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Garlic Naan Bread

Garlic Naan Bread is a traditional South African recipe (from Durban) for a classic round, yeasted, naan bread made with milk and yoghurt that is heavily flavoured with garlic. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic South African version of: Garlic Naan Bread.

prep time

10 minutes

cook time

20 minutes

Total Time:

30 minutes

Additional Time:

(+2 hours proving)

Makes:

4

Rating:

Tags : CurryVegetarian RecipesBread RecipesMilk RecipesSouth-africa Recipes

I love making bread… indeed I love working with bread, whether it’s making breads, sweet buns or even brewing. Partly, at least in bread making, it’s the stress relief that physically kneading gives you, partly it’s when the combination of yeast and flour comes alive and the dough rises. It’s also the smell of freshly baking bread… nothing like it.

This time I’m preparing Indian yeast leavened flatbreads, naan bread. This is my favourite version with garlic in the dough, though for plain naan simply omit the garlic. You can add spices, fruit and you can even stuff the bread with curried meat or beans, this really is a very versatile flatbread. The dough, once made, can be kept over-night in the fridge, and I do sometimes make this the night before ready for breakfast the following day.

I’m also particularly fond of breads containing yoghurt as an ingredient, whether these are yoghurt breads leavened with baking powder or yeast leavened breads flavoured with yoghurt (which also helps keep the moistness).

Whilst naan breads are fantastic served with curries and bean stews of every kind (try them with chillie). This time, I prepared these for an indoor braai (barbecue) of game meat steaks, spiced chicken wings, mixed beans in chilli tomato sauce and guacamole and they proved the ideal accompaniment.

I think they’re also very versatile in terms of cooking methodology. They can be prepared directly on your braai (barbecue), in a dry skillet, under a grill (broiler) or in the oven.

Note that this recipe is the Durban (South Africa) way of making garlic naan bread; but it's essentially the same as the method anywhere in the world.

Ingredients:

75ml (7 tbsp) warm milk
1 tsp sugar
1 sachet (7g) active, dried, yeast
250g (2 cups) bread flour (I used 3/4 white and ¼ wholemeal (whole-wheat)
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
3 plump garlic cloves, finely minced
75ml plain yoghurt (at room temperature)
1 tbsp ghee (or melted butter) plus more for brushing
4 tbsp finely-chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves

Method:

Combine milk, sugar and yeast in a bowl and lightly stir. Cover and leave to stand in a warm place for 5 minutes. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl and add the yeast mixture, the ghee, the garlic and the yoghurt. Mix to a soft dough then tip onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes or until dough is smooth & elastic. Place the dough in large greased bowl, cover and allow to stand in a warm place for about 1 1/2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size. Knock the dough back then knead for a further five minutes. Divide the dough into 4 pieces, and roll each into a teardrop about 20cm long (or you can make a 20cm round).

Place on a baking tray, cover with a clean tea towel and allow to raise for 20 minutes or so. Cook each naan individually by placing under a very hot grill (broiler) for about 2 minutes each side until puffed and just browned. Then brush the naan with a little extra ghee and grill a further 30 seconds. Keep the naans warm in a low oven whilst cooking the remainder.

Alternatively, keep on the baking tray, place in a hot oven (200C, 400F) and bake for about 10 minutes. Brush with ghee as you remove from the oven, dust with chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves and serve.