Naan Vs Pizza Dough: What's The Difference?

Calling all bread lovers: We're exploring two of the most beloved and versatile culinary workhorses in the glutinous pantheon — pizza dough and naan — to figure out once and for all what makes them unique. Both are cooked at high temperatures for a short period of time. Both are relatively thin types of bread yet have chewy and crispy textures that foodies around the world crave. In fact, naan is uncannily comparable to Neapolitan pizza crust, which features charred patches on the surface, breaking open for enticing windows onto the plush, stretchy interior within. But this is roughly where the commonalities between naan and pizza dough end. Beyond their origins (naan is South Asian and pizza dough is Italian), these bread types also have distinct shapes, sizes, and ingredients.

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Pillowy naan is made from water, yeasted flour, and yogurt or milk, making it a leavened and enriched dough – the latter of which cannot be said of unenriched pizza crust. Pita dough isn't enriched, either, for the record. Also, where naan is stretched into an oblong tear-drop shape, pizza dough is typically rolled into a near-perfect circular shape. With the exception of personal-size pizzas, pizza dough is typically rolled into much larger diameters than single-serving naan. And, of course, where naan is served on the side of saucy entrees, pizza dough is used as a functional vehicle for toppings.

What is naan?

Naan is a Central and South Asian flatbread that takes its name from the Persian word for "bread." It's a staple of Middle Eastern cuisine and a fixture on tables at Indian restaurants. On a scientific level, naan's signature plush texture is thanks to the addition of dairy in the dough. The natural fat content in the yogurt or milk surrounds the flour protein molecules, stopping tough, chewy gluten bonds from forming as the dough bakes. This yields a tender bite, dense body, bendy flexibility, and slight tangy taste. Naan is typically made from chewy bread flour or a type of refined wheat flour called maida.

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Traditional naan is prepared in a special tandoor oven, a mammoth beehive-shaped vessel with three-foot-thick walls made from brick or clay. Not wildly unlike a brick pizza oven, the structure traps intense heat, and these high temperatures are responsible for creating naan's quick-baked charred-outsides and plush-insides. That puffy, bubbled surface is all about the rapid expansion of air and water molecules in the dough. In a tandoor oven, naan bakes in a matter of minutes. But knockout naan can totally be cooked on a grill, as well.

Naan is typically served alongside sauce-coated entree dishes, like curry, palak paneer, aloo gobi, chicken tandoori, and more, or else spread with ghee and enjoyed as a pre-meal appetizer. Naan also comes in different flavors, from garlic naan to cheese naan and sweet Peshwari naan with coconut and raisins.

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What is pizza dough?

New York-style pizza is an evolution of traditional, naan-like Neapolitan-style pizza dough. While pizza dough may be Italian in origin, variations have emerged from Sicilian to Detroit-style, Chicago-style, and more, all of which have different proportions of ingredients, different shapes, and different thicknesses. 

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Whatever the variation, pizza dough is made from a straightforward combination of salt, flour, yeast, and water. Chewy bread flour is commonly used, or 00 flour (also labelled as "pizza flour"), which is finely milled into a cornstarch-like grain for airier crust. Some pizza dough preparations include other additions like sugar, a splash of olive oil, or flavorful herbs like dried basil and oregano. A pinch of sugar helps speed up the dough's activation process, as the yeast has more to feed on. Although, while nuanced tastes can differ, typical pizza dough doesn't come in such drastically different flavors the way naan does.

From there, pizza dough is kneaded into a large ball, then generously dusted in flour and left to rise for a few hours up to a few days. To cook, pizza dough is oven-baked at high heat around 500 degrees Fahrenheit on a metal baking sheet or pizza stone (which you can improvise at home with a cast iron skillet) for a crispy yet chewy texture that is overall less pillowy and less dense than naan. In the case of Neapolitan or New York-style pizzas, the dough is thin and foldable without cracking but still crisps up into a pleasant bite. Pizza dough also takes slightly longer to cook than naan. 

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