Naan Lab
Naan: what 107 recipes agree on
Soft, blistered flatbread: yogurt, milk, fat and leavening per 100 g of flour.
107 recipes from 63 sites, each reduced to grams and written as baker's percentages: grams of each ingredient per 100 g of flour, so a small recipe and a double batch line up. Below: the typical batch, how far recipes stray from it, and a page for every recipe with a link to the original.
Recipes
107
from 63 sites
Typical flour
300 g
about 2 1/3 cups
Lines weighed
91%
of ingredient lines
Weights printed
32%
by the source, rest converted
The typical batch of naan
The median of all 107 recipes for each ingredient, scaled to 300 g of flour. No single recipe is exactly this: each line is the middle of its own distribution. “Most recipes” means the middle half, from the 25th to the 75th percentile.
| Ingredient | Grams |
|---|---|
| FlourThe scale for everything else | 300 gabout 2 1/3 cups |
| LiquidMost recipes use 185 to 230 g | 205 gabout 3/4 cup |
| FatMost recipes use 15 to 41 g | 26 gabout 2 tbsp |
| Sugar25% use none; the rest mostly 4 to 7 g | 4 gabout 1 tsp |
| Yeast25% use none; the rest mostly 2.5 to 5 g | 3 g |
| Baking powder or soda60% use none; the rest mostly 2 to 6 g | none |
| SaltMost recipes use 3.5 to 6 g | 5 g |
Volumes are approximate: flour at 125 g a cup, sugar 200 g, butter or oil 225 g, milk and other liquids 240 g.
Every recipe, ingredient by ingredient
Each dot is a recipe, placed by grams of the ingredient per 100 g of flour (100% would be as much as the flour). The shaded band is the middle half of recipes and the line is the median.
Liquid
median 68% · most 61 to 76%
Yogurt, milk and water together. Yogurt makes the dough tender and a little tangy.
Each dot is up to 2 recipes. range 41 to 94%
Fat
median 8.6% · most 5.1 to 14%
Oil, ghee or butter in the dough; the butter brushed on after cooking is an extra.
Each dot is up to 2 recipes. range 0 to 22% · 9% use none
Sugar
median 1.4% · 25% use none
A little sugar feeds the yeast and helps blistering.
Each dot is up to 4 recipes. range 0 to 9.6% · those that use some, mostly 1.3 to 2.3%
Yeast
median 1% · 25% use none
Most recipes rise with yeast; quick versions skip it for baking powder.
Each dot is up to 4 recipes. range 0 to 3.3% · those that use some, mostly 0.8 to 1.7%
Baking powder or soda
median 0% · 60% use none
Baking powder or soda, alone or alongside yeast, puffs the bread in a hot pan.
Each dot is up to 8 recipes. range 0 to 3.7% · those that use some, mostly 0.7 to 2.1%
Salt
median 1.6% · most 1.2 to 2%
About 1 to 2%.
Each dot is up to 2 recipes. range 0.8 to 3%
Where recipes disagree
Measured by how far apart the 25th and 75th percentile recipes are. The widest gaps are where the choice of recipe matters most.
- Sugar. 25% of recipes use no sugar, and the rest disagree too: the middle half of them add 1.3 to 2.3% of the flour weight.
- Yeast. 25% of recipes use no yeast, and the rest disagree too: the middle half of them add 0.8 to 1.7% of the flour weight.
Recipes agree most on liquid and salt: liquid 61 to 76%, salt 1.2 to 2% for the middle half.
Around the world
93 of the recipes come in 3 languages with enough of each to compare: English 55, French 24, German 14.
- French recipes use under a third as much sugar as English ones (0.4% against 1.6% of the flour weight).
The most-reviewed recipes
15 naan recipes have 50 or more reader ratings. A rating count says how many people rated a page, which follows its traffic more than its quality. Against the other 92, medians per 100 g of flour, compared within each language:
On no ingredient do the most-reviewed recipes differ from the rest by more than chance would explain.
