Healthy Naan Bread Recipe

This naan bread recipe uses the tangzong technique to produce bread that’s high in fiber, and low in saturated fat with great flavor and a soft, tender, and perfectly bubbly texture—just like your favorite takeout. Plus, it’s easy to make with just a bowl and a heavy skillet—no special equipment needed!

Taste

A friend was hosting an Indian-themed potluck, and I decided to make a healthy naan bread to pair with my hummus. First, I tried simply swapping most of the flour for whole wheat flour along with some bread flour. The result was decent—chewy and bubbly—but a bit dry and grainy due to the whole wheat flour.

I had recently made my high fiber english muffins and I thought the tangzong technique could help make the texture more tender and fluffy. Tangzong (also known as water roux) is the simple Asian baking technique of pre-cooking a portion of the flour in milk or water. This gelatinizes the starch and turns into a thick paste.

This worked great. It not only made the naan soft and tender, but it gave them a nice slightly sweet flavor.

Nutrition

It’s pretty easy to make a healthy naan recipe–use low fat yogurt and milk and replace butter with olive oil, and some white flour with whole wheat. This recipe uses 75% whole wheat flour, 25% bread flour. With wheat bran added to compensate for the bread flour.

• 1½ cup whole wheat flour divided
• ¼ cup milk almond, oat, or dairy
• ½ cup bread flour
• 2 tablespoon wheat bran optional
• ¼ cup plain greek yogurt
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoon instant yeast
• 3 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon honey
• ¼ cup warm water
• ¾ teaspoon salt

You can increase the fiber, and reduce the saturated fat by replacing the egg with flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flax seeds and 2½ tablespoon water). I tried this once, and didn’t like the flavor, but if you like the taste of flax, this is a good healthy option. Chia eggs are another option.

Each round has approximately:

• Calories: ~175 kcal
• Carbs: ~20g
• Fiber: ~3g
• Protein: ~5.5g
• Sugar: ~1g
• Fat: ~5.6g
  • Saturated Fat: ~0.75g
  • Monounsaturated Fat: ~3.4g
  • Polyunsaturated Fat: ~1g
  • Omega-3s: ~0.05g
  • Omega-6s: ~0.9g
  • Trans: 0

Instructions

Naan is a simple bread to make.

First gather the ingredients.

Rehydrate Yeast

Rehydrate Yeast

• In a large mixing bowl, combine ¼ cup warm water (100℉), 1 teaspoon honey.
• Sprinkle 2 teaspoon instant yeast. Let it rest for a few minutes then stir.
• Let it rest until it’s bubbly (about 5 minutes).

Make Tangzong

• Whisk ¼ cup milk and ¼ cup whole wheat flour in a small pan.
  Don’t heat the milk first, it mixes easier and cooks better when mixed cold.
• Heat over medium-low heat, whisking constantly until it thickens to the consistency of mashed potatoes (about 5 minutes).
• Remove from heat and spread it out so that it can cool.

Mix Dough

• Whisk in 1 egg, ¼ cup plain greek yogurt, and 3 tablespoon olive oil in the bowl with the yeast and water.
• Stir in the tangzong.
• Add 2 tablespoon wheat gran and 1¼ cup whole wheat flour. Mix well.
• Mix in ¼ bread flour to make a soft, smooth dough. Add more flour if it’s too sticky.
• Knead on a floured surface for a few minutes.
• Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl.
• Cover and allow to rest in a warm place until doubled in size.

Shape and Cook

• Heat a heavy pan over medium low heat.
• Lightly punch down the dough and divide into eight equal sized balls.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the balls into rounds that are about ⅛” (4mm) thick. They will get crispy if rolled too thin, and won’t bubble if too thick. You might want to roll one at a time until you find the thickness that you like.

• Lightly oil pan with olive oil.
• Pour some olive oil into a small bowl to brush the naan. You can add some chopped garlic if you want.
• Place a round on the pan and lightly brush with olive oil. Cook until it’s lightly browned.
• Flip and lightly oil the browned side. Cook another 2 minutes.
• Remove from pan and lightly oil on the side cooked last.
• Repeat for remaining rounds.