Sourdough Naan Recipe: How to Make Naan With Discard

Sourdough naan is a leavened Indian flatbread that gets a subtly tangy, fermented flavor from the addition of sourdough discard. Plain, whole milk yogurt gives the dough a pillowy, stretchy crumb while cooking it over high heat gives it its signature glossy, blistered surface. Finish the flatbread by brushing the surface with ghee or butter (you could also use olive oil). Traditionally, cooks prepare naan in a tandoor (a cylindrical clay or metal oven). Still, you can also cook sourdough naan bread over the stovetop in a good cast-iron skillet or frying pan.

You can use sourdough discard to make naan, provided you also include some commercial yeast. If you’re a sourdough bread baker, you likely already have two types of sourdough starter on hand: fresh active starter and starter discard. Fresh starter is full of bubbling wild yeast and bacteria, ready to leaven loaves like this rye bread recipe by acclaimed baker Apollonia Poîlane. However, the yeast in unfed discard is relatively inert, having run out of fresh flour to consume. Sourdough discard is what gets removed from the levain before you “feed” the starter its next round of fresh flour.

If you don’t want to use active dry yeast in your naan, opt for fresh starter. If you don’t mind using a bit of commercial yeast, you can use the discard for flavor and the packaged yeast for a guaranteed rise. Besides naan flatbread, you can also incorporate discard into other breads and baked goods, like sourdough pita.

Here are some tips and techniques to help you make the best sourdough naan at home.

1. 1. Always use yogurt. Naan gets its pleasing, chewy texture from full-fat yogurt: Your finished naan won’t have the proper consistency without it. To make a vegan version of sourdough naan, use coconut yogurt.
2. 2. Mix the dough with a mixer or your hands. A stand mixer will make the kneading go faster, but you can easily use your hands to knead and develop the bread’s gluten.
3. 3. Allow the dough to rise. Before cooking your naan, allow the dough to rise for at least an hour in a warm spot at room temperature. The warmer the location, the faster the naan dough will rise. Proofing bread creates those big, airy pockets.
4. 4. Cook over high heat. Traditional tandoor ovens get exceptionally hot, resulting in naan that’s soft and bubbly inside and charred outside. To replicate this, cook your naan quickly in a screaming hot skillet or on a griddle.
5. 5. Make garlic naan or onion naan. Give your sourdough naan an added kick by brushing on a topping of ghee mixed with minced garlic or caramelized onions. Top with flaky sea salt and toasted fenugreek or cumin seeds.