Flatbreads are super delicious, and great for snacks, appetizers or go with a meal. And except for a little rolling pin action, sourdough naan is also really easy to make!
Mix, Roll, and throw on a skillet!
Sourdough Naan has great flavor with just a hint of sourdough tang. The texture is soft and tender, and perfect for serving with your favorite curry.
Looking for other amazing recipes to make with your sourdough starter? Check out my Sourdough Starter Archives for over 60 Sourdough Recipes, including ones like:
How to Make Easy Sourdough Naan
- Mix together the ingredients until you get a shaggy, sticky dough.
- Cover with a warm cloth and allow to rest 2-3 hours.
- Knead for a few minutes, until its smooth and no longer sticky.
- Divide into 8 pieces and roll out into circles that are about 1'4" thick.
- Brush with melted butter and then cook on a hot skillet for 1 minute.
- Brush the top with melted butter and then turn over and cook for 1 minute.
- Remove and place on a plate with a towel to keep warm. Repeat, repeat, repeat!
Sourdough Naan Tips:
- Don't let the rolling phase scare you - it doesn't have to be in a perfect circle, and little rips and tears are ok. Naan is a rustic type bread, and its a forgiving dough. Just go for it!
- Make sure your skillet is nice and hot before you start! Part of the appeal of sourdough naan is that it has a nice crisp on the outside but is soft and tender inside - you get that from a hot skillet.
Naan Bread Flavors:
This sourdough naan recipe is a great recipe as is, but if you feel like being extra fancy and jazzing it up, try these flavors:
- Garlic Cilantro - Add finely chopped garlic cloves to the melted butter that you brush on before placing on the griddle, then sprinkle with cilantro when you remove them.
- Roasted Garlic Naan - add chopped roasted garlic to the naan dough.
- Onion Naan - Add ¼ cup finely minced onion to the dough and top with chopped chives after cooking.
This naan is also really good with extra butter and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar!
Need some easy bread ideas to serve with dinner? Try these:
- Quick Skillet Focaccia - This easy focaccia recipe delivers a crisp crust and a tender crumb! It’s perfect every time.
- Cheddar Cornbread with Pepitas - Crumby and moist, with a great cheddar cheese flavor and crunch from pepitas, this cornbread recipe is perfect for fall!
- Whole Wheat Tortillas - Soft and flavorful, these easy tortillas are the perfect addition to taco night!
- Lemon Thyme Cornbread - This easy savory cornbread with lemon and thyme is a quick but delicious quick bread recipe that will pair equally well with any main entree or with a slab of butter and a drizzle of honey for an afternoon snack.
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Sourdough Naan
This sourdough naan recipe is so easy its foolproof! Delicious and flavorful naan is right around the corner with this great recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 cup 100% hydration sourdough starter discard (unfed)
- ½ cup warm milk
- ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- pinch of kosher salt
- 5 TBSP melted butter
Instructions
- In a large bowl mix together the sourdough starter, milk and yogurt until smooth.
- Add the flour, baking powder and salt and stir to combine to a shaggy, somewhat tacky dough.
- Cover with a damp cloth and let the dough rise in a warm place for 2-3 hours. You will know that it is done proofing when you can gently dent the dough with your knuckle and it springs back. If your house is warmer, this could take less time. If your house is colder, it may take more time.
- Dump out on a lightly floured counter and knead for a minute or two, until smooth. You shouldn’t need to add much extra flour, if any to make it not stick to your hands. It will still be tacky but not overly sticky.
- Preheat a heavy cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.
- Divide the dough into 8 pieces and roll each piece into about ¼″ thickness. Use a small amount of flour on your counter and on your rolling pin to help you roll the dough out. The dough will be tacky to slightly sticky, but you should be able to easily work with it with the additon of a little flour.
- Brush one side with melted butter and place butter-side down on the skillet.
- Cook for about a minute, or until the dough starts to bubble and release from the skillet.
- Brush the other side with melted butter and flip.
- Cook for an additional minute.
