Easy To Make Naan - Indian Flatbread Recipe

Published by Melissa on February 15, 2014 | Updated June 10, 2022 | 53 Comments

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An easy to make Indian Flatbread that is ready to eat, fresh and hot from the oven in about an hour using quick rise yeast and a mixer to do the kneading for you.

If you’ve eaten at an Indian restaurant, you were probably served naan with your meal.Naan is an Indian flat bread traditionally baked in a clay tandoor oven. The dough is placed on the sides of the oven and develops a teardrop shape as the bread stretches while it hangs in the oven.

There’s a great Indian restaurant not too far from where I live, Saffron Valley. I like to stop by at lunch time so I can enjoy their lunch buffet and try lots of new, interesting dishes, but I always get the naan.Naan is a tender bread with a bit of charring on the outside. It’s perfect for soaking up all the delicious Indian sauces.

Since most of us don’t have a tandoor oven at home, we have to settle for cooking naan on a pizza stone in the oven, or in a cast iron skillet on the stove. I cooked it both ways, and liked the naan best when cooked on the pizza stone in the oven. Although the naan cooked in the cast iron pan got more of the traditional charring. All the pictures in this post are of naan made in the cast iron skillet.

When you cook it in the cast iron skillet, you need to cover the skillet to help cook the dough. I didn’t have a lid big enough to fit my cast iron skillet, so I used a grill pan as my lid.

I developed this naan recipe for Red Star Yeast.I did a lot of research, including asking my dear friend Deeba, Passionate About Baking, who lives in India what makes a great naan. She said hydration is the key, she recommended a 3:1 flour to water ratio, a great yeast (like Red Star Quick Rise Yeast), and a “portion” of yogurt that works well with the yeast.

Red Star Quick Rise Yeast is an instant yeast that shortens the rising time by as much as 50%. If you don’t have Quick Rise Yeast, active dry yeast will work in this recipe as well, you’ll just need to increase the rise time.

I served my naan with some Chicken Tikka Masala that I picked up at Saffron Valley. I’ve never made Indian food at home, but now that I’ve got a great, easy to make naan recipe, I need to buy some Indian spices and getting cooking.

If you’ve never made yeast bread at home, this naan recipe would be a great first bread to start with.

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4.34 from 18 votes

Naan – Indian Flatbread

Cook Time5 minutes mins

Total Time5 minutes mins

Course: Breads

Keyword: baking, yeast bread

Servings: 6 pieces

Author: Barbara Schieving

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour
2 ¼ teaspoon 1 package Red Star Quick Rise Yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
⅛ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
¾ cup water 120° to 130°
¼ cup oil
¼ cup full fat plain yogurt
Melted butter

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups flour, yeast, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add warm water, oil, and yogurt to flour mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened; beat 1 minute at medium speed. Switch to the dough hook and gradually mix in remaining flour to make a smooth dough, add more or less flour as necessary. (I only used 2 ½ cups flour.) Knead for 5 minutes.
Place dough in lightly oiled bowl and turn to grease top. Cover; let rise until dough doubles, about 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400° with a pizza stone on the center rack. (At least 30 minutes before baking naan so your stone gets really hot.)
Punch the dough down, and divide dough in to 6 pieces. Let it rest five minutes covered. Roll out each piece of dough in to a tear drop shape about 8 inches long and ¼ inch thick.
Cook naan two at a time, use a spray bottle to lightly mist each piece of dough with water and put it wet side down on the pizza stone. Cook for about 2 minutes until the bottom is lightly browned and starting to puff. Spray with additional water and flip the naan over and cook an additional 2 minutes.
Remove from the oven and brush lightly with melted butter.
Wrap naan in aluminum foil to keep them warm until ready to serve.

Notes

You can also grill your naan or cook it in a covered cast iron skillet.

About Melissa & Barbara

As of June 2022 Melissa Griffiths now is the one adding recipes. So think of it as Barbara Bakes, and Melissa too! Melissa and Barbara have been blogging friends for over 10 years and when Barbara was ready to retire and spend more time with her family, Melissa took over the site. Read more...

