The Best Vegan Naan Recipe

September 20, 2018 by Lea Jasmine 48 Comments

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Hey broke foodies! Ever wonder how to make vegan naan? Today, we’ll be giving you 7 reasons to make the best vegan naan recipe. Seriously, this baby has never failed us.

Let’s get right into it because learning how to make naan bread is key to living a full life, guys.

Seriously.

#1 — It is way easier than you think it is

‘Nuf said. Let us walk you through it, trust yourself, and trust me – you can do this [and rock at it].

#2 — It’s amazing with sea salt & avocado

Seriously though — coming home starving, then just warming up a naan, halving an avocado, smushing it onto the warm naan, sprinkling salt, folding the thing in half and scarfing it? BEST THING EVER.

And yes, I said smushing.

#3 — It only takes less than 30 minutes of actual effort

Let’s say 3-5 minutes of amassing the ingredients, 1 minute to see if your yeast is alive, 5-10 minutes of kneading [10 if you’re not sure and the obsessive and perfectionist side of you pops in] and then after it rises to desired riseyness, only 4 minutes per naan on the grill — two at a time if you’re a baws.

There’s the unspoken 1.5 hours of total rising time, but during this time, you’re doing other shit. And while you do the other shit you need to do, you’re fantasizing about warm naan, and then rewarding yourself with warm naan.

Did I say warm naan ?

Warm naan.

#4 — Naan Dough Can Be Frozen, and then cooked from frozen!!!

I speak the truth people! Simply roll out your naan as you would before putting it on a hot pan, and instead, layer that dough onto a small piece of saran wrap.

Cut another piece of saran wrap, put another naan, continue until all the naans be stacked in a weird little tower, then ziplock it, freeze it, forget about it…. Until one morning, you’re late, you don’t know what to eat and you need to eat because you’re grumpy?

Warm your pan up to the max, whip it out of the freezer, unpeel 1 or 2 naan, stick em onto the heating pan [yeah, it doesn’t even need to be completely preheated], flip when browning and cook another two minutes while you slice your banana, or your avocado, or you take out your peanut butter… WHATEVER! No judgements. 5 minute breakfast. You’re welcome.

#5 — Soooooo good with sauce &/or curry

Back to the basics — using naan for its purpose. Making a chili, curry, tagine, whatever… It’s better with bread and you know it (Paleo? Puhlease…).

Scoop up that sauce and be happy with your portion-controlled oval of naan. From fresh or freshly frozen. Heheh

#6 — Makes you look way more established than you think you are

I made bread once before I met Idriss, and it gave me such an anxiety-filled afternoon [I had promised family to bring over baguette for dinner…] that I never did it again. Bread always seemed like too much effort, and too much risk.

After meeting Idriss and seeing him hand make anything he wants to eat? I decided I would learn from him. Now, if I want to make naan every Sunday, I can make naan every Sunday, because here is a fool proof recipe that once you know the basics, makes you look and feel like a PRO.

Your friends and family will be impressed, because most likely, they haven’t tried making bread either.

Be the one who tries things. They’ll only see your success if you post it on social media 😉

#7 — It will make you happy

Lastly, it will make you happy to have warm naan and knowing that you made it yourself. I promise. There are few things that take such little time and effort that can make you feel so fabulous. I implore you, try it. If you need addition help, such as videos, or gifs, or step-by-step photos, it’ll be our pleasure to remake naan and show you every step along the way. But I think you’ll be fine with the basic tips we’ll share with you, and the recipe below.

The Basics

1 — proofing your yeast

To proof yeast means to activate it with warm water and sugar, to ensure that the yeast is alive and kicking, and that all your doughe-fforts will pay off. The water, if too hot, will burn the yeast and the proofing won’t happen. It also won’t happen as fast if the water is too cold. The water should be a little bit hotter than baby bottle temperature. Cozy-warm to the touch.

You’ll know you’re successful when the yeast looks foamy and it has grown in size.

2 — working the dough until it’s not a mess

Dough, in it’s beginnings, looks nothing like once you’re done kneading. So keep working it until it’s not a mess. This may include adding a little bit or water or flour, depending on how the recipe treated your ingredients. What I mean is that bread is not an exact science, every flour is different, and everyone measures differently. That can make it that your dough may be a little more dry than the author’s, or more wet. In such a case, you’ll need to adjust. Ain’t no biggie.

3 — keep working it until it’s a stretchy, pretty ball

I tend to get a little impatient in the kneading process, because I’m a small, impatient woman who’s small hands make her need to have that much more effort when kneading. UGH. So yes, if this is your struggle too, remember to keep working it until it’s a stretchy, pretty ball of dough. It should feel somewhat like a boob. And it should be fun to poke. Don’t judge me.

