Naan — the soft, slightly charred, tear-drop shaped flatbread of the tandoor — requires the wall of the clay oven. The naan dough, pressed flat, is slapped onto the inside wall of a pre-heated tandoor where it adheres through a combination of the dough's stickiness and surface tension. It bakes for 2–3 minutes, picking up char spots where it contacts the hottest parts of the wall, then falls away when done. Without a tandoor, naan can be approximated under a very hot broiler on a cast iron pan — approaching but never reaching the tandoor's wall-cling, char, and steam environment.
- **The dough:** Yeasted, enriched with yogurt (for tang and tenderness), egg (for structure), and oil. The yogurt is both flavouring and leavening supplement — the lactic acid activates the yeast slightly faster. [VERIFY] Bharadwaj's specific naan dough recipe. - **The rest:** 1–2 hours minimum. The yeast leavening must develop for the characteristic soft, slightly bubbly interior. - **The shaping:** The tear-drop shape is achieved by pulling the dough lengthwise at one end — not a design choice but a functional result of how the dough is pressed onto the tandoor wall. - **The broiler approximation:** Cast iron pan under the maximum broiler — preheat the pan until it smokes, press the naan directly onto the surface, broil for 2–3 minutes until puffed and charred. Better than a conventional oven; still not the tandoor. - **Garlic naan:** Garlic and butter applied to the hot naan immediately after cooking — the residual heat of the naan melts the butter and mutes the raw garlic slightly while preserving its character.
Indian Cookery Course