Homemade No Yeast Garlic Butter Naan Recipe | ChefDeHome.com (2024)

FAQs

Why does naan need yeast? ›

Naan is essentially a leavened flatbread, which means it contains some form of raising agent to provide its airy texture. Hence for this naan, the raising agent we will be using is yeast. Other variations do exist which may utilise self raising flour or baking powder/baking soda.

Naan has a thicker, fluffier texture because it is made with yogurt. Pita is thinner bread made with less ingredients (flour, water, salt, etc) and no yogurt. Naan is cooked in a skillet while Pita is usually baked at very high temperatures in the oven.

Naan doesn't get bubbles – Pan not hot enough, dough not moist enough or improper leavening. Naan turns hard – Toasting for too long, not enough moisture in the dough, toasting on low heat or not kneading the dough enough.

The bread flour gives the naan “chew”; the yogurt imparts a slight tang; and the use of a cast iron pan gives the bread its distinctive char and smokiness.

The recipe also works with standard active / dry yeast, but we've found the naan is slightly fluffier and softer using instant yeast. Unusually, we dissolve the instant yeast in warm water then leave it to become foamy – a step usually bypassed with instant yeast, which is typically mixed straight into dough.

So anyway – this naan bread doesn't use yeast – it uses baking powder and soda. I've made versions with both yeast and baking powder and I really love both. You're still going to let this one rise for a while, so don't get TOO excited. It only helps with the flavor.

Some chefs and recipes include eggs in the naan dough to enhance the texture and flavor.

Additional ingredients for crafting naan include warm water, salt, ghee (clarified butter), and yogurt, with optional additions like milk, egg, or honey.

Flour, yeast, milk, and butter make a tender dough that's simply seasoned with garlic and salt, but there is a wide array of naan bread flavors. You'll find everything from coconut and raisin-stuffed bread to saucy lamb-topped naan in restaurants and home kitchens around the world.

Add Sugar

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

How do you make homemade bread fluffier? ›

Potato Flakes or Potato Water

Starch helps the dough by trapping the gas from the yeast in the dough and makes the bubbles stronger. This helps the bread to rise and be lighter and fluffier.

You can also speed up fermentation with temperature, by allowing your dough or batter to rise in a warmer environment (near the pre-heating oven, for example); the closer the temperature is to 95° F, the more efficiently the yeast is feeding and producing carbon dioxide.

Naan by itself may cause your blood sugar to go up, but eating naan as part of a balanced plate and pairing it with protein, vegetables, and fat can help blunt the effects naan may have on your blood sugar. Naan is a high carb food that may help promote healthy blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels.

Skip: Naan

And like those fluffy spuds, this soft flatbread has little nutritional value. Most naan recipes call for Greek yogurt to give it that airy texture. But that's more than offset by less healthy ingredients like white flour, sugar, and oil.

One of the most well-known varieties of Naan is the traditional Indian flatbread known as butter naan. Flour, yeast, salt, sugar, and yogurt are used in their preparation.

Though they're flatbreads, naans traditionally get their bubbly texture from yeast (and, very traditionally, from wild yeasts).

Add more yeast, blend in the starter, or knead in more flour to help initiate rising. Dough that has expired yeast, too much salt, all-purpose or cake flour, or antifungal spices like cinnamon might have trouble rising.

For the leavening of naan dough, yeast is used or a mixture of curd+baking powder is used. This recipe includes baking powder and curd for the leavening. Naan is such a delish bread that it makes you forget about all-purpose flour.

Baking Soda

It helps breads rise and gives them their light and airy texture. Unlike yeast, baking soda needs an acid to activate it. By adding an acid to baking soda (such as lemon juice or cream of tartar) a chemical reaction occurs that produces carbon dioxide and fills your bread with air — much like yeast does.