Garlic & Cheese Naan

Our local Indian restaurant is great – they do garlic and cheese naan for us even though they’re not on the menu. But when we’re cooking at home, the ready-made supermarket naan just don’t make the grade, so here’s a very simple recipe to make your own.

 

Makes 8 small or 4 large

Ingredients

• 225g of self-raising flour
• 5g of fast-action bread yeast
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons of natural or Greek yoghurt
• 1 tablespoon of melted butter plus extra for brushing
• 4 tablespoons of lukewarm milk
• 70g of grated cheese
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed

 

Method

1. Half-fill a large mixing bowl with boiling water and place a glass or cup containing the butter into it along with a cup containing the milk. This will do three things: melt the butter, warm the milk to lukewarm and heat the bowl.
2. Meanwhile, lightly whisk the yoghurt. In a separate bowl, add the yeast and salt to the flour.
3. Once the butter has melted and the milk is lukewarm, ditch the water and, while the bowl is still warm, combine all of the ingredients in it and mix to form a lump-free dough. Cover with oiled (or buttered) cling film and leave to prove for 25 minutes in a dark, warm place. Being a flatbread dough, it won’t rise in the same way as normal white bread dough.
4. Mix the crushed garlic and cheese together.
5. Turn the dough out on to a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until smooth. Divide into 4 or 8 balls.
6. With a rolling pin, roll each ball thinly, sprinkle half of each flattened dough ball with garlic and cheese, fold over and compress to encapsulate the filling.
7. Glaze one side of the naan with melted (or softened) butter and heat under a hot, pre-heated grill until golden brown. Repeat for the other side.

You can vary the fillings and perhaps introduce some almonds or dried fruit.