Pita Bread

Submitted by MsPia

"I made this last night to eat with Recipe#81725 and they came out perfect. What a great meal. Highly recommended."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 45mins
• Ingredients: 7
• Yields: 8 pitas
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 2 teaspoons bread enhancer
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, or in the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all of the ingredients, mixing to form a shaggy dough. Knead the dough, by hand (10 minutes) or by machine (5 minutes) till it's smooth. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, and allow it to rest for 1 hour; it'll become quite puffy, though it may not double in bulk.
2. Turn the dough onto a lightly oiled work surface and divide it into 8 pieces.
3. Roll two to four of the pieces into 6-inch circles (the number of pieces depends on how many rolled-out pieces at a time can fit on your baking sheet).
4. Place the circles on a lightly greased baking sheet and allow them to rest, uncovered, for 15 minutes, while you preheat your oven to 500°F (Keep the unrolled pieces of dough covered. Roll out the next batch while the first batch bakes.).
5. Place the baking sheet on the lowest rack in your oven, and bake the pitas for 5 minutes; they should puff up. (If they haven't puffed up, wait a minute or so longer. If they still haven't puffed, your oven isn't hot enough; raise the heat for the next batch.).
6. Transfer the baking sheet to your oven's middle-to-top rack and bake for an additional 2 minutes, or until the pitas have browned.
7. Remove the pitas from the oven, wrap them in a clean dish towel (this keeps them soft), and repeat with the remaining dough. Store cooled pitas in an airtight container or plastic bag.

Reviews

[ValFosburgh]

These turned out great! It was my first time making pita bread, and I didn't have the instant yeast, so I used 2 tsp active dry yeast with the sugar and 1/2 cup warm water to proof the yeast for 10 minutes. (Next time, I would just add one whole active dry yeast packet.). Then, I mixed flour and salt together in a big bowl, and made a well in the center and poured in the proofed yeast and 1/2 cup additional water, mixed with a spoon and then proceeded to knead by hand for 10 minutes. After the 1 hour rise time, I did end up breaking the dough into 6 pieces and formed 6 balls. I let those rest for 30 minutes, then rolled them out into 1/4" circles. I turned on the oven to preheat while those rested. I used a baking stone to bake three at a time for 5 minutes, then transferred them directly to the top rack and baked another 2 minutes for browning. They look beautiful! My only trouble is that the pocket is very thin on top and thick on the bottom, so perhaps I didn't let them rise enough or didn't roll them out thin enough? Not sure, but I'll be making them again to work that out. My family loved them fresh out of the oven!

 

[Artandkitchen]

It's really not to much work perpare these pitas and they are soo good.<br/>I renounced to the bread enhancer and I followed the recipe as described.<br/>I hope more people will try this as those are really great and delicious!<br/>Nobody can resist the smell of fresh bread/pitta