Pita on call,,,, half recipe

Submitted by T. Woolfe

"Someone asked for this one on Zarr-chat the other day. I love to stuff Pitas and the ones from the market are usually dried out by the time I use them. So....."

 

• 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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. The amount of the flour will depend on the humidity and things like that.
4. Let the mixer run on for another five, six minutes or so, then the real*fun* begins.
5. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured board, if you have Wondra flour use that, and give it the*business*.
6. 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.
7. Gawds, but I love making bread.
8. Oil the dough lightly and put it in a covered bowl someplace warm till it doubles or better in volume.
9. Turn it out on the board again, punch down and knead lightly.
10. 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.
11. Now you have the ready-to-use pita.
12. 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.
13. Leave it on the board it will begin to rise slightly.
14. There are two ways to bake the pitas.
15. 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.
16. Lay thepita dough gently and let it bake until it balloons up, Three minutes max.
17. If it doesn't the tile wasn't sufficiently heated up it'll still be edible but not so nice.
18. OR.
19. On the stovetop get a large skillet, cast iron is best, over fairly high heat.
20. When it's barely smoking, grease it very lightly, Use a paper towel with a bit of oil, then put the pita down gently.
21. In about twenty seconds, turn it over.
22. Cook about a minute till the bubbles begin to form, then turn it over again until it balloons fully.
23. The total cooking time should be no more than three minutes or so and you've got your fresh pita.
24. The dough should keep in the fridge for up to a week, just use as desired.

Reviews

[Sackville]

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...

 

[loof751]

These were great and fun to make - I got so excited when they actually began to puff up in the oven!

 

[anemoneofpeace]

These pita's came out exactly as i expected. They were yummy and quick to make. Thanks for a great recipe.

 

[GaylaJ]

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!

 

[Caz320]

I never thought making pita bread would be so exciting, but when I saw them puffing up in the over I was thrilled. Everyone loved them - we made gyro's with them. Sent my guest home with the recipe !