Fresh baked bread is always a treat, and pita bread is no different. Make these for great appetizers or to accompany a Mediterranean menu and you'll never buy them from the store again!
As with any homemade bread, you have to organize your timing. A relatively fast recipe, this one uses two rises before cooking, making for a total time of 2.5-3 hours from start to feasting.
Being a flat bread, pita bread is baked very quickly. I prefer the "open air" method using a cast iron pan on a grill vs. an indoor oven. Either work fine, but I love that char from the cast iron and the slight smokiness from the grill.
Reminder: Baking recipes are best with ingredients measured by weight. I highly recommend you get a kitchen scale if you don't have one.
Ingredients
1 cups lukewarm water
1 tsp dried yeast
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp kosher salt
450g (approx 4 cups) white all-purpose flour (or 300g white and 150g whole wheat if you prefer)
Directions
Warm your mixer bowl with hot water. Collect your ingredients and empty the bowl.
In the bowl, pour the cup of water, sprinkle the dried yeast on the surface and let foam over the next 10 minutes.
Add the olive oil, then the flour and salt. Set the mixer to Speed 1 (the slowest) with the dough hook until the dough is mostly combined.
Set to Speed 2 and let the mixer knead the dough for 4 minutes. Meanwhile, microwave 4 cups of water for 3 minutes.
Remove the bowl from the mixer and drizzle a little olive oil over the dough ball. Roll the ball to coat the bowl and the ball with the olive oil. Cover the bowl with Saran wrap. Put a rimmed baking sheet on the bottom of your oven or on the lowest rack. Pour the hot, microwaved water into it. Place the mixer bowl with the dough on a rack above the water tray and close the oven, letting the dough rise, doubling in size for 45 min.
Reattach the bowl to the mixer and with the dough hook at Speed 2, knead the dough another 5 minutes. Repeat Step 5 (no need for another round of microwaved water) and let the dough rise one more hour.
Divide the dough into 8 equal portions. Sprinkle some flour on the work area and flatten each piece, rolling it out into an 8in circle about 1/4in thick. Keep the circles covered with a baker's or kitchen cloth while you heat a cast iron pan on the grill to 350-400F.
After about 10 min to heat the grill and pan, lay a dough round on the pan for 20-30 seconds, then turn it over to cook the other side for a minute. When large bubbles form, turn the bread over one more time. The bread may puff up. After a total cooking time of 3 minutes, remove the pita from the pan. Repeat with the remaining dough circles.
Keep the pitas warm, wrapped in a clean kitchen towel. Serve warm and fresh.
Baking Alternative: If you don't have a grill or simply prefer to bake the pitas indoors, bake 2-3 at a time on a baking sheet, for a total of 3 minutes at 425F. A baking stone heated for 30 min beneath the baking sheet should give you the best oven results.
Tags: #baking #mediterranean
Commenti