- Transfer to a plate and cover with a cloth to keep warm.
- Repeat with remaining pieces of dough and Enjoy!
Notes
Store in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Reheat on a hot skillet for a few minutes on each side.
Note about sourdough starter: This recipe uses unfed 100% hydration sourdough starter discard.
Note about yogurt: Make sure that you are using a thick plain greek yogurt - a yogurt with a thin consistency will cause the dough to be too wet. Greek yogurt with more fat content will be better (non-fat doesn't work as well).
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 232Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 21mgSodium: 147mgCarbohydrates: 34gFiber: 4gSugar: 0gProtein: 7g
(Recipe from My Kitchen Addition)
Yum! I love naan (great for pizzas too) and this sounds easy and tasty!
I've never had sourdough naan, but it sounds delicious!
Whenever I think of naan I remember my grandmother trying it and LOVING it, which is funny if you knew her, she was not very adventurous and generally didn't like anything "exotic".
Hi~ Stopping by to take a peek! I used the same recipe and I was amazed at how easy it is to make flatbread! Looks good:) Lynn H your little helper is a doll:)
I love naan, and this looks like a delicious version. I am definitely going to try these!!
They look loveley 🙂 Nice job!
Mmmm, lovely! You can't go wrong with hummus and naan. I was originally going to try this recipe but then I changed my mind and made injera... but I think this is one I will have to come back to, it looks so good!
I'm glad Ladybug liked it. It is great when kids love what we are making!
I agree that these could rival some restaurants, especially warm from the skillet. Hands down beats the grocery store options!
I have no doubt that this would be better than what you find in restaurants! They look great. And the dark brown "freckles" are perfect!
So so good! On another level. I’ve made it three more times since. Only difference, I use sour cream because it’s what I have on hand but they are easily interchangeable! Awesome!
Using sour cream is a great idea, too! So glad you are enjoying them!
Yum! I need it to be dairy free. Can i sub the Greek yogurt with anything else?
Hi Stephanie! I have not tested this recipe dairy free, but I would suggest swapping out both the milk and the yogurt for coconut milk from the can. Or you could use a vegan unsweetened yogurt, but you will have to reduce the amount of milk because the yogurt is not as thick as the greek yogurt. You might have to play with it and see how much non dairy milk you need use. Let me know how it goes!
What if the starter is fed?
It will work just fine in this recipe, whether your starter has been fed and active or if it is discard!
Glad I read your comment 🙂 I too used sour cream cause it’s all I have...it’s proofing now so reassured that it will taste good!!
Awesome that was my question can you use sour cream as I don’t have Greek yogurt
Hi,
I wanted to try these, but...what hydration is your starter? There's a lot of difference between a 100% and a 68% starter, and adding to that the flour differs between countried.
Also, I must say I think it's herecy to use a rolling pin on sourdough products. It squeezes all the delicious bubles out, but each to their own. I know I'm vastly outnumbereb, but please try to strech the naan next time instead of rolling them (find a video on stretching pizza dough).
Cheers,
Lars
Nice job. Tastes like the Naan I ate while living in Karachi as a kid. Made it with greek honey yogurt and it worked well. Hard part was finding the correct temperature so I’d get a good ‘bake’ without burning. Bruce M
Just amazing. So so so good. Another amazing thing to make with my sourdough starter! Honestly though eating this was a joy ahaha. Had mine with a poached egg and some Greek yogurt and sprinkled with coriander :3 delicious brunch!
Thank you so much for sharing!
Your instructions state to divide the dough into 8 pieces. Your nutrition information says "serves 12". I am confused as to how much is one serving.
Hi Karen! That must be confusing, sorry! The recipe makes 8 naan. I have updated the nutritional information to reflect that.
It's amazing! I just randomly found your blog looking for this recipe. Awesome! Good for you!
Jenni, WOW! so simple, yet SO tasty! This is fantastic, yum. Thanks for the recipe.
Jenni, this is really a great recipe. I will make this at the next chance i get.
Hi do you have to feed the starter first or can it be unfed starter?
