Naan bread

Serves: 2 – 8

Makes: 8

Time: 289 minutes

Ingredients

2 tsp dried yeast
2 tbsp sugar
120ml milk
120ml natural yoghurt
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tbsp rapeseed oil plus extra for brushing
1½ tsp salt
450g plain flour plus extra for kneading/rolling
1 tbsp kalonji

Method

Pour the milk into a measuring jug and warm (30s in a 850W microwave). Put the beaten egg into a large measuring jug, add the yoghurt and beat to combine. Then pour in two thirds of the warm milk and all of the rapeseed oil and beat again to combine.
Time: 2 minutes.
Measure out the sugar into a small bowl and add 1 teaspoon of it to the remaining warm milk and stir to dissolve. Add the yeast to this milk and stir again. Leave to froth in a warm place for 5 minutes or so. Meanwhile, combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the remaining sugar to the yoghurt and stir to dissolve.
Time: 5 minutes.
When the yeast milk has a frothy head, add it to the flour and mix through. Then add the other wet ingredients a bit at a time, stirring until the dough comes together. It will be sticky.
Time: 2 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead for 10 minutes. It will need a little more flour as you go but try to keep this to a minimum. Once the dough is soft and elastic transfer it to a large bowl, cover and leave to rise for 4 hours. After 3 hours place a baking stone in the oven and put it on to maximum.
Time: 250 minutes.
When the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a board, add the kalonji and knead gently for a couple of minutes. Divide the dough into 8 portions. Lightly flour the board and roll each portion out to a 20cm circle. Shake off any excess flour, make some indentations in the dough with your knuckles and brush the top side with oil. Transfer to the oven and bake for 3 minutes. Remove from the oven to a wire rack to cool. You can be rolling the next naan while the previous one cooks.
Time: 30 minutes.

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