Reader Interactions

Comments

mary robinson
February 19, 2024 at 8:50 pm

Easy and delicious, Thank you!
Reply
Andrew Foell
July 30, 2020 at 1:31 pm

My daughter and I love naan bread, so we thought it would be great to make some at home. Found your recipe, and as my dad worked for Universal Foods for many years before they sold Red Star yeast, of course I had to try this one! We used a pizza stone and found that the thinner we rolled the dough, the more authentic result we got. We also increased the baking time to about 3 minutes per side. Delicious! Will be using your recipe again and again!
Reply
- Barbara Schieving
  July 30, 2020 at 2:10 pm
  
  Thanks for sharing your experience Andrew. Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
  Reply
Bob
December 29, 2019 at 9:02 am

Is it possible to substitute the Yogurt with something else? I’d like to make this but do not have the yogurt on hand any suggestions?
Reply
- Barbara Schieving
  December 29, 2019 at 9:03 am
  
  Hi Bob – I haven’t tried it, but sour cream is usually a great substitute for yogurt.
  Reply
Kathy Chandonais
November 09, 2019 at 9:26 am

I would love to try this but I have a problem with gluten. Do you think it would work with non-gluten flour?
Reply
See Also
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- Barbara Schieving
  November 09, 2019 at 1:53 pm
  
  Hi Kathy – the gluten-free flours have gotten better and better, I think it would work well. Let me know if you try it.
  Reply
Linda shryack
June 12, 2019 at 1:43 pm

Hi, this sounds amazing. I love the idea of using organic flour. can I make this recipe with a handheld mixer or an immersion blender?
Thank you.
Reply
- Barbara Schieving
  June 12, 2019 at 2:32 pm
  
  Hi Linda – yes, a handheld blender will work. Often a handheld blend comes with dough hooks too.
  Reply
Chelsea
February 18, 2019 at 5:27 pm

I made this last week, my first time making naan and this is now a house hold staple. Will be making for my curry, for hummus, just to eat, to cure cancer, to make sandwiches, to dry me off after a shower. I’m a naan believer now. I will never follow another recipe.
Reply
- Barbara Schieving
  February 18, 2019 at 6:30 pm
  
  lol – that’s totally awesome. Thanks Chelsea!
  Reply
- Raygan Thorne
  July 31, 2019 at 3:13 pm
  
  LOL!!!!!!
  Reply
- DIANA T.
  June 17, 2020 at 10:13 am
  
  Lol, you convince me!
  Reply
Dapne Lowery
February 16, 2019 at 10:53 am

Thank you for the recipe it is so amazing, better than stonefire brand grocrery stores. Will make these or every party.
Reply
- Barbara Schieving
  February 16, 2019 at 2:34 pm
  
  Great – thanks Dapne!
  Reply
Jake
September 13, 2018 at 4:02 pm

The water temperature is too hot for the yeast. 35C – 38C is much closer to optimum.
Reply
- Barbara Schieving
  September 13, 2018 at 8:32 pm
  
  Hi Jake – when you mix the yeast with the flour you use water that is warmer. https://redstaryeast.com/yeast-baking-lessons/common-baking-ingredients/liquids/
  Reply
- Claudia
  August 13, 2019 at 2:13 pm
  
  She meant Fahrenheit and your temperature is in Celsius. You were both correct😀
  Reply
  - Barbara Schieving
    August 13, 2019 at 5:47 pm
    
    Makes sense – thanks Claudia 🙂
    Reply
SusanM
June 23, 2018 at 1:13 am

Hi Barbara, made this today using half better for bread flour and half whole wheat pastry flour that I had on hand. Added a little more water & yogurt, was careful not to overmix, and put it in the fridge for two days. I had to punch it down the first night but it was fine when I finally got to baking it tonight and I’m amazed at the flavor! I’ll plan on allowing all my doughs to sit at least overnight from now on if possible since it really enhances the flavor. Thank you again for sharing this awesome recipe.
Reply
- Barbara Schieving
  June 23, 2018 at 5:23 am
  
  Thanks for sharing your changes Susan. I’ll have to try it with an overnight rest.
  Reply
T moneymaker
January 27, 2018 at 2:36 pm

I enjoyed the recipe but most India recipes are made without any GMO ingredients …
Reply
Mossmallow
May 22, 2016 at 9:52 am

I was really skeptical of this recipe – my extended family makes indian food 2-3 times per week and always buy premade naan, saying it must be made in a tandoori oven to taste right. I doubled this recipe and it was perfect! I was at a friend’s house and we didn’t have a skillet, so we used a nonstick pan. It cooked very quickly and the taste and texture were perfect! In the future I will try adding garlic powder for garlic naan. Thanks so much for this recipe!
Reply
- Barbara Schieving
  May 22, 2016 at 12:42 pm
  