4 — letting it rise in a prime environment

Prime bread needs a prime rise — that means a nice, cozy temperature and a moist environment. If a room is cold, then it’ll take longer for the dough to rise completely, and we’re impatient broke foodies, so here are some of my favorite tricks :

If you’re cooking, put your rising dough next to the oven [NOT ON THE OVEN, PEOPLE]

Not cooking? If you have a working oven light, put the dough in the oven with ONLY THE OVEN LIGHT ON. Do NOT put your dough in a preheated oven. Just don’t. It will ruin reason #7 if you do. You have been warned.

5 — giving it the time it needs

I know I’ve established that we’re impatient people, especially when it comes to warm bread, but give the damn dough the time it needs, people! Just watch Netflix and forget about it, or something. Read a book. Do laundry. Take a bath. I don’t care, just, do it.

Ok. You’re ready to make the best vegan naan recipe. I’m proud of you, guys. You’re doing this.

Take pictures and tag us! @broke_foodies

We want to see your naan!

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vegan naan bread | Detailed step-by-step guide on how and why to make vegan naan bread | Brokefoodies.com

5 from 4 votes

7 Reasons To Make Naan Bread

Vegan naan bread

Course Vegan

Cuisine Indian

Servings 8

Author Lea Jasmine

Ingredients

1.5 tsp yeast
2/3 cup warm water
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp salt For SALTY naan, try 1 tsp if you want it less salty, or to taste
2 [& 1/4 — maybe] cups all purpose unbleached flour
optional: onion powder & anise

Instructions

Start by proofing your yeast — mix your yeast, sugar and warm water in a small bowl and give it some time. If it foams, your yeast is active and you may proceed. If it does not foam up after 5 minutes, then throw out the batch and restart.
Once your yeast is proofed, add olive oil and salt to the mixture. In a medium-to-large bowl, put two cups of flour and reserve your 1/4 cup on the side, make a well with the flour and pour in your liquid mixture. Mix with a fork until your fork is useless, then pour the mixture onto the counter and start kneading.
You’ll probably need a bit of water and a bit of flour on the side to make sure your dough is just right — so keep that on the side. Knead your dough and assess. For the first few minutes, you’ll have dry-looking pieces of dough that you need to convince to stick together. That, or your dough will be too wet and sticky, in which case you’ll need that flour — add a little bit at a time, until your dough can be worked with.
After a few minutes, if your dough is still sticking to the counter, add more flour. If it is really hard to work with and isn’t elastic, then you’ll need to add water. A good trick is dipping your fingers into water and brushing it onto the dough, then kneading, working the water into the dough. Knead knead knead. Until you can re-assess.
After a total of 2-3 songs [or 5-10 minutes], you should have a soft, boob-like dough, that stretches a little but breaks after you pull it too much. It should be barely sticky and not stick to the counter.
Your dough is ready. Oil a bowl, put your dough in, and with your oily hand, lightly oil the top of the ball of dough. Cover with a humid towel or saran wrap and store in a warm [but not hot] location. DO NOT PREHEAT YOUR OVEN AS A WARM SPOT — if the oven is too warm, it’ll start the cooking process and your dough won’t rise…. Not that I’ve done that or anything… If you think your kitchen is too cold, then you can put your dough in the oven with only the oven light on. It will generate enough heat to be a perfect rising environment for your dough.
Check on your dough after an hour. If it has doubled in size, punch it, shape it [without folding, just by pulling] into a roughly equal rectangle, and cut it in half, 7 times — AKA cut it into 8 equal pieces.
Put those pieces of dough onto a plate or lightly oiled chopping board, cover with the humid towel or saran, put back into a rising spot for another 30 minutes.
[optional — freezing your naan] if you’re going to freeze a portion of it, simply roll it out and put between sheets of saran. Freeze and cook from frozen when needed. If not… follow step 10.
Once the time has elapsed, preheat your pan at 7.5, or high-medium-high. While your pan heats, roll out two naan doughs into a thin [about 1/4 cm]. Throw one [or two] naan dough onto the hot pan, and flip every minute. It will take a total or 3-4 minutes per batch. Less if the heat is on point. You’ll know it’s ready by the color. Don’t be sad if you burn it a little, that is flavour, people, flavour.
Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

Please note that I like my naan a little more salty than usual. You can use 1 Tsp of salt instead of 1 Tbsp if you want to tone it down.

Cost per recipe : 1.6 $CA

The cost of my recipes is based on the average cost of ingredients I use. It's mostly provided as a guideline for you to understand the true savings you can make when you choose to cook at home.

Did you love it ? Try dipping in this awesome Vegan Butter “Chicken”. By chicken we mean Tofu, of course.
Enjoy,

Lea

Lea Jasmine

Montrealer, coffee addict, interior design enthusiast, unapologetic hipster, and dog mommy.

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