Hi Paula! This recipe is great because you can use either! The baking powder will help give you any rise that you need, along with a short ferment time. I have tried it with both fed and unfed and had great results with either!
This recipe looks lovely! Is there any way to do it without the yogurt and milk?
You can't leave them out, they help build the structure and texture of the dough. I have not tried substituting them, but I am guessing you could replace it with an unsweetened milk free alternative - coconut or almond milk would be my first choices! Let me know how it goes!
I Tried with pea milk and oat yogurt and it worked great! Thank you for the recipe
Thanks for sharing! I am so glad you were able to make it fit your needs!
These came out tasting great and had the wonderful soft, slightly chewy texture I especially love about restaurant naan. But my dough was still a bit sticky after proofing for 3 hours, even after I kneaded it for several minutes, which made rolling out the naan a little tricky. Should I just add flour during kneading until the dough is no longer sticky? Or let it proof for longer? I'm still new to working with sourdough starter, so I appreciate any advice for my next try of these lovely naan. Thanks.
Hey Brandy! I would add a little more flour, but not much! It shouldn't need much more proofing time. You can use a little flour to roll them out, too!
I tried making these but my dough came out watery. My starter was at 100% hydration which I am thinking what ruined it. It would be helpful to state what hydration your starter was so as some can adjust their recipe. I would like to try making these again.
Hi!
Is there any way to modify to use less butter? Need to be a little more heart healthy.
Thanks!
Hi Tara! You could try using a little coconut oil! I haven't tried that, but it might work! Let me know how it goes!
I followed directions to the letter, with only the exception of using coconut milk instead of cows milk. The dough was EXTREMELY wet & sticky, so I am not sure what I did wrong. I tried kneading in the hopes that it would start to come together & not be so sticky (like you do with sourdough bread) but gave up & ended up adding at least another 1/2 - 1 cup four (one spoonful at a time). It was just super sticky wet dough. Finally, somewhat cohesive enough to cook, it was just bleh-- I wonder if the difference was using coconut milk instead of cows milk? Hmmm.
Hi Rose! Did you use coconut milk from the carton or the can? Did you still use the greek yogurt? The consistency would be different with a different kind of milk.
Hi. This was my first time making them. They turned out ok. Like others, I used 100% hydration starter and the dough was wet, even though I let it sit for almost 3 hours at room temperature. I added a bit of flour, then more, while kneading... but it just didn’t go away. I was worried about putting in too much flour as then they would be too dry. Any advice?
Hi Nicole! I am sorry these didn't turn out as expected for you! Would you mind telling me what kind of yogurt you used and what kind of milk?
2% plain yogurt / 2% milk
* Coming from a person who favours low hydration and cold and long fermentation for a puckery sourdough.
Did baking powder have an impact on the taste? I would expect the baking soda in the baking powder to neutralize some of the acid.
Hi Linda! It has a medium level of sourdough flavor. It is detectable but not overly sour. If you would like to do a long fermentation in the fridge for more sour flavors, you can. Just make sure that you don't over do it and create competing flavors that will throw off your curry or whatever you are serving it with.
Same here, the dough was extremely sticky and wet. It would help to mention the hydration of your starter and maybe give the ingredients in grams, because everyone's cups might be different.
I hate wasting food, so this was disappointing.
Hi! The starter is 100% hydration, as listed in the recipe card. What kind of milk and yogurt did you use, and what fat percentage were they? I think that is playing a big role in this recipe!
Can i used 50/50 AP and whole wheat PASTRY flour?
Yes, you could use whole wheat pastry flour in this recipe!
Hi Jenni, thank you so much for the recipe! We made some today and they were absolutely delicious.
However, I let the dough rest for about 3 hours at a warm place, and like many people have commented, my dough was extremely sticky, and it didn't become less sticky after kneading (we kneaded for more than 5 minutes hoping for it to get less sticky but it didn't happen).
