Our family loves Indian food, and we can't resist warm, fluffy naan. I also happen to love beer, and it's quite common to bake bread with beer as one of the ingredients. So I thought it would be fun to try a beer naan recipe, and it turned out great!
Because naan has milk and/or yogurt, I thought a creamy beer might go best. I decided to go with a milk stout, a type of dark beer that uses lactose instead of (or in addition to) other sugars. It's a sweeter beer, since the fermentation process beer goes through doesn't break down lactose.
Specifically, I chose New Holland's Dragon's Milk white, which is a lighter stout with good creaminess and no heavy flavors (like coffee or chocolate) that might detract from or not complement the naan.
I have to say, this turned out great! It's not sweet, so it works fine with garlic butter, but it's not at all bitter either. I didn't try making a sweet naan out of it, but I think it would work.
If you, too, love Indian food, then you absolutely should make this today! It goes great with chicken korma or really almost any dish you can think of.
If you try it, I'd love to hear how it turns out. Drop me a note in the comments below. If you use a different kind of beer, I'm particularly interested in that! Thanks and bon appétit!
📋 Recipe
Homemade Naan with Stout Beer
Equipment
- 1 small pot
- 1 stand mixer with dough hook attachment
- 1 large skillet (or you can grill the bread)
- Saran wrap
- Kitchen or tea towel
Ingredients
- 1 cup stout beer I suggest Dragon's Milk White Stout
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons plain, unsweetened yogurt Greek or regular
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 egg large
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- cooking spray
- 3 tablespoons butter melted
Instructions
- Heat beer to about 110°F (43°C)
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, pour in the beer, careful to create as little head (foam) as possible. Sprinkle the entire packet of yeast on top, and allow it to sit for 10 minutes. A foam should develop as the yeast and beer begin to interact.
- Add in the sugar, yogurt, egg, and salt. Add in about 2 cups of the flour and begin to slowly mix the ingredients using your stand mixer and dough hook.
- Slowly add in more flour until the dough starts to stick together and pull away from the side of the bowl. You should end up using between 2½ and 3 cups of flour total.
- Once dough comes together, increase the speed on your mixer and allow it to knead the dough for 3-4 minutes.
- Coat your bowl with cooking spray, then transfer the dough to the bowl. Roll it around to coat all sides, then cover the bowl with Saran wrap and a kitchen towel. Place in a warm area for 1 hour to rise.
- After an hour, the dough should have roughly doubled in size. Divide it into 8 balls, and cover. Again, place in a warm location and allow to rise another 30 minutes.
- Roll out each ball into an oval shape, about 4-5mm in thickness. Brush one side with melted butter, then place buttered-side down on grill or skillet over medium-high heat. While the first side cooks, brush the other side with melted butter. Watch for small air bubbles to form. Once they appear, flip the bread to cook the other side. You'll cook each one 45-60 seconds per side, depending on how hot your skillet or grill is.
- Serve warm and enjoy!
Pete
Everything about this was easy, except all the waiting! Thanks for sharing your recipe.