If you routinely buy the style of pita you can stuff, you may have wondered how this pocketed bread is made. One way to find out is to make your own. Today, I鈥檒l show you how.
As you鈥檒l see in today鈥檚 recipe, the ingredients for pita are not complex 鈥� water, yeast, flour, sugar and salt. Once the mixture is kneaded into a dough, you let the dough rise in a lightly oiled bowl.
As you can see by today鈥檚 step-by-step photos, once the dough has risen, you divide it into pieces, shape those pieces into balls, flatten them into discs, then let them rest a few minutes before rolling them into thinner rounds.
Once that鈥檚 done, you set an inverted baking pan on a rack in the oven, then heat the oven to a very hot 475 F.
When the pan and oven are hot, you set the dough rounds, in batches, directly on the inverted baking pan, where they quickly begin to cook. Within two minutes or so, the steam building up in the dough rapidly pushes the bread upward, creating a pocket in the middle.
I always turn on the oven light and watch that happen through the oven window. It鈥檚 magical to me that one minute you have flat dough, and moments later it鈥檚 puffed, pocketed and perfect for stuffing, cutting or tearing and dunking into Mediterranean-style dips.
It鈥檚 easier, of course, to make the dough for pita in a stand mixer, but if you don鈥檛 have one, I give you the option of mixing it by hand.
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How to make pita
Step 1: After dough has risen, cut it in half, then cut each half into six, roughly equal pieces.
Step 2: Press each piece of dough into a 1/2-inch-thick disc, then let it rest, covered with a kitchen towel, until ready to roll.
Step 3: When oven and baking pan are hot, roll dough into five- to six-inch rounds.
Step 4: Set the rounds of dough on the inverted pan in the oven, spacing each about two inches apart.
Step 5: Bake the rounds four minutes, until puffed, then flip over and bake 30 seconds more. This is what they will look like after about two minutes of baking.
Step 6: Let pita cool on a baking rack until ready to use.
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Homemade Pita
There are few steps required to make these pita, but the result of puffed, pleasingly chewy, pocketed, great for stuffing or dipping bread is worth the effort.
Today鈥檚 recipe yields 12 pita. If that鈥檚 too many, freeze some once they鈥檙e baked and cooled.
Preparation time: 40 minutes, plus rising and resting time
Cooking time: 4 1/2 minutes, per batch
Makes: 12 pita bread
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1 (8-gram) packet active dry (traditional) yeast (about 2 1/4 tsp)
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 cups lukewarm (not hot) water
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus some for shaping dough (see Note)
1 1/2 tsp salt
鈥� olive oil, for greasing bowl
In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the water, yeast and sugar. Let mixture stand five minutes to dissolve the yeast.
If using a stand mixer, add all the flour and salt and mix on medium speed until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
Mix and knead the dough six minutes. (The dough should be a little sticky, as you鈥檒l be adding more flour during shaping.) If mixing dough by hand, slowly add salt and 2 3/4 cups of the flour, working it into the yeast/water mixture with a spoon until the dough loosely clumps together.
Lightly dust a clean work surface with the remaining flour. Gather the dough, scraping the sides of the bowl if necessary, and set it on the counter. Dab it lightly in the flour to coat it, then knead for six to eight minutes, until the dough is smooth.
Lightly grease a large, deep bowl with olive oil. Place the kneaded dough in the bowl, cover and allow to rise at warm room temperature until doubled in size, about 60 to 75 minutes.
Transfer the dough back to your lightly floured work surface and cut it in half. Cut each half into six roughly equal pieces. Shape each piece into a small ball, then flatten each into a disc about 1/2-inch thick. Set the discs, not touching, on a lightly floured work surface or tray. Cover with a kitchen towel until ready to roll. (In this step, we are just letting the dough rest, not rise again. That will occur in the hot oven.)
Place an oven rack in the lower-third part of the oven. Set an inverted 13-inch by 18-inch baking sheet on that oven rack. Remove any other racks from the oven, as this will make it easier to set the pita on the hot baking sheet. Now preheat the oven to 475 F.
Roll four of the discs with a floured rolling pin into rounds about five to six inches in diameter. Carefully place the dough rounds directly on the inverted baking sheet, spacing them about two inches apart. Bake four minutes, or until the pita has puffed and is very light golden in colour.
Turn each pita over and cook 30 seconds more. Remove pita and cool on a large baking rack to room temperature. Roll, bake and cool the remaining discs of dough as you did the first four.
Note: If you have not used your flour for a while, and/or it looks compacted 鈥� something that can happen during our humid, damp winters 鈥� give it a good stir to aerate it a bit before measuring it for this recipe.
Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks. His latest is The Great Rotisserie Chicken Cookbook (Appetite by Random House). His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
