrist, raise your arm, and let the dough elongate itself to about 12 inches.
6. Baking the Naan — Open the oven door and quickly set the dough on the hot stone, tiles, or skillet. Bake the snowshoe for about 8 minutes, or until its edges puff up, and its color turns from white to spotty brown. Do not overcook.
Form and bake the other snowshoes. If you are using a large baking stone or unglazed tiles, you can bake 2 or 3 snowshoes at a time.
7. Serving — Brush the snowshoes with melted butter, and serve them at once. Naan — no matter how you make it or bake it — is always at its delicious best while still warm.
Freezing and Reheating Note — In comment #16 below, reader Brenda Cole says: “Just wanted to let everyone know that I tried freezing the naan after it was baked (but unbuttered) — success! I just put the frozen naan into a 400 degree oven (with a pizza stone) until it was hot (a couple of minutes), and then buttered it. I think that the quality was nearly as good as when it was fresh, and it makes naan on a ‘work night’ a whole lot more likely to happen.” Thanks, Brenda!
I hope, some day, you’ll try these sexy snowshoes. Once you’ve made a few, you’ll find they are no trouble at all.
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Wow! I do have a pizza stone and I will try this on some lazy day. Thanks for the non-modern recipe. Very cool.
badger gardener – Well, you simply have to try these snowshoes. I probably made the process seem scarier than it actually is. It took me longer to write out this recipe and upload the photos than it did to make and knead the dough, and then form and bake the loaves!
Found the heating pad! This is going to be such fun! We adore naan and I am sure yours is the absolute best. Cannot wait!
Oh how I wished you posted this about a month ago when I had an Indian feast!
A co-worker of mine is Gujarati, and gave me some of her recipes… Everything tasted delicious! Although instead of making the Naan recipe she gave me [Dinner was in an hour, I didn't have time to make it. Boo!] I went to my local grocer and picked up a turkish flatbread… it worked great as a substitute, but next time I’ll actually plan and make the naan ahead of time.
This looks so incredibly easy, and I love how you cook it on the ceramic tiles! I have a nice 10×12 well-seasoned pizza stone, so I’m all ready! ::rolls sleeves::
Cary – If your house is cold like mine, you’ll find the heating pad is an essential baking tool!
Donna B. – How delicious your Indian dinner must have been! I wonder — are you a fan of Gulab Jamun? A friend from Pakistan turned me onto these dessert dumplings which are sweetened with sugar and scented with rose water. I plan to make them…soon.
This is SO good!!!! Everyone must try this one!!!! Crispy, chewy, buttery (who doesn’t love buttery?) and nutty from the sesame seeds…. a wonderful treat for the taste buds!!!!! I love all of my taste testing opportunities- but this is a favorite so far!!!! YUMMY!!!!
@ Kevin: Yess… I’ve had that! [LOVE how it's warm, almost hot... so unique.] I would LOVE to see a step-by-step from you to make it… I live in an area with a high Indian population, and I swear, their desserts are to DIE for… [especially the coconut desserts, it doesn't help that I loooove coconut... ♥]
I think the reason I am really drawn to it is because it’s very different. I am a fan of mostly all crazy sweets from other countries. I lived in Germany while I was a youngster and from that crafted a finer taste in sweets – so I prefer those that are sort of different than the norm. [asian sweets being my favorite - korean sweet rice cakes being my favorite, I miss my mom making those... I have yet to perfect the sticky rice concoction!]
Thanks for the recipe Kevin — I’m going to give it a try, even though I consider myself a miserable failure at all bread making attemps to date (and no, I’m not being too hard on myself).
10 naans would be a bit much for us to consume ‘still hot’ in one sitting — have you ever tried freezing the breads and then reheating?
Thanks again — wish me luck!
Brenda C. – You can refrigerate your leftover dough. However, based on my own experience, dough which has been chilled will puff up like pita bread, and have a hollow interior. It will be utterly delicious, but different from non-refrigerated Naan.
I have not tried to freeze/reheat already-made loaves.
You can manage Snowshoe Naan. The goal is not perfection — just great taste and texture!
I can’t wait to try this but 10 even 5 loaves is a lot to finish off on my own. I see that you can refrigerate the dough, for how long? Also if anyone has froze and reheated let me know how that process turned out for you, thanks!
