Bloom the yeast by adding it to 3 g sugar dissolved in 2 Tbsp warm water, 10 mins.
Yeast is bloomed when a tan foam has formed on the surface of the water and bubbling
can be heard near the surface. This works well in a ramekin or similarly sized small bowl.
To a medium size bowl or bowl of a stand-mixer, add all-purpose flour, buttermilk (or
milk + lemon juice), salt, remaining sugar (4 g), and olive oil. Once the yeast has
bloomed, add that to the bowl as well.
Mix the ingredients with a spatula until a rough dough has come together. Then using
the dough hook of the stand-mixer, knead the dough until it looks smooth and elastic
and pulls away from the sides of the bowl (I don’t have a stand mixer so use your best
judgement for time; I would guess about 5-7 mins).If preparing by hand, knead a few
times by hand until the dough is more uniform.
Cover with a tea towel and let rise at room-temperature, 1.5 h or until it has doubled in
size. Then skip to step 7.
If the dough was prepared by hand, cover mixed dough with a tea towel and let rise at
room-temperature, 20 mins.
Using wet hands to avoid the dough sticking to you, pull the corners of the dough up and
back to the middle folding it over itself on all sides to develop gluten. Put the dough
seam side down and then cover with the tea towel and let rise, approx. 1.5 h or until it
has doubled in size.
Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour and tip in out onto a floured working surface.
Cut the dough into 4 even-ish pieces and shape them into balls by pulling the corners of
each piece into the middle and flipping it over so the smooth side is up.
Heat a 10” cast iron pan to med-high heat.
Using a rolling pin, roll each of the pieces into an approx. 8” circle. The shape or size is
not too important. You want to have the dough be about 1⁄4” thick. Make sure to flour the
rolling pin and surface so the dough doesn’t stick and tear.
Add about 2-3 Tbsp of olive oil to the pan. It should be shimmering or lightly smoking.
Grill/fry the naan for 2 min per side or until the undersides or brown and crisp. Bubbles
will develop a char similar to a tortilla, that is perfect. The bread should puff up with
bubbles when heated. If the bread is burning, remove the pan from the heat, turn the heat
down and wait until the temperature comes down.
Remove the cooked naan to a plate, add a fresh 2-3 Tbsp oil to the pan and cook the
next bread. Repeat until all 4 are cooked.