Sourdough Naan Flatbread
Sourdough naan is a delicious, soft, and chewy flatbread that's super easy to make with your unfed sourdough starter.
Mix the dough in the morning and enjoy fresh, homemade naan in the evening!
Serve with hummus, soups and stews, sandwiches, and even flatbread pizza.
Sourdough naan has got to be the easiest flatbread to make from scratch EVER! This recipe is so simple, anyone can make it. Even sourdough beginners.
Don't worry about turning on your oven because naan is cooked on the stovetop. That means you can make sourdough any time of the year without having to heat up the kitchen. Yay!
Just take a look at the sample schedule below to see how easy it is to make homemade sourdough naan!
Sample schedule
We test our recipes in a 68°F (20°C) kitchen. Warmer kitchens will need less time for the dough to double and colder kitchens will need more time.
- 8 AM: Mix dough, cover and let rest until doubled.
- 4 PM: Divide the dough and shape it into balls. Prepare the cast iron skillet.
- 4:30 PM: Cook the sourdough naan.
Ingredients needed
- All-purpose flour: All-purpose flour is what we use in this recipe but you can add some whole wheat flour if you are looking to get a little more nutrition in your flatbread. If you decide to use whole wheat flour in this recipe, just replace up to half of the all-purpose flour and make sure to adjust the water amount. You will need to add more water than called for, about 25-50g more.
- Unfed sourdough starter: Use your unfed sourdough starter right out of your fridge. There is no need to feed your starter for this recipe. However, you can use an active starter if that's what you have on hand.
- Yogurt: Choose from either plain dairy yogurt, greek yogurt, or plant-based yogurt.
- Milk: Choose from cow's milk or plain, unsweetened plant-based milk. We love using oat milk or soy milk.
- Olive oil: Or any neutral flavored oil of your choice. Avocado oil or coconut oil works great.
- Salt
Step-by-step instructions
This sourdough naan dough only takes a few minutes to put together. Mix it up in the morning and you'll be making sourdough naan to enjoy with dinner the same day!
Mix the ingredients together by hand, cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise at room temperature until doubled in size.
Turn the dough out onto your work surface and use a bench scraper to divide it into 8 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball and keep them covered with a kitchen towel to prevent the dough from drying out.
Preheat a cast iron skillet or a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Working with one dough ball at a time, use a rolling pin to roll it into a round shape with a ⅛" thickness.
- Lay the rolled out piece of dough onto the hot skillet and allow it to cook for 1-2 minutes. Bubbles will start to form on the surface of the dough when it's ready to flip.
- Flip the dough over with a spatula and allow it to cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Flip the naan back over to the first side of the pan. The naan should start to expand and quickly become very puffy. Once the entire naan is full of air, remove it from the skillet and place it on a platter.
- Repeat these steps with the remaining dough.
Tips for Success
- If your starter is new, your dough may or may not double in size. That's ok! Go ahead and cook it anyway. The sourdough starter is used to ferment the dough making it easier for us to digest, not to make it rise. This is a very forgiving dough!
- If you'd like to cook the dough at a later date, after you divide and shape the dough balls, you may store them covered in the fridge for up to 3 days. Bring the dough to room temperature before cooking for the best results.
- If you find the dough is sticky when you go to roll it out, use a little flour on the rolling pin and the work surface to prevent sticking.
- If the naan does NOT puff up during cooking, do not fret. This usually happens during the first one or two that go onto the skillet. Sometimes this happens if you roll the dough too thin or if the pan is not hot enough. The naan is still good to eat, I promise!
- A non-stick skillet can be used if you do not have a cast iron skillet. I recommend lightly spraying the non-stick surface with a little cooking spray before placing the dough in the skillet.
How to store and freeze
Store the sourdough naan at room temperature, in a plastic bag for up to 3 days. It can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
More easy sourdough recipes
Check out these other easy sourdough recipes!!
