Naan

Makes six to eight one-person naans.

Naan bread that tastes like it was made in a tandoor. I’ve modified this recipe to make it vegan: good naan contains yogurt, and the garlic oil turns it into a garlic naan, and means you don’t miss butter or ghee.

Ingredients

• Dried yeast, 1.5 tsp
• Sugar, 1 tsp
• Warm water
• Strong white bread flour, 300 g
• Salt, 1 tsp
• Soya or other unflavoured, preferably unsweetened natural vegan yoghurt, and preferably containing bacterial cultures
• Nigella seeds
• Vegetable oil
• Garlic

Instructions

In a small bowl, mix the yeast, sugar, and two tablespoons of warm water. Leave it until it begins to froth.

Meanwhile, put the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Stir in the yoghurt, the yeast mixture, and 2 tbsp of oil. Stir in 150 mL of warm water to make a wet, sticky mixture that is barely firm enough to call dough. Oil a large bowl.

Knead for about five minutes until it’s more silken. You’ll need a dough scraper or similar and it will be a sticky mess. Try not to waste too much.

Put the dough in the oiled bowl, turn to coat, cover, and leave to rise until roughly doubled in — 1.5 to 2 hours.

Make some garlic oil: grate several cloves of garlic and warm in a generous amount of vegetable oil so the oil absorbs the garlic flavour and the garlic’s devenomised.

Knock back the dough, knead in nigella seeds, and divide into six to eight balls. It’ll still be sticky, but a bit of extra flour makes the balls more manageable. Heat frying pan very hot. Warm the oven and put a plate in the oven with a sheet of aluminium foil to wrap the naan in.

Prod out one ball into an oval or teardrop shape, which may be best done in the frying pan. Fry, brushing one side with garlic oil, until it looks ready. Wrap it in the foil in the oven until you’ve cooked them all. Serve immediately.