Garlic Naan

Ingredients

• 500 g plain flour (maida), plus extra for dusting
• 2 tsp instant dry yeast
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1½ tsp fine salt
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 220 ml warm milk (about 38°C, comfortably warm to the touch)
• 80 g plain yogurt, at room temperature
• 2 tbsp cooking oil, plus extra for the bowl
• 1 tsp kalonji (nigella seeds)
• 60 g butter or ghee
• 6 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 3 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
• 1 pinch salt, for the garlic butter

Instructions

1. Stir the sugar and yeast into the warm milk in a small bowl. Leave it until the surface is foamy and puffed, about 10 minutes. If nothing happens, the yeast is old, so start again with fresh yeast.
2. Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the yeast milk, yogurt and oil.
3. Mix to a shaggy dough, then knead on a lightly floured surface for 8 to 10 minutes. It is ready when it is smooth, soft and springs back slowly when pressed. Add a spoonful of milk if it feels stiff, or a little flour if it sticks.
4. Put the dough in an oiled bowl and turn it once to coat. Cover with a damp cloth and leave somewhere warm until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
5. Put two heavy baking trays upside down on the oven racks, then heat the oven to its highest setting, ideally 240 to 250°C. Preheating the trays gives the naan a blistered base.
6. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the garlic and a pinch of salt and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant but still pale. Take it off the heat and stir in the coriander.
7. Punch down the dough and divide it into 6 equal balls. Cover them and rest for 10 minutes so they roll out easily.
8. Roll each ball into an oval about 5 mm thick, slightly thinner in the middle. Sprinkle with a little kalonji and press it in with the rolling pin. Brush the top lightly with water.
9. Carefully lay 2 naan, wet side up, on each hot tray, working in batches. Bake for 4 to 5 minutes, until puffed with golden-brown spots and no raw patches on the underside.
10. Brush the hot naan generously with garlic butter and wrap in a clean cloth. Repeat with the remaining dough, reheating the trays for a minute between batches, then serve warm.

Tips

• Use a very hot oven and preheated trays. A cool tray gives pale, bread-like naan instead of puffy, blistered ones.
• Keep the garlic pale in the butter. Browned garlic tastes bitter once it goes on the hot bread.
• Wrap finished naan in a cloth straight away. The trapped steam keeps them soft and pliable.
• Do not roll the dough too thin, or it will bake up crisp like a cracker rather than soft.