Pita on call,,,, half recipe
photo by Heather Sullivan
- Ready In:
- 28mins
- Ingredients:
- 5
- Yields:
-
4 pitas
ingredients
- 1 cup blood temperature water
- 1 packet fast rising yeast (don't double this for the full recipe)
- 1⁄2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1⁄2 tablespoon salt (or salt substitute for me)
- 2 1⁄2 - 3 cups whole wheat flour (or half and half with bread flour)
directions
- Mix the water, the yeast, and one half the flour for about 2 minutes, I used my mixer with the dough hooks, and let it stand for at least ten minutes, or until the sponge gets bubbly maybe as much as half an hour.
- Fire up the mixer again, add the oil and salt, and then the rest of the flour half a cup at a time until the dough starts pulling cleanly away from the sides of the bowl.
- The amount of the flour will depend on the humidity and things like that.
- Let the mixer run on for another five, six minutes or so, then the real*fun* begins.
- Turn the dough out on a lightly floured board, if you have Wondra flour use that, and give it the*business*.
- Push away with the heels of your hands, fold over, give it a quarter turn and repete, keep this up as the days frustrations disappear in the warmth and sensuous feeling of well worked dough.
- Gawds, but I love making bread.
- Oil the dough lightly and put it in a covered bowl someplace warm till it doubles or better in volume.
- Turn it out on the board again, punch down and knead lightly.
- Now, put it in a storage bag at least 3 times the volume of the dough, suck most of the air out and put it in the fridge.
- Now you have the ready-to-use pita.
- To bake, pinch off a chunk about the size of a small lemon, let it warm up and then stretch it out to about say nine inches or so.
- Leave it on the board it will begin to rise slightly.
- There are two ways to bake the pitas.
- If you want to heat up the oven, crank it up to 450, If you have a chunk of quarry tile in there use it, or use an overturned baking sheet.
- Lay thepita dough gently and let it bake until it balloons up, Three minutes max.
- If it doesn't the tile wasn't sufficiently heated up it'll still be edible but not so nice.
- OR.
- On the stovetop get a large skillet, cast iron is best, over fairly high heat.
- When it's barely smoking, grease it very lightly, Use a paper towel with a bit of oil, then put the pita down gently.
- In about twenty seconds, turn it over.
- Cook about a minute till the bubbles begin to form, then turn it over again until it balloons fully.
- The total cooking time should be no more than three minutes or so and you've got your fresh pita.
- The dough should keep in the fridge for up to a week, just use as desired.
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Reviews
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Why you would buy pita bread after discovering this recipe I don't know. It is the easiest bread recipe ever, takes no time at all to put together and tastes a million times better than the stuff you buy at the store. The chef says he keeps his in the fridge, to use as needed, but I bet if you try this you won't have any left to put in the fridge! It's far too tasty for that...
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Fantastic pita bread. I have cooked it on a baking stone in the oven many times, but decided to do these on the gas grill as it gets hotter than my oven (I cranked it up to around 600F). I slid them on the grate, and it was a matter of seconds before they started forming bubbles. I flipped them over and they fully ballooned very quickly. Super fast process using that much heat. They came out wonderfully! I doubled the recipe, and used half for Palestinian Chicken; the other half I am planning to use for gyros. I like to put them in a clean kitchen towel fairly soon after they are cooked; keeps them warm and soft. Tips for anyone having problems getting them to fully balloon: roll them as evenly and smoothly as possible (eg. no creases, folds) and make sure you have plenty of heat. Pizza peels are also handy to slide them on/off the stone, grill, etc. The pitas available in the stores in my area are horrible, so good, homemade pita bread is a godsend. Great recipe!
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
T. Woolfe
Compton, Ca.
May 2005: T. Woolfe recently passed away. He will be greatly missed by his friends at Recipezaar. -- Recipezaar Editor
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Well lessee. I'm a retired, post 65 male live-alone, self taught but been cooking most of my life, wrote a cookbook for friends http://www.heywired.org/TIMM/cookwoof.htm
Favorite cooking books Cookwise by Shirley Corriher, an old Joy of Cooking, Jeff Smiths The Frugal Gourmet, Julia & Jacques Cooking at Home, and a couple of those private printings.
A Word on How I feel about RATEINGS.
I reserve that fifth star for SUPRISE ME purposes. The new combination. The Idea that I haven't seen before. The spark that elevates a recipie from the ordinary-with-variations. If I don't seem to give a lot of 5s that's why. A 4 is a great taste.