  Thanks! So glad it was a hit. I’ll have to try adding garlic as well.
  Reply
Jeanne
January 19, 2015 at 6:25 pm

This recipe worked great for me! I doubled the whole recipe but only needed about 5 1/2 c flour. I cooked some on the stove with an all-clad skillet and some in the oven on a pizza stone, and I thought the ones on the stove came out better — more chewy, whereas the oven ones were a little crunchier. But they were all so good, just a matter of personal preference. And making 12 of them, it was definitely more efficient to have both the skillet and the oven going. Thanks so much!
Reply
- Barbara Schieving
  January 19, 2015 at 9:43 pm
  
  Thanks Jeanne! Next time I’ll have to try it on the stove and double the recipe too.
  Reply
SusanM
September 01, 2014 at 11:23 pm

This was so easy! Thank you for the excellent instructions, I just made the prettiest silk-textured naan, using some Greek yogurt I had on hand. My picky teen was skeptical, but one bite of the naan and he grabbed the rest of the piece. It was perfect with some leftover chicken tikki maasala (which was even better the second day)…glad to have a new meal on the list.
Reply

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Easy To Make Naan - Indian Flatbread Recipe | Barbara Bakes (2024)

FAQs

Is Indian flatbread the same as naan? ›

One of the main differences between these two flatbreads is in the way that they are cooked. Before your naan or roti reaches your table, Roti will be cooked in a Tawa or flat skillet while naan is usually cooked in a tandoor oven. Both roti and naan have different types and varieties.

What dough is naan made of? ›

My favorite homemade naan recipe is made with basic bread ingredients (flour, water and yeast) plus a generous dollop of yogurt, egg and baking powder to make the bread extra soft and chewy. I also prefer to use touch of honey as a natural sweetener for the bread.

Keep Reading ›

What is the most popular Indian flatbread? ›

Chapati / Roti

Whether you call it chapati or roti, this bread goes by many different names and is perhaps the most popular flatbread in India. Made of a simple recipe of wheat flour and water, every household in India has its own signature take on this Indian flatbread.

What are 10 traditional Indian flatbread? ›

Different varieties of Indian bread and pancake include chapati, phulka, puri, roti, bajra rotla, thepla, paratha, naan, kulcha, bhatoora, appam, dosa, luchi, puran poli, pathiri, and parotta. Some of these, like paratha and roti, have many varieties.

Tell Me More ›

Is naan healthier than bread? ›

While it may contain more carbs and sugars, it earns its reputation as a healthy alternative with its relatively generous amounts of protein and fiber. Despite its high carb content, naan can be considered a more nutrient-dense alternative to white bread and pita.

Discover More Details ›

Which is healthier, naan or pita? ›

Because their ingredients are similar, loaf bread and pita both have very similar nutritional profiles, including similar levels of protein and fat (around 2 to 3 grams). Naan is higher in protein (around 9 grams) and fat (around 5 grams) than pita and other breads.

Get More Info Here ›

Is Indian flatbread healthy? ›

Indian breads are just that: they are full of nutrients, high in fiber, and have a low glycemic index. Indian breads are a staple in every Indian household. Usually roasted on the flat iron griddle, they are made with various flours and mixing various ingredients in the dough.

What is the difference between paratha and naan? ›

Paratha vs Naan: What's the difference? The short answer is that paratha is a flaky, layered flatbread made from whole wheat flour and ghee, often stuffed and pan-fried. Naan, on the other hand, is a soft, chewy leavened bread made from all-purpose flour, yeast, and dairy, traditionally baked in a tandoor oven.

View Details ›

Which Indian flatbread is alternative to naan? ›

A healthier alternative that is eaten daily in most indian households, is roti (also called chapati or fulka). It's an unleavened flatbread made of just two ingredients - whole wheat flour and water.

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What is the difference between naan and flatbread? ›

Explore More ›

What is another name for Indian flatbread? ›

Roti is a flatbread made with a wheat flour. It is known as “atta” in hindi, and is also used to make other breads like paratha and puris in India on a daily basis.

Read On ›

Is naan a flatbread? ›

Naan is a leavened, oven-baked (usually using a tandoor) or tawa-fried flatbread. It is characterized by its light and slightly fluffy texture and golden-brown spots from the baking process.

See Details ›

Easy To Make Naan - Indian Flatbread Recipe | Barbara Bakes (2024)