Naan bread is an Indian flatbread. This gluten free naan bread is just as soft and delicious as the original, and just as easy to make!
Ahhhh, naan bread. That soft and tangy flatbread always served in Indian restaurants to dip in curries and such. I remember years ago picking up those packages of naan from the grocery store to make personal pizzas, or wraps filled with grilled chicken and vegetables. I now pass right by those packages in the store. Not because I’ve accepted the fact I can no longer have naan bread. Because I developed THIS gluten free naan bread and I don’t have to go without anymore!
I’ve been making this gluten free naan bread for years now. It’s so soft and delicious, my family didn’t know it was gluten free! My sister came for a visit a couple years back and I made a dinner of chicken souvlaki with a yogurt tahini sauce. This is my favorite way to serve gluten free naan bread, with chicken souvlaki.
It’s actually so simple to make this bread, you’ll wish you had the recipe years ago! Well, I’m here right now giving it to you so you can make it any time you feel like having great gluten free bread 🙂 Let’s go over the easy steps:
- Mix up the dough. The dough consists of simple ingredients, Kim’s gluten free bread flour blend, yeast, a pinch of baking powder, sugar, salt, yogurt, and olive oil.
- Let the dough rise for about 2-4 hours on the counter, or until doubled in volume. I make it in the morning so it’s ready for dinner.
- Refrigerate for several hours to make it easier to work with.
- Knead dough briefly on well-floured surface. It’s a very sticky dough so using more flour will help it not to stick to the counter.
- Divide dough into 6 pieces and roll out into oblong shape (tear shaped is what true naan bread is, but whatever shape you end up with is fine).
- Heat cast iron skillet to smoking. Make sure you have good ventilation because it will smoke heavily. (Open windows, plug in fans, etc). Better yet, if you have a gas grill, heat the skillet on the grill on high heat. Place each naan on baking sheets to bring to grill.
- Using a bench scraper, lift naan from counter (or baking sheet if using a grill) and flip over onto skillet.
- “Bake” naan for 1 minute on first side. Flip over with spatula and cover skillet with lid. Bake for another minute.
- Remove naan from skillet and place on baking sheet. Brush with butter or ghee.
You’re gonna LOVE this gluten free naan bread!! It’s so soft and so versatile (naan pizza for one, perhaps?) you’ll be making it all the time 🙂
Gluten Free Naan Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups (280 g) Kim's gluten free bread flour blend
- 1 ½ tsp instant (fast-acting) yeast
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/8 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup water
- 3 tbsp plain full-fat yogurt (if you only have Greek yogurt, thin it out with a little milk or water to the consistency of regular yogurt)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- In large measuring cup, combine water, yogurt, and olive oil. Set aside.
- In bowl of stand mixer, whisk together flour blend, baking powder, yeast, sugar, and salt. With mixer running on low speed, using paddle attachment, slowly pour in wet ingredients until incorporated. Mix on medium high for about 5 minutes. Alternatively, the dough can be mixed vigorously by hand in a large bowl with a dough mixer or wooden spoon (you're sure to get an arm workout).
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rise at room temperature for about 2-4 hours (depending on how warm your kitchen is), until doubled in volume.
- Refrigerate dough for a couple of hours until well chilled. This can be done overnight, or even up to 3 days ahead.
- Remove dough from refrigerator and knead briefly on well-floured surface. Dough is very sticky, so use as much extra bread flour blend as necessary to prevent sticking. (You may also use tapioca or cornstarch). Divide into 6 equal pieces and roll each piece into an oblong flatbread about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick, using more flour as needed.
- Heat cast iron skillet to scorching hot (you will need adequate ventilation for this–outside on a grill is another option).
- Using bench scraper, lift one flatbread off surface and carefully flip over onto skillet. "Bake" for 1 minute. Flip over using spatula and cover skillet and "bake" for another minute. Remove from skillet, place on baking sheet and brush with butter. Bake the rest of the naan, one at a time. Serve warm wrapped in towel.
- Store wrapped in foil on counter for just a few days. To reheat, preheat oven to 350° and reheat naans wrapped in foil for about 15 minutes, or until heated throughout. May be frozen well wrapped for 3 months.
Adapted from Aarti Sequeira’s Naan: Indian Oven-Baked Flat Bread
Kim, this was yet another winner!!! I haven’t had naan since having to go GF and never thought I’d have it again, I’ve never seen it at stores. This was absolutely amazing!!! Spot on texture and flavor wise, wow! I didn’t give myself enough time so put it in the freezer to chill for about 20 minutes and it was very easy to work with. Thank you 🙂
Is it pliable enough to use as a wrap? Thanks for all of the great recipes! 💛
Aww, you’re so very welcome! Thank you for the kind words! It is pliable enough to use as a wrap. We use it in the summertime to make chicken souvlaki and fill it with grilled chicken kabobs, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. That’s one my favorite summer meals!
Another amazing recipe! This is the second recipe I’ve tried from your website, the pizza crust being the first one and this one did not disappoint either! Since going gluten free I’ve missed eating naan and this recipe is amazing 🙂 thank you Kim!!
Thanks so much, Sofi! So glad you liked both recipes 🙂
Hi Kim,
Thank you so much for taking the time to develop your recipes and especially your flour mixes. I now have a stash of your AP flour blend AND your bread flour blend in the cabinet (by the way, I used hemp protein for that and it works but does make the bread a greyish green – haha) – This Naan recipe was the best gluten free product I have ever made. I really appreciate your attention to detail and all the efforts you are sharing with all of us. Grateful from Northern California.
Awe, thank you so much, Janice!! I’m happy to share my gluten free baking successes with anyone who wants them 😍
Hi Kim. I had a naan catastrophe. I made the yeast free naan a few weeks ago and it was great. I tried this version and my dough was so sticky. No matter how much flour I added it was unworkable. I made some little “drop” naans just see how they would come out. They tasted ok but looked awful! For the first rise, the dough looked great. It deflated in the refrigerator overnight, though. Any thoughts on what went wrong? And are there any fixes when dough is too wet, sticky, impossible to shape or roll? I wonder if my yeast is bad? Thanks for any input.
Oh no! I’m so sorry it didn’t work out. The dough does deflate overnight in the fridge, but let’s troubleshoot. Did you use my flour blend or substitute anything within the blend? That’s the first key. Any chance you measured the water incorrectly? Or could you have had the temperature too high during your first rise that you killed the yeast?
I used your flour blend and I’m pretty certain I measured correctly. I did the first rise in my oven using the bread proofing setting. ( I think that’s around 90-100 degrees). Maybe that was too warm and I killed the yeast. I’ll give it another try without doing that. It has worked well for some of your other bread recipes though. I’ll report back :). Thanks you for your responsiveness! I’ve learned so much from you!
Hi Kim! Excited to try yet another of your amazing recipes. Question about the naan recipe, you specify not using greek yogurt. May I ask why? It seems my grocery store does not realize there are plain yogurts that are not greek. Just want to make sure i’m not creating a litter of little naan gremlins if I use greek yogurt. Thanks for your time!
Haha! I’m so sorry, Nichole. I should have put the reason why on this post! It was one of my very early posts so I didn’t know what to include, but I will go back and put a substitution in the recipe card.
The reason is because Greek yogurt is too thick and the naan will be very dry. However, you can add milk, cream, or even water to a little bit of Greek yogurt to thin it out 😍
Kim, have you ever tried a pita bread with a pocket?
I’m actually testing pita right now. Have had some success, but I’d like to get it perfected before posting.