Recipe | Oven Naan

Naan is just the perfect type of bread - soft and crunchy, not too thick or thin, and goes with anything. From curries to cheeses and desserts. It is impossible to not love something so humble yet so delicious. The best type of naan is tandoori naan, made in a traditional clay oven. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to find the perfect tandoori naan in the U.S. Of course, there are many places you can find tandoori naan, but it’s not the same. It is fine fresh but cools down to have the texture of rubber (have you noticed?). This is why I have been attempting to make naan in my oven.


I would get a traditional tandoor in a heartbeat if my kitchen was bigger but for now, all I have is an oven. The tandoor is similar to a firewood pizza oven. It has to be extremely hot with visible flames. The hot atmosphere along with the visible flames bakes the bread faster so it stays soft. The longer in the oven, the harder it will get. I thought a simple way to make my oven replicate a tandoor is to switch from bake to broiler setting. The bake setting would heat up the oven followed by the broiler browning the bread faster.

Excited about this, I kneaded chappati atta (flour). After proofing for 6 hours, I shaped it into a round, put it in the hot oven and crossed my fingers. The naan came out hard as a stone. Gutted, maybe I was leaving it in the oven too long. I tried again and decided to take it out just as it was about to turn brown. The inside was raw. I quickly blamed the oven and swore to never bake anything in it.

A few weeks later I was making homemade pizza in the oven using the above-mentioned oven setting and the pizza dough had a beautiful brown colour yet soft and pillowy inside. This got me thinking, is it possible to make naan using pizza dough? I tried it and it worked! I have been making naan using plain pizza flour, and every time it is a hit. Here is how I make it.

Ingredients

300 grams or 2 cups of 00 flour
2 grams or ¾ teaspoon fresh yeast or instant yeast
8 grams or 1 teaspoon salt
4 grams or 1 teaspoon olive oil
A little less than one cup or 200 grams of lukewarm filtered water

Method

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, yeast, and salt. In a small mixing bowl, stir together water and olive oil, then pour into the flour mixture. Knead with your hands until well combined, approximately 5 minutes, then cover the bowl with cling film and let it rest for 6 to 12 hours at room temperature.

Preheat oven to 480 F with a baking sheet inside. Knead the rested dough for 2 minutes. Cut into two equal pieces and shape into a ball. Place on a heavily floured surface, cover with damp cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes or until the oven is ready to be used. It is best to turn on the oven an hour prior to baking so that it can heat up properly. The hotter the oven, the better.

To make the naan, place each dough ball on a heavily floured surface, use your palms to first flatten it and then your fingers to gently stretch followed by using a rolling pin to shape into a round. Place the dough on the back of the sheet pan and using a fork pierce a few holes on the surface of the dough. This is done to prevent the dough from rising. Place the sheet pan back in the oven for 2 minutes. Switch the oven to the highest broiler setting. Take out the naan once it’s brown, approximately 5 minutes.