Naan

The subcontinent's great leavened flatbread: a teardrop of yeasted white flour dough baked against the walls of a clay tandoor until blistered, charred in patches and impossibly fluffy. Glossed with garlic butter and brushed with nigella seeds, naan is the bread of the Mughal emperors, a staple from the bakeries of Lahore to the kitchens of Delhi, and the one bread the whole world associates with the cooking of India and Pakistan alike.

Origin: Persia & Mughal India

From the journey of Wheat.

Naan (from the Persian word for bread) was introduced to the Indian subcontinent via the Persian-influenced Mughal Empire. The earliest Indian reference to naan appears in the notes of poet Amir Khusrau in 1300 CE at the Delhi Sultanate court; naan-e-tanuk (thin bread) and naan-e-tanuri (tandoor bread). The tandoor oven itself came from Central Asia. Naan was aristocratic food until the 20th century; the daily bread of the common people was chapati. Today it is the signature bread of North Indian restaurants worldwide, though the best naan, charred and blistered from a 450°C tandoor, cannot truly be replicated at home.

Ingredients

  • 400 g strong white bread flour
  • 7 g active dry yeast
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 200 ml warm water
  • 100 g full-fat yoghurt
  • 2 tbsp neutral oil
  • 1.5 tsp salt
  • 50 g butter, melted
  • 3 Garlic cloves, minced
  • small bunch Fresh coriander, chopped
  • 1 tsp nigella seeds

Method

  1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water, leave 5 minutes until frothy. Combine flour and salt. Add yeast liquid, yoghurt and oil. Knead 8–10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Cover and prove 1.5–2 hours until doubled.
  2. Preheat grill to its maximum. Place a cast iron pan under the grill until screaming hot.
  3. Divide dough into 6 pieces. Roll each into an oval teardrop shape, about 5mm thick. Sprinkle with nigella seeds and press lightly.
  4. Place a naan directly on the hot pan. Put under the grill (15–20cm from element) for 2–3 minutes until massively puffed and charred in spots.
  5. Combine melted butter with garlic and coriander. Brush immediately onto the hot naan.
  6. Serve at once with dal makhani, butter chicken or saag paneer.
The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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