Naan is so wonderful. You can also ‘bake’ smaller versions of these in a heavy cast-iron Dutch oven (melt a T or so of ghee — drawn butter — in it first). Just put the lid on to trap the steam and keep checking to make sure it doesn’t burn before you flip it over (you might need to lower the heat). It’s a nice technique for when you don’t want to heat the house up too much.
You can keep the dough in the fridge for about a week if you don’t want to bake and eat all these at once. Just bring it to room temp before you form and bake (or cook).
A friend just built a wood fired community oven in my area and this seems like the perfect recipe to try! Thanks again for another great recipe!
thank you Kevin, im going to try these on the weekend served with butter chicken yum
I love Naan. I haven’t made this in awhile, but I guess I “need” to…just thinking of it makes my mouth water.
Sandy – Thanks for the tips regarding Dutch-oven-cooking and refrigerating the dough. I did a test on the dough, refrigerating it for two days, and then baking. For some reason it puffed up dramatically in the oven — exactly like pita bread — and was hollow in the center. Different from my freshly-baked dough, but still profoundly delicious.
Kristina – Well, you absolutely should try this bread in your community wood-fired oven. Instant party!
GoingGreen – Great! Let me know how it turns out for you.
Liz J – Just think of work out you’ll get while kneading this dough you need to make!
Just wanted to let everyone know that I tried freezing the naan after it was baked (but unbuttered) — success! I just put the frozen naan into a 400 degree oven (with a pizza stone) until it was hot (a couple of minutes), and then buttered it. I think that the quality was nearly as good as when it was fresh, and it makes naan on a ‘work night’ a whole lot more likely to happen.
Thanks Kevin for ANOTHER great recipe!
brenda cole – That is good news indeed! I’ll add your freezing/reheating directions to the recipe up top.
Wow,,
I just had to try this bread,
So easy & very yummy, I just pulled the last loaves out of the oven
We are eating fresh hot bread right now !!
This is a must try recipe,, it will be on our favorite list that’s for sure
Thank – You very much Kevin for sharing
I spent a couple of months in India and Nepal, Naan was my favorite! Alone or for dipping in sauces, it is sooooooooooo delicious!
Kevin,
Fun bread! Baking artisan bread is one of my hobbies. FYI any bread that takes time to rise also builds flavor, thus speeding up the process may reduce the full flavor. Numerous bread recipes call for rises in cool temperature or refrigerator time and the no knead recipes do not taste great until they have had days to build flavor.
Wow! I just made this tonight & my husband & I loved them! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Wolfgang – That is true with many breads. I know that Pain de Mie, for instance, is especially delicious when allowed a slow rise. Naan, however, doesn’t seem to suffer from a quick rise. Which is good, because when I want Naan, I want it…now!
Robin – So glad you tried the recipe and that it worked out for you. Such a fun dough to make, shape and bake, right?
Kevin,
We have a food swap here in the port city every month. I took naan bread.
Boy was I popular today !!!!!!! We were packing up to come home and a woman said DON”T take that bread ( I only had two loaves left ) I will swap you for whatever you want.. LOL
I brought home a lot of fresh egg plant
Thankxxx Again,
Harley
You’re right about not adding sugar and baking powder. Naan should be a totally savoury flavour – not a hint of sweetness. Indian eateries here in Australia have recently started adding sugar and I can’t eat them – always such a disappointment when they look so good! Yours look great.
This is gorgeous!
Heating pad idea = brilliance
I have not tried the Naan bread yet but intend to. My tip is about using the microwave when you want your bread to rise quickly. I take a small water filled bowl and heat until boiling in the microwave. I then scoot it to a back corner and place my bowl of dough, covered with a cloth into the front part of the microwave. Close the door and wait on results. Sometimes I carefully pull the dough out and reheat the water and replace the dough. Great results every time.
Help! Do I get the unglazed tiles at a flooring store? And then do I place them directly on the oven ack or on a baking sheet to hold them together? I love nan and can’t wait to try your recipe.
Hi Jeanio – I bought my tiles at at Lowes. I arrange the tiles directly on the oven rack — not on a baking sheet. Have fun making Naan!
Can this recipe be cut in half to large for just one person
judith
Judit – Yes, you can cut the recipe in half. Or, make the whole thing, bake, and then freeze your surplus. Snowshoe Naan makes fabulous, already baked, super crispy pizza crust!