Learn to make garlic naan bread that contains whole wheat flour and no butter. Even though it is super soft and delicious to eat. It is a must-try recipe.
Recipe Background / Inspiration
Making whole wheat garlic naan bread is not difficult. If you’ve ever made pita bread or pizza dough at home, you will find this recipe quite familiar. I had never made any kind of naan at home until last year. I only enjoyed them in restaurants in India.
I belong to the western part of India, where naan bread is not eaten commonly. Naan is the staple bread diet of the northern part of the country. I never saw my mother cooking it either. So, I had no clue about how to prepare them at home, and I also believed in the fact that certain dishes are best eaten in restaurants. It was when I started to explore and learn to cook different types of dishes at home, that garlic naans were the one on my priority list.
I got some basic ideas for making naan bread from Tushar’s aunty, who is a great cook. But, I made some changes to the ingredients to give it a healthy twist.
Generally, naan is made from all-purpose flour with lots of butter. All-purpose flour and butter make it soft and delicious. In this commonly used recipe, I partially (about 70%) replaced all-purpose flour with 100% whole wheat flour. I didn’t use butter at all. Even with these replacements, garlic naan bread turned out super soft and delicious.
However, I am still not satisfied with my partial replacement of whole wheat flour. I will try to make them using whole wheat flour without using any refined flour. If I am successful, I will share the recipe with you all. Till then, try this recipe and enjoy a low fat, partial whole wheat version of garlic naan bread.
How is this whole wheat naan bread recipe healthy?
This naan bread is healthy because it contains:
- 100 % whole wheat flour
- olive oil instead of butter, so it is low in saturated fat
- non-fat plain greek yogurt instead of whole-milk yogurt
More Whole Wheat Bread Recipes To Try
📖 Recipe
Garlic naan bread recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups 100% whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon rapid rise yeast
- ¼ cup plain nonfat greek yogurt (at room temperature, optional if vegan)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- salt to taste
- 1 ½ tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ¼ cup warm water
- 2 tablespoon chopped coriander
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, sugar, salt and yeast
- Add yogurt and ½ tablespoon minced garlic. Add warm water and mix until well combined using a wooden spatula
- Knead the dough in the bowl itself for about 5-6 min. until it becomes soft. Use the remaining ¼ cup water during kneading to wet the hand and avoid sticking the dough to the hand. Cover the bowl and place it in a warm area and let the dough rise for about 1 hr
- To make the toppings, mix 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 1 tablespoon olive oil and chopped coriander in a small bowl; mix well
- Once the dough has risen to double its size, transfer it to a flat surface. Add some dry flour to avoid sticking the dough on to the surface. Spread the dough using hands and give it a rectangular shape (almost). Cut the dough into roughly 8 equal parts (see image above) and then give each of them a round shape. Roll the naan to roughly ¼ in. in thickness
- Heat a cast iron pan on medium-high heat. Put the rolled naan onto the preheated pan. Cook naan on one side for about 2 min on medium heat and then flip it over. Let it cook on this side for another 2 min. Meanwhile spread some water using a brush on the cooked surface to provide some moisture. Then, spread some toppings using a spoon. Once the other side is cooked, flip it over and just cook for 10 sec to remove the raw garlic flavor from the toppings.
Hello Swati and Tushar: Thank you for your email and your recipes. These recipes look fantastic and very easy. I am looking forward to making them soon.
What a tasty dish!!!. Thanks for sharing. I think your dish is very delicious. I will make this recipe for my family and my friend. I hope you have more recipe like this.
These naan were fantastic!! So yummy and easy. I halved the recipe as I was only cooking for 2 and it worked well. I didn’t have rapid rise yeast, so I used dry active and just added more allowing it to bubble with the warm water and sugar for 5 minutes before mixing. Worked like a charm! Thanks for this great recipe!!