- sourdough butter crackers
- slow cooker sourdough bread
- sourdough tortillas
- sourdough english muffins
- sourdough pancakes
Sourdough Naan Flatbread
INGREDIENTS
- ½ cup (125 g) sourdough starter discard (unfed)
- 2 ½ cups (300 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (120 g) milk (dairy or plant based)
- ¼ cup (60 g) plain yogurt (dairy or plant based)
- 1 tablespoon (15 g) olive oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons (7 g) sea salt
INSTRUCTIONS
- Mix the dough: Mix the wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add the flour and salt to the bowl. Use your hands to incorporate the ingredients until they are well combined and there are no dry bits left in the bowl. The dough will be stiff. Cover the bowl with plastic and let rest at room temperature until doubled in size. In my 68°F ( 20°C) kitchen, it takes roughly 8 hours. Warmer kitchens will take less time, colder kitchens will take more time.
- Divide and shape: Turn the dough out onto your work surface and use a bench scraper to divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, about 78g each. Shape each piece into a ball and cover them with a kitchen towel. (At this stage the dough balls can be stored in a covered container, in the fridge for up to 3 days before cooking.)
- Preheat skillet: While the dough is resting, preheat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes. If you are worried about sticking, feel free to oil the skillet, but I find it's not necessary.
- Roll dough: Working with one ball of dough at a time, use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a round shape with a ⅛" thickness. Use a little flour if necessary to prevent sticking. The dough rounds should be about 6" in diameter.
- Cook naan: Place the rolled dough into the skillet and cook for 2 minutes. Flip the naan over and cook on the second side for 1-2 minutes. Flip the naan one more time and watch for the dough to puff up with air. Once it is full, remove it from the skillet and repeat with the remaining dough. Serve hot or at room temperature.
NOTES
- Store the cooked naan at room temperature in a plastic bag for up to 3 days.
- If you store the dough in the fridge to cook later, allow the dough to come to room temperature before cooking for best results.
- Freeze the naan in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months.
I made them today, although tasty, I still have to get the hang of the temperature. My first 4 were kind of the testers and they turned out wonky. Some of them folded over on the edge and didn’t cook properly so I put them back ion the pan at the end. The last 4 turned out much better but none of them puffed up. They were very tasty and I will make them again. Just need practice, right? 😬
Yes, practice does make perfect when it comes to sourdough! 🙂
Finally!! I’ve tried many recipes for fluffy flatbread and this is it! As others have said, it is very forgiving. I used sour cream bc no yogurt, went a little higher in liquids specifically oil then added a bit more flour.
My dough was stiff but not dry at all bc of the oil and not sticky at all. Never needed to use more flour,
.
Also, I nailed the cooktime temp with trial and error. Using a laser thermometer,and heating my comal on medium, I waited till the center was close to 450 F. At that temp on medium, the 2 min flip, 1 min flip final flip gave me beautiful puffed up breads.
Oh also waiting for full fermentation also helped. I kept all the balls in the fridge after separating and then let them ferment even more a few hours before making them.
I make double the quantity then freeze the balls, I just take out & thaw on the day we have them. I usually add fresh chopped garlic & coriander before cooking. Never buy shop naans anymore!
Great recipe and has been fun to play with to add other flavors . Instead of rolling them out I get better consistency with a tortilla press.
This is now our quick dinner addition rather than biscuits. I double the recipe (we have ten to feed currently, but most are small) but usually do not double the starter, set it to rest around seven and by dinner fixin' time it's ready to make our delicious naan! Everyone likes to 'help' roll out the breads and they're a cinch to broil on hot pizza stones in our oven.
I’ve made this a couple times now and it worked great! I found it also works for pizza dough! I rolled out the leftovers the next day and it did great 🙂
Brilliant recipe - very forgiving, as you pointed out. I used sour cream plus water and just over 50% wholewheat flour.
Although I initially made my dough too wet, with liberal addition of flour whilst rolling I ended up with a wonderful and delicios result.
Also I found KEY is to get the pan very (almost scarily) hot before cooking.
Thank you so much!
Simple! We have a cast iron grill and grilled our naan to accompany shrimp tacos. It was excellent!
I make this recipe every 2 weeks. My family loves them with Mediterranean food. This recipe is so good it honestly makes it hard to eat restaurant pita bc nothing beats the fluffiness/freshness. Thanks for sharing another hit recipe!
These taste great but I burned the first one with 30 seconds of putting it in the pan. Mine took much less time on each side and didn't puff up much. I had to turn the heat down to medium and even then had to turn after about 30 seconds.
@Minerva It'll take some time getting used to getting the right temperature and time to flip anything like this, similar to tortillas. Vy the third time you try making it you'll start to get it.