50+ ratings (15)the rest (92)middle half of all
Liquidthe most-reviewed recipes 67% vs the rest 68%
Fatthe most-reviewed recipes 10% vs the rest 8.6%
Sugarthe most-reviewed recipes 1.5% vs the rest 1.4%
Yeastthe most-reviewed recipes 1.1% vs the rest 1%
Baking powder or sodathe most-reviewed recipes 0% vs the rest 0%
Saltthe most-reviewed recipes 2% vs the rest 1.6%
Most reviewed
- Naan-Brot · gutekueche.at · German4.6 from 18,240 ratings
- Naan (Indisches Fladenbrot) · backenmachtgluecklich.de · German4.7 from 1,657 ratings
- Naan (The Best Recipe!) · rasamalaysia.com4.6 from 1,652 ratings
- Stuffed Masala Aloo Naan Recipe Made Without Oven · archanaskitchen.com5.0 from 1,232 ratings
- Homemade Naan · onceuponachef.com4.8 from 428 ratings
Recipes to start with
Closest to the typical batch
Nearest the median on every ingredient at once.
- Naan Recipe (Indian Bread) · spiceupthecurry.comliquid 72% · fat 8.7%
- Naans à l’ail et à la coriandre au thermomix · cookomix.comliquid 67% · fat 6.7%
- Naan Bread · daringgourmet.comliquid 66% · fat 6.5%
- Naan · anediblemosaic.comliquid 74% · fat 13%
- Naan aux haricots blancs et aux épinards · chefsimon.comliquid 61% · fat 11%
Most liquid
- Naan com ervas · teleculinaria.ptliquid 94% · fat 8.3%
- Stuffed Masala Aloo Naan Recipe Made Without Oven · archanaskitchen.comliquid 93% · fat 3.7%
- Naan · chefsimon.comliquid 92% · fat 16%
Least liquid
- Homemade Naan · cookwithmanali.comliquid 41% · fat 4.8%
- Sourdough Naan · thepioneerwoman.comliquid 44% · fat 9.2%
- Come fare il pane naan, il pane leggero e friabile che viene dall'India · ricettedellanonna.netliquid 45% · fat 8.2%
Go deeper
- DiscoverEvery recipe plotted on any two ratios.
- CalculatorStart from the typical recipe, move the ratios, get grams.
- IngredientsWhich ingredients recipes use, and the choices they make.
- RatiosWhich ingredients rise and fall together.
- TimelineRecipes by publication year and how the typical one shifted.
- Around the WorldThe typical recipe in each language, and where French, German or Italian recipes part from English ones.
- All RecipesEvery recipe, sortable, with a page each.
- ClustersThe styles the numbers fall into.
- Decision TreeA few questions that narrow the recipes to the ones you want.
Top sources
- 8ptitchef.com
- 7cuisineaz.com
- 4chainbaker.com
- 4gutekueche.at
- 4kingarthurbaking.com
- 4vegrecipesofindia.com
- 3chefsimon.com
- 3cookwithmanali.com
- 3cuisine.journaldesfemmes.fr
- 3ichkoche.at
- 3rasamalaysia.com
- 2acouplecooks.com
In 7 languages: English 55, French 24, German 14, Spanish 6, Italian 4, Dutch 2, Portuguese 2. Lines in other languages are read in their own units and words, and each recipe page links to the original. 63 sites in all. No site contributes more than 12 recipes.
How the numbers are made
Every ingredient line is converted to grams and grouped (butter and oil count as fat; white, brown and liquid sweeteners as sugar), then divided by the flour weight. That baker's percentage is the only comparison that holds across recipes of different sizes.
91% of the 933 ingredient lines got a weight. 32% of those weights were printed by the source; the rest were converted from cups and spoons with standard densities, so treat single recipes as close, not exact. Frosting, glaze, streusel and other toppings are listed on each recipe page but left out of the percentages.
A recipe outside the plausible range for any ingredient is left out rather than allowed to stretch every chart; it is usually a different dish with the same name or a misread line. Of the pages fetched, 335 were left out: 159 outside the plausible range on some ingredient (liquid 92, salt 30, fat 29, sugar 6, yeast 1, baking powder or soda 1), 136 with no flour, or none that could be weighed, 18 too many lines without an amount, 16 with a title that names a different dish, 5 duplicates of other pages, and 1 a listing page, not a recipe page.
Every recipe page links to the original, which is where the method is. Recipe Lab does not republish instructions or photos.