Post by Dweaver on Apr 8, 2006 23:34:29 GMT -6
The following recipe was taken from our newsletter. These are easy and good.
How to Make Pitas
We had a pita party. We made pita sandwiches for the crew. (There are benefits to working at The Prepared Pantry.) Just as homemade bread is much better than store bread, so are homemade pitas better. And they are really quite easy to make. Once your family has had fresh homemade pitas, you’ll never get by with store pitas again.
Homemade pitas are easy to make with just a few ingredients and basic kitchen equipment. To make your pitas, you will need a mister, a rolling pan, and a heavy baking sheet or baking stone.
Ingredients
2 3/4 cups bread flour
1 7-gram packet of instant yeast
1 1/4 cups warm (105 degree) water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup stone ground whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons salt
Directions
1. With your stand type mixer, combine about 2/3’s of the white flour, the yeast, and the warm water. Mix with a dough hook for about 30 seconds. (This mixes in and hydrates the yeast.) Add the rest of the flour, the whole wheat flour, and then the olive oil and salt. Knead with the dough hook for about four minutes on medium speed or until the gluten is formed. Add a little more flour or water if needed to get the right consistency. The dough should be a little wetter than bread dough.
2. Remove the dough to a greased bowl and let sit for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size and is puffy.
3. Place a rack on the lowest shelf in the oven and remove the second rack so that you can reach into the oven with the formed pitas. Place a heavy cooking sheet or baking stone on the rack. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.
4. Form the dough into 2-inch balls. With a rolling pin, roll the balls flat to a thickness of about 3/8 inch. Let these discs sit on the counter uncovered for ten to fifteen minutes.
5. Spray the disks with water from a mister, so that the tops are just damp. Fold the dough over to trap the moisture and roll out to 3/8 inch thick again. If the disks are out-of-round, that’s okay. Let them rest for ten minutes.
6. Place two or three of the flat disks on the hot baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 3 1/2 to 4 minutes. The pitas should be puffy but not browned. Remove the pitas from the oven and let them cool on a wire rack.
7. Let the oven heat recover for five minutes and bake the next two or three pitas. Continue until all are baked.
Baker’s notes: It is the water turning to steam in the hot oven that makes the pitas puffy. If your pitas do not puff, there is not enough moisture trapped in the dough. They will still taste good and you can split them with the end of knife but they will not have that puffy, hollow interior.
For a printable version of this recipe, click here. www.preparedpantry.com/PitasPrintable.htm.
How to Make Pitas
We had a pita party. We made pita sandwiches for the crew. (There are benefits to working at The Prepared Pantry.) Just as homemade bread is much better than store bread, so are homemade pitas better. And they are really quite easy to make. Once your family has had fresh homemade pitas, you’ll never get by with store pitas again.
Homemade pitas are easy to make with just a few ingredients and basic kitchen equipment. To make your pitas, you will need a mister, a rolling pan, and a heavy baking sheet or baking stone.
Ingredients
2 3/4 cups bread flour
1 7-gram packet of instant yeast
1 1/4 cups warm (105 degree) water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup stone ground whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons salt
Directions
1. With your stand type mixer, combine about 2/3’s of the white flour, the yeast, and the warm water. Mix with a dough hook for about 30 seconds. (This mixes in and hydrates the yeast.) Add the rest of the flour, the whole wheat flour, and then the olive oil and salt. Knead with the dough hook for about four minutes on medium speed or until the gluten is formed. Add a little more flour or water if needed to get the right consistency. The dough should be a little wetter than bread dough.
2. Remove the dough to a greased bowl and let sit for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size and is puffy.
3. Place a rack on the lowest shelf in the oven and remove the second rack so that you can reach into the oven with the formed pitas. Place a heavy cooking sheet or baking stone on the rack. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.
4. Form the dough into 2-inch balls. With a rolling pin, roll the balls flat to a thickness of about 3/8 inch. Let these discs sit on the counter uncovered for ten to fifteen minutes.
5. Spray the disks with water from a mister, so that the tops are just damp. Fold the dough over to trap the moisture and roll out to 3/8 inch thick again. If the disks are out-of-round, that’s okay. Let them rest for ten minutes.
6. Place two or three of the flat disks on the hot baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 3 1/2 to 4 minutes. The pitas should be puffy but not browned. Remove the pitas from the oven and let them cool on a wire rack.
7. Let the oven heat recover for five minutes and bake the next two or three pitas. Continue until all are baked.
Baker’s notes: It is the water turning to steam in the hot oven that makes the pitas puffy. If your pitas do not puff, there is not enough moisture trapped in the dough. They will still taste good and you can split them with the end of knife but they will not have that puffy, hollow interior.
For a printable version of this recipe, click here. www.preparedpantry.com/PitasPrintable.htm.