Garlic Naan

Ingredients

• 400 g strong white flour
• 5 g fast-action dried yeast
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 150 g natural yoghurt
• 120 ml warm milk
• 60 g butter, melted
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• a handful of coriander, chopped
• 2 tsp nigella seeds

Method

1. Make a soft dough

   Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, yoghurt and warm milk into a soft, slightly sticky dough and knead until smooth. The yoghurt is what makes naan tender and slightly tangy rather than just a plain bread.

   10 min

2. Prove

   Cover and leave until doubled, about an hour in a warm kitchen.

   1 h

3. Get the pan brutally hot

   Heat a heavy dry frying pan or cast-iron skillet until a drop of water vanishes on contact. Naan is a tandoor bread — without fierce heat it dries out rather than blistering.

   8 min

4. Roll into teardrops

   Roll each piece to about 5 mm, pulling one end to a teardrop, and press the nigella seeds into the surface so they do not fall off in the pan.

5. Cook and butter

   Slap the dough into the dry pan. When large bubbles rise and the underside is charred in spots, flip it. Brush the hot naan immediately with the melted butter mixed with garlic and coriander — raw garlic in the pan would burn, but on hot bread it cooks just enough.

   3 min

6. Keep them soft

   Stack the cooked naan in a clean cloth as you go. Left in the open air they stiffen within minutes.