I followed the recipe quite rigorously - full fat greek yogurt, normal milk, and the hydration of my starter is actually less than 100%. It'd be very useful to know what I might have done wrong as I'd want to frequently make the naan bread using this recipe without making a mess like today. Thank you so much.
Is it possible to set aside part of the dough in the refrigerator to "bake" on another day? If so, how long do you think it could be refrigerated?
Hi Kathleen! I haven't tried this myself, but I am guessing that it would work just fine! You can also cook the entire batch and store the extras wrapped in foil. Then you can reheat them on a skillet.
I actually tried this out by accident. Made the dough on Monday, and due to a full few days, just got around to rolling/cooking the naan today. I added just a dash of fresh starter to the dough, divided them into 8 balls, let them rest for a few min before rolling thinly, and then cooked them on a cast iron skillet. They turned out amazing!! Especially with fresh minced garlic as an add-in.
*today = Thurs afternoon. So the dough was refrigerated from Monday night to Thursday afternoon.
I do not have baking powder, is it ok to leave that out? Or do I need to add baking soda or instant yeast?
Hi Chris! You can leave the baking powder out, but I would make sure to allow the dough to have longer proof time, like 4-6 hours instead! Make sure you keep an eye on it and test if it has been proofed enough. It should spring back when lightly poked.
Made these tonight to use my starter discard. Absolutely delicious! Rivals restaurant naan. Thanks for the recipe!
Surprised to see that so many people had their dough come out sticky... mine is extremely dry and crumbly! I think I only needed about 1.25 cups of flour 😅 tried to salvage the dough by adding water... I hope it works!
Okay I have to thank you for this amazing recipe -- I took a bold step despite reviews and substituted vegan ingredients and had INCREDIBLE success! I'm so pleased. I'll be making this on a regular basis with my sourdough discard. The substitutes I used are as follows:
Instead of cow milk I used Oatly original in the same ratio.
Instead of cow's greek yogurt, I used GT"s Kombucha CocoYo yogurt (plain) in the same ratio. I was worried about the moisture level but just took a risk, and it turned out really well!
Instead of cow's butter, I used Miyoko's brand vegan butter which I find to be the most likened in flavor as well as the healthiest most wholesome ingredients (along with the other vegan substitutes listed above -- I really whipped out all my favorites)!
The one way in which I strayed from instructions is that I let the dough, once formed, sit overnight nearly 12 hours to get that perfect spring-back. After 2-3 hours, I could see we were headed in the right direction, but I gave it more time just in case and I'm so happy I did! This is probably the least confident I started baking, having changed around so many ingredients, and I typically don't review recipes because of how often I stray from the original (I'm naughty, lol) but I HAD to offer my suggestions with how delicious this turned out. I've only been vegan for 2 years so I truly remember what good naan tasted like non-vegan and this is a MATCH!! Thank you so much for your recipe and I hope this is helpful to those who are looking to try this dairy-free!
I am so glad to hear that this worked well for you when changing it to dairy free!!
Fantastic Recipe!!
A few notes/changes: I measured the ingredients on my scale as follows: Starter (150g), Flour (240g), Salt (1/2 tsp). My Sourdough starter is 85% hydration so I considered adding a bit of extra milk, but I'm glad I didn't because I think it turned out about right--even just a tad sticky (consistent with the author's description). I used flour when rolling and it was fine. I was only able to make 7 dough balls and some were on the small size. I used a cast-iron skillet on medium heat and saved the butter for the end after cooking. This was a very good recipe, I will make again
These turned out great! I enjoyed one with just a sprinkle of salt while my daughters experimented with cinammon and sugar. Yumm!
This worked out very well for me. Excellent specific instructions. I made one change, setup a cast iron pancake girdle in the oven set to 450F and cooked the naan on it while adjusting broil. Some of them got dry but i got a hang of it after a couple. It got very smoky due to the butter so beware if you have sensitive smoke alarms but it worked out very well. The dough bubbled up with the tips beautifully browning and i did not need to flip so the bubbles stayed intact while serving. Wish i could post a picture.
Thanks for this blog post.
