Naan was one of the major things I missed when I turned vegan. The Indian joint I frequent uses milk in their naan, so I’ve been getting the wheat-based tandoori roti (which Harry the owner assures me is vegan-friendly). But then in Canada, at Mysala Bistro, we were told that their naan was vegan as long as they didn’t brush it with butter before bringing it out – heck ya! So since then, after not having naan for several years..I became hooked again. And now, I want it all the time – alas, I’m back to the land of non-vegan naan so I have to make my own. This recipe makes about 8 pieces of naan…
Ingredients:
2/3 C warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 C AP flour (1 C AP, 1/2 C whole wheat or bread flour)
1 TBSP canola oil
1 tsp salt
about 1/4 C more vegetable oil for brushing the bread
Directions:
1. Put the sugar, yeast and water in a small bowl and mix until the yeast is dissolved. Let stand until it gets foamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Put the flour in a big bowl. Make a well in the center and add the 1 tablespoon of oil, the salt and the yeast mixture. Mix thoroughly with your hands to form a dough. Add sprinkles of water if needed.
3. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, until dough is smooth.
4. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours. It should double in size.
5. When you are ready to bake the bread preheat the oven to 475°F. (If using a baking stone, preheat it in the oven when you turn it on).
6. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 2 minutes. Break off small balls and pat into rounds about 5 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick.
7. Cover a baking sheet with tin foil and grease it well. Place 4 dough rounds on the tin foil and brush the surfaces with oil (slide into oven on the foil if using the baking stone). Bake for 3 minutes. Remove and turn breads over, brushing with more oil. Return to oven and bake 3 more minutes. Remove and brush with oil again. Return to oven again for an additional 1-2 minutes, being careful that they don’t burn. Wrap in tin foil until you are ready to serve. Repeat with remaining dough.
Everything seems to be developing nicely!
**Addendum: I made one naan out of the freezer (I let it thaw in fridge during the day) last night on the stove-top in a hot skillet, just like a tortilla..and it came out great – it only took about 45 seconds to 1 minute on each side, so it also cut down on the cooking time!
Happy Baking!
Garlic naan is one of the greatest pleasures there is. Interesting about the butter. A good friend of mine (vegan) has always been steered to roti at the local Indian restaurants. I wonder if we can just request naan without butter now….
Well, I would recommend to your friend to ask if they use milk in the naan. My Indian restaurant I go to uses milk in the naan in addition to buttering it, hence the roti…I think it was a random anomaly that the place in Canada didn’t use milk, so it’s always better to ask. But you’re right Haley, garlic naan is one of the greatest pleasures out there…
Thanks so much for the recipe! I tried it a few days ago, and the results were excellent. My wife really enjoyed the naan as well. I’m going to have check out some of your other recipes 😉
Greetz from Australia!
Sure thing Sebastian! So glad you and your wife enjoyed it! It’s funny that I got your comment today, because I made naan over the weekend again (after a long time of not having made it), and remembered how much I love this recipe! Let us know if you try anything else out, and what you think of it!
-Sara
I’ve been hooked on Trader Joe’s frozen naan but it’s not vegan. You said you made one from the freezer? So you cooked it up and then froze it? Or did you undercook for best result?
I left them as uncooked dough balls in the freezer, then thawed and cooked individually..but a friend of mine has cooked them, froze them, and then warmed them back up – and I think both methods would work equally well. And mine, from frozen raw dough, thaw, to cooked turned out yum!
Wonderful! Thank you 🙂
Turned out really well. Thank you!
Just ran across this recipe on a web search, and I cannot believe how yummy it was. Made some Rajmah to accompany it. Delicious.
Did the frozen dough rise the same as the fresh dough? I would suspect that freezing would kill the yeast, but maybe not?
Hey Robby,
It didn’t rise as high as the fresh dough, but it still puffed up quite a bit. Yeah, fresh is better..but freezing isn’t terrible. The freezing doesn’t actually kill the yeast, but it does slow it’s action. So you’ll definitely want to let the dough return to room temperature before working with it again. Hope this helps! 🙂
-Sara
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