Easy Wholegrain Naan Style Flatbread Recipe
Traditionally these breads are cooked in a tandoor oven but we’ll finish them in an oven after starting them in a frying pan. It’s really quick and easy, and they’re a delicious addition to a lentil daal style soup or simple curry. They’re an easy one to make low waste with flour in paper bags (or we get ours in bulk from Doves Farm which is even more budget friendly!
They can be made vegan by using olive oil and either plant based yogurt, or just switching it out for more water. They’re still delicious.
Easy Naan Style Breads
An easy whole spelt naan style bread
Servings: 6 breads
Cost: $2/£1.40
Equipment
- skillet or flying pan
- oven
- bowl
Ingredients
- 3 cup whole spelt flour white spelt or regular whole wheat is also fine!
- 1 cup plain yogurt vegan yogurt will work too
- 2 tsp dry yeast
- 1 tbsp nigella seeds
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil or butter and an extra drizzle for after cooking
- 1 tbsp olive oil for cooking
Instructions
- Add the flour, yeast, nigella seeds, and salt to a large bowl and mix to combine.
- Add in the 1 cup of yogurt and half of the water and mix with a spoon.
- Keep adding water until the flour and liquids come together in a rough ball with no dry flour left in the bowl.
- Cover with a cloth and leave it for 10 minutes in the bowl.
- Turn the rough ball out onto a floured work surface and begin to knead the dough. Press it down, the take one side and fold it over into the middle and press it down. Rotate 45 degrees, press it down, pull one side up and fold it over
- Repeat the kneading process for about 10 minutes or until you have an elastic feeling dough. Place the dough back in the bowl and cover with a cloth. Leave to rise for about an hour or until it’s doubled in size.
- Divide the dough into 6-8 pieces and roll them into balls using the work surface to get tension across the dough as you roll them.
- Take one ball of dough and press it down into a circle about ½” thick, then take one side and pull it out gently stretching the dough into a tear drop shape.
- Heat a skillet or frying pan with a little oil in it to a medium high heat and preheat your oven to 350F/160C.
- Place the bread in the hot pan and cook for about 30 second to one minute on each side, enough to get some browning and bubbling and a firm cooked layer but not turning it dark or cooking the whole way though.
- Use a spatula to transfer it to the oven and stretch the next one and put it in the pan.
- Half way through, switch to putting them on a different pan in the oven so you can remove them at different points.
- When they are all pan cooked and in the oven remove the first batch and leave the second for a further 5 minutes to finish cooking – 10-15 minutes each in total. You want them soft but cooked though so tear one and check and give them another 2 mintues if they need it!
- Top them with a bit of butter and extra salt, or a drizzle or olive or avocado oil and some salt. You can also chop some cilantro/coriander and sprinkle it on top to serve.