Any tips for making it the day/night before?
Waiting that 3 hours 😀 😀
Hi, this is my first time using this recipe. I’ve made Naan bread a few times before and I love that recipe, but I wanted to try this one to use up some sourdough discard. My dough is currently proofing. With the other recipe, I cook the Naan without any oil or butter. Is it necessary with this recipe so it doesn’t stick?
I have this dough rising right now! I’m so excited! I was perturbed that the measurements weights are not included so that we could use a kitchen scale for accuracy. I find that the volume of my starter will vary dramatically depending on how dense or fluffy it is. After some research I saw a post suggest 240 g for a cup of starter so I went with that and added the same amount for 2 cups of flour. Then I added a measured 1/4 cup of whole milk yogurt (not Greek) and only about 1/4 c of milk. It’s not shaggy and rather wet, I really don’t know what texture it should be but I make tortillas often so I guess I’m going with “slightly wetter” than flour tortillas. It would be O great if you could add weights in grams to your recipe!! I’m not a good baker and I’ve only been using a sourdough starter (her name Is Margaret) for 3 months and consider myself a novice when it comes to working with dough. Really hoping these come out ok! I have faith!
Hi Luiza! I hope they turned out for you! I intentionally made this recipe with volumes instead of weights, since it is a discard recipe. I find that a lot of beginner sourdough bakers get very anxious with weights, and by providing volumes I want to make sure that people feel confident making this recipe. I will add some weights to measurements in the future.
Totally agree. The volume of sourdough starter can vary quite a bit! I used the following measurements with success: 85% hydration starter (150g) and Flour (240g).
Hi Jenni, I've made this recipe a couple of times and my family always loved it! Soooooooooo easy and delicious! One question though, can you freeze these once you cooked them? I accidentally made a double batch and don't know what to do with leftovers 😀 Thanks for your help! Love, Judit
Yes, you can freeze them! Freeze them in singe layers, and then you can stack them. You can reheat them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 3-5 minutes.
I am always experimenting with internet recipes and have never left a comment, but somewhere between the 10th and 20th time I did this recipe I thought it was only fair to send you my regards and compliments. Thank you so so much! The recipe is perfect and it is the absolute best way to use my discard (and I have tried quite a few). I have been making it regularly every week when I feed my starter. I also always make a few of them with cheese and its really yummy!
I am also known for playing with recipes and not following instructions but this I follow religiously. I use sour cream since this is more affordable and better quality where I am. But as you say, I use a thick and fat one.
<3
Luiza, thank you so much for the very kind words! You have made my whole week happier!
Made this really excellent naan recipe as written. Used ghee, not butter. My sourdough is predominantly rye.
Hi Jenni,
I want to try this recipe for my discard but I don't have a cast iron skillet. Is it possible to bake the bread (if yes what temp and how long) or just use a heavy bottom stainless steel frying pan?
Do you have another kind of skillet? This works best on the stovetop, not in the oven.
Hi Kathleen, I often save the majority of my naan dough to cook later. I leave the dough in balls in a closed tuperware container with parchment paper to keep them from sticking. Then, I pull out the quantity I want and hand stretch right before cooking. I use mine within two days and that's worked well. The sourdough flavor will get a little stronger but it still hand stretches and cooks up nicely. 🙂
Can I use my starter straight out of fridge or let it get to room temp before mixing?
Hi Donna! You can use it either way!
Thank you so much for this recipe! It's an excellent way to use my discard. I didn't have Greek yogurt, so I subbed for what I had in the fridge, mascarpone 😆 I also ran out of time to cook them yesterday evening, so I let the dough sit in the fridge overnight and made them this afternoon. Worked out great!
I started making this recipe before i realised that I had run out of yogurt so substituted mayonnaise. works a treat.
This recipe was spot on!! I didn't have the time to wait the 2-3 hours to rise and rest, and it still was delish. I used salted butter to fry them and it gave a nice taste.THANK YOU for this one - it was a hit!
I was wonder if I could ferment this in the fridge overnight or for several days?