Sourdough Naan – A Naturally Leavened Flat Bread

Naan is an leavened flatbread traditional baked in clay ovens called Tandoor. These are popular in the Indian Subcontinent and nearby regions. Using Sourdough starter in the recipe creates a Naan bread with more mature, complex flavors. This is as close as you can get to Naans made by the traditional Tandoor bakers of the villages. Vegetarian

I love Naan and as a fan of wild yeast I had to make the sourdough version. What is so special about sourdough naan, you ask?  The answer lies in the depth of flavor, and of course there is the added nutritional value. Naan by any method is a fantastic flat bread. The sourdough version takes it a step further.

Traditional Way Of Making Naan

To convert a regular bread recipe to its wild yeast version is to take a journey back in time. Wild yeast ruled the landscape when commercial packaged yeast was not common or even available. Bakers and home cooks used to ferment a variety of things, fruit peels, grains, tree sap etc. to make homemade yeast cultures. After creating the starter culture, regular feeding and maintenance regimens ensured the maintenance of active and healthy yeast population.

Often times a piece of dough, made with one such starter is allowed to ferment for longer period,  typically overnight or 8 to 10 hours,  and used as the starter for the next batch. These become prized possessions that are usually passed down from cook to cook. This was the secret ingredient of the village baker.

This recipe uses a simple sourdough starter at 100% hydration. If you do not have a starter here is the recipe to make your own.

Typically naan is made with all purpose flour. But to my delight I have found that one about 1/3 of the flour can be substituted with whole wheat flour (Atta) without compromising the puffy soft texture. Another good substitute is the white whole wheat flour. A bit healthier, isn’t that a win for all?

How to Make Sourdough Naan

Apart from the sourdough, this recipe is very similar to the to the regular naan recipe.

Make The Dough

Take the fed and active starter in a large mixing bowl. Add flours, salt, oil and yogurt to it. Stir well. Slowly pour the water and knead a few times to moisten all the flour. Cover and set aside for 20 minutes to let the flours absorb more  moisture. This is an optional step, but it reduce the kneading time.

 Uncover and start kneading. The dough will feel a little little sticky at this time. As you knead the dough becomes less sticky and becomes more elastic and pliable. If after a few minutes of kneading the dough is still very tacky add a few tablespoons of flour. Knead for 10 minutes or so by hand (3 minutes in a stand mixer) until the  dough feels soft and supple.

Rise

Form into a ball. Transfer to an oiled bowl, turn the dough ball to coat all sides with oil. Cover and let rise for at least 4 hours till doubled in volume. Under normal temperatures it takes at least 4 hours but if the ambient temperature is high and the dough seems to be rising very fast place it in the refrigerator to slow it down. Alternately, refrigerate the dough for up to 48 hours, if planning ahead.

Shaping the Naan

Punch down the risen dough and divide into 8 portions. Form each portion into a ball, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Lightly oil (or dust with flour) the work surface. Place one dough ball on it and using the heel of your palm stretch the dough out to an oval / teardrop shape . The dough should not be sticky at this point but if it is, coat a little bit of oil in the palms to make it easy.

Note:  You can use a rolling pin as I did  for the  video.  If  choosing to dust the  work surface instead of oiling make sure that very little amount of flour is used for dusting.

Baking the Naan

Traditionally Naans are baked in Tandoors. Tandoor is a cylindrical clay oven. The bakers light a fire at the base of the cylinder using charcoal or wood. The clay walls heat up and good at absorbing and retaining heat. The temperature inside the Tandoor reach 800℉ or more.

If you are one of the lucky folks to have access to one of these – well, you know what to do. Otherwise try one of the following methods.

Method 1

My favorite way to cook this is a combination of stove top and broiler. This is the quickest and most energy efficient way to do it at home. Heat a thick bottomed pan – like a cast iron griddle till it is smoking hot. Turn the broiler on and place a cookie sheet about 4 inches away from it. Place the shaped naan on the hot griddle and cook for 30 seconds. By this time bubbles start forming on top. Use a wide turner or a pizza peel to transfer the naan to the cookie sheet, without flipping.

Cook for a minute or till the bubbles are fully formed and the top turn brown . Remove from the oven and brush with oil or butter (optional but recommended), and keep covered .

Method 2

If you have a pizza stone, set the pizza stone in the lowest rack of the oven. Turn on the oven and set it to the highest setting.  Once the oven is preheated, keep it on for at least 20 minutes for the the stone to become hot. Place the shaped naan directly on top of the stone and cook for 2 to three minutes until it has puffed up and light brown spots appear on top.

You can use this method on a covered grill as well.

Method 3

Cook both sides on a stovetop pan. This will result in slightly drier and less soft textures, but will still be delicious.

Note

I have seen other stovetop methods where you can stick slightly moistened Naan on a hot Dutch Oven / pressure cooker setup or flip the pan upside down over the flame. So I do not recommend these as more often than not these lead to injuries to the cook or the result in burnt Naan.

Storing and Serving

Naan tastes best served warm. To maintain its freshness brush the Naan with a little bit of oil and cover with a piece of foil/ wax paper / kitchen towel.  Serve  warm.

The  dough on the other hand, keeps well in the fridge or  freezer.  If planning to freeze do it before the yeast activity peaks. Place in s freezer safe bag and remove any extra air before freezing.

It is possible to refrigerate the dough for up to 2 days. Cooler temperatures slow down the yeast activity, but does not stop it completely. So if you are planning ahead, place it in the fridge as soon as possible. Bring it back to room temperature when ready to use. Also cover the dough bowl completely to prevent it from drying out.

Interested in Sourdough? Try these

• Basic Sourdough Bread
• Herman Starter
• Sourdough Pancakes
• Herman Milk Bread
• Herman Coffee Cake
• Sourdough Baguettes