This simple bread recipe yields a flatbread that is delicate and chewy. My Afghan acquaintance claims that this bread tastes superior to the regular bread she typically purchases from the grocery. Enjoy!
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 25 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 10 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 loaves |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups warm water
- 1 (.25 ounce) envelope active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt, or to taste
- ¼ cup corn oil
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon caraway seed (Optional)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together 1/2 cup warm water and sugar. Sprinkle the yeast over the top, and let stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy.
- Place flour in a large bowl, and stir in salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the corn oil and yeast mixture. Add the remaining water in small amounts until you have a soft moist dough that can be handled. Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead for at least 5 minutes. Return to the bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Deflate the risen dough, and divide into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball with a rolling pin so it is oval shaped, about 6 inches long, and 1/2 inch thick. Use a fork or dull knife to draw three lines on the top of each loaf. Place the loaves on a baking sheet. Mix together the egg and remaining tablespoon of water; brush the tops of the loaves with the mixture. Sprinkle caraway seeds over the tops, if using.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until the loaves are shiny and golden brown.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 309 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 50 g |
| Cholesterol | 23 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 8 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Sodium | 375 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 8 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Dough was very sticky and difficult to work with; didn’t result in a soft flatbread like I expected.
I used half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat and the recipe turned out wonderfully still.
I spread the dough too thin and the first few turned out rock hard, so I grilled the rest and they were great! Definitely will use this recipe again!
This was a truly wonderful bread I followed the exact instructions and it came out perfectly. I enjoyed it with hummus.
If you have a KA it will take no effort at all to make this bread. It is a plain, basic, white bread but it had good texture, appearance, and would be the perfect accompaniment to any dish that was spicy as it wouldn’t overpower or complete with the flavors.
The naan itself was yummy, but the texture was nothing like an Afghani naan…. Maybe cooking it on the stove would be a better alternative vs baking them? They turn out too crispy…
I made it with bread flour which usually makes better breads, but it came out with a weird texture. It was also very bland. Next time I will try it with all purpose flour and add more salt.
Awesome bread! We had it with some homemade chicken noodle soup. It was so easy, I will definitely make it again! Thanks so much!
Excellent stuff! I didn’t use caraway seeds; because some of the reviews said the bread lacked flavor I added two teaspoons of sea salt to the dough and topped the egg wash with something different on each loaf. One each plain, sesame seeds, garlic powder, rosemary, thyme, celery seed, dried minced onion and Mrs. Dash tomato basil garlic mix. The bread was soft and yummy, we enjoyed it very much! Took a little over 30 minutes total in the oven. Update: Made this again, this time I topped with dried minced garlic (used only egg white for the wash). I convect baked at 325 for 18 minutes. Yum!
This was easy and came out well, but the flavour wasn’t anything special
This is the closest I think I could ever get to Afghani bread. The recipe is easy and fast to put together. I read the reviews before beginning and many people suggested adding a bit more salt. I thought I’d stick to the original recipe but now that it’s done I wish i would have added more salt. I think I’ll try again in the future and I will definitely add more salt.
Great and very easy recipe, just needed more salt, and very versatile to add different herbs and spices. I like to bake it so it’s still soft so then I can reheat for subsequent meals without it getting too hard.
kind of plain on it’s own, but i think it’s supposed to be like that – we ate it with curry, dipping it in the liquid. delicious!
this has got to be the easiest and best bread recipe i have used. a hint for all bread is to use the “better for bread” flour, by the way. my husband was deployed in afghanistan for a year and recalls many nights eating with the natives and says this bread tastes so similar. he says this one rises more and over there, they would just make one HUGE loaf.. but it was a big hit with him and his work buddies. i will use this one again!!!
easy to make and the taste is wonderful… the caraway seeds didn’t add much to the taste … next time i’ll keep it plain or add sesame seeds instead but overall fantastic recipe thanks for sharing .
Ok, I admit I got in a hurry after I came home from grocery shopping, didn’t pay attention, and added the egg to the dough and almost all of the water upfront. Nevertheless, these turned out great. I patted (rarely use a rolling pin) them very thin and sprinkled with a mixture of toasted sesame seeds and a bit of kosher salt before baking (did use the egg wash). I baked them on a stone, and they are nice and crispy outside witha bit of soft fluff inside. They’ll go perfectly with my veggie curry tonight! Thank you for the recipe…adding to my recipe box now…oh, and I also used a half and half mixture of AP flour and white whole wheat.
this is fun to make and turned out excellent. made it for my daughter’s school project. i would not omit the caraway seeds…they add a lot to the flavor.
The caraway seeds really make this bread tasty. My bread rose a lot more than it should have – making it look more like western-style buns. I’m not sure how to keep the bread flat with all that yeast. Tasty nonetheless.
Will not make again. Quick and easy; however, the texture(crumb)is NOT like the Afghanistan bread I get from an Afghanistan restaurant. This bread is more like regular white bread with a crunchy outside.
This is easy to make and tastes really good. It makes pretty big breads so sometimes I make mine smaller but if you make them too small they can get hard.
I never made bread and it was very easy and delicious. I substituted sesame seeds for caraway seeds.