Indian Recipes
Naan
Soft, blistered naan made at home without a tandoor: a yoghurt dough raised with yeast and a little baking powder, slapped into a very hot heavy pan, finished under a fierce grill until puffed and charred in patches, then brushed with ghee (and garlic if you like).
- Serves 8
- Makes 8 naan
- Rise 1–1½ hrs
- Cook 2–3 min each
- Freezes
- Indian (Punjabi)
Method
Stir the yeast (7 g) and 1 teaspoon of the sugar (2 tsp) into the warm milk (150 ml) and leave for 10 minutes, until frothy.
In a large bowl mix the flour (450 g), baking powder (1 tsp), salt (1 tsp) and the rest of the sugar. Make a well and add the yoghurt (150 g), melted ghee (30 g), nigella seeds (1 tsp) if using, and the yeasty milk. Mix to a soft, slightly sticky dough, adding a tablespoon of warm water at a time if it is dry.
Knead on a lightly floured surface for 8–10 minutes until smooth, soft and springy. Put it in an oiled bowl, cover and leave somewhere warm for 1–1½ hours, until doubled in size.
Knock back the dough and divide it into 8 balls. Cover with a damp tea towel. Heat your grill to its highest setting and put a large, heavy frying pan or cast-iron pan (with a heatproof handle) over a high heat for at least 5 minutes.
Roll or stretch one ball into a teardrop about 22 cm long and 5 mm thick. Brush the top lightly with water and lay it wet side down in the hot pan. Cook for 1–2 minutes, until bubbles rise and the underside is charred in patches.
Slide the pan under the grill for about 1 minute, until the naan puffs and blisters. (If your pan cannot go under the grill, flip the naan and cook for another minute.)
Brush at once with ghee (30 g), mixed with the crushed garlic (2 cloves) if you are making garlic naan, scatter with coriander (to serve) and wrap in a clean tea towel to keep soft. Repeat with the rest, wiping the pan between naan if flour starts to burn.
Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.
See also
Chef’s notes
- In a restaurant the dough is slapped onto the hot clay wall of a tandoor. A very hot pan plus a fierce grill is the best home substitute; an upturned baking tray heated in the oven at 240°C also works.
- No yeast? Use self-raising flour, leave out the yeast and sugar, and rest the dough for 1–2 hours. The naan will be a little flatter but still soft.
- Peshwari naan: before rolling, fold a spoonful of ground almonds, desiccated coconut, sultanas and sugar into each ball, then roll out gently.
- To freeze, cool the cooked naan, wrap well and freeze for up to a month. Reheat from frozen in a hot oven for 5 minutes, sprinkled with a few drops of water.
How this recipe was developed
We compared Laxmi Khurana’s yoghurt-raised breads with three of the most-rated naan recipes on BBC Food and BBC Good Food.
- Yoghurt for tenderness. Laxmi Khurana’s book has no naan, but her bhaturas use the same kind of dough: plain flour, baking powder and yoghurt, rested for hours. Romy Gill (BBC Food, 4.7/5) makes her naan with yoghurt and no yeast at all.
- Yeast plus baking powder. BBC Good Food’s naan (Miriam Nice, 4.8/5 from 406 ratings in the collection listing) uses both, with melted butter or ghee in the dough. It gives the lightest, most bubbly naan, so we use both too.
- A very hot pan. Miriam Nice and Anjum Anand both cook naan on a very hot dry pan or griddle; the grill finish copies the top heat of a tandoor.
- Ghee at the end. Every source brushes the naan with ghee or butter straight after cooking and keeps them wrapped so they stay soft.
- Nigella seeds. Optional, as in the BBC Good Food recipe; garlic and coriander make a garlic naan.
Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 31 October 2026):
- Laxmi Khurana: Bhaturas and Chapattis (An Indian Housewife's Recipe Book), Bookey chapter summary
- BBC Food (Romy Gill): Naan bread (4.7/5, 20 ratings)
- BBC Good Food (Miriam Nice): Naan bread (4.8/5, 406 ratings, collection listing)
- BBC Good Food (Anjum Anand): Grilled flaky naans (4.5/5, 12 ratings)
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.