No Yeast Naan / Indian Flatbread
Indian Flatbread Naan is one of the very popular bread served in almost all the regions in India with any vegetarian , non vegetarian gravy.
Naan, which has originated from Indian Subcontinent is basically a flatbread resembling pita bread but normally leavened using yeast. It is normally cooked in Tandoor or naan oven, though you can now make it at home without any expensive Tandoor Oven .
I always experiment with my naan . Sometimes I use milk or sometimes water to knead the flour. Previously, every time I used yeast in my dough and thought that if I replace it , my naan won’t be soft and authentic. When one day thought of making them totally yeast free(of course because I had run out of yeast that day ;). After a little research, tried little baking soda, baking powder and yogurt in my flour, and from that day, I stopped using yeast in flatbreads. I totally make no yeast naan now, and roast them on griddle or tawa(Pan) .
Believe me, this recipe is so simple and quick that it just takes 30 minutes to set the dough. Even if you have to make your naan in the evening, you can prepare the dough , let it rest for 30 minutes and refrigerate it . Before making your naan, let the dough come to room temperature and then proceed. I do many variations in here , sometimes I even hide some veggies in the dough for my son ;). But any how you make them, they go very well with any kind of gravy .
Like everyone else, Sunday is a funday for us and we had movie planned, so since I had some previous day’s leftover Chicken curry, I quickly prepared these naan and enjoyed our dinner .
Preparation Time:Â 30 Minutes
Cooking Time:Â 10 Minutes
Yields : 4
Ingredients :Â
- 1 1/2 Cup Maida/All Purpose Flour + Extra for dusting
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 teaspoon White granulated Sugar>
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 Cup Milk(Kept at room temperature)
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1/4 Cup Whisked Yogurt
- Little butter for brushing(Optional)
- 3-4 Grated garlic cloves(Optional)
Method:
Mix all the dry ingredients like flour,baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a bowl. >
Add in yogurt, 1 tablespoon oil and mix .
Gradually add the milk in small amounts mixing the ingredients together till you can knead the dough . Keep kneading it until the dough is smooth and non sticky. If it is sticky, add little more flour and continue kneading.
Apply the remaining oil to the dough , cover and keep aside for 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into 4 equal parts and make nice and smooth balls from each part.
Dust a ball well with dry flour and sprinkle the surface too with dry flour and roll the ball into oval shape using rolling pin. While rolling keep sprinkling the dry flour if you feel that it is sticking to rolling pin.
Once the naan is nice and thin, brush little grated garlic on top and flip it on a skillet or griddle kept on medium high heat. Side where you applied garlic should face the top. Cook till you can see bubbles popping up. Flip it and apply some butter on roasted side and let it roast on the other side the same way. Flip, apply butter and remove on a plate. It is always better to keep it covered to retain the steam so that they remain soft until the remaining naan are getting roasted.
Repeat for the remaining parts of the dough and serve them with Chicken curry, mutton curry or even any vegetarian curry.
Hi Pooja, great recipe! Thanks for sharing! Can this be made with whole wheat flour?
Yes. I have tried it with wheat flour too Jessica..
I’m making this tonight. Thank you!