Pita bread

By tulawdog

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 3 cups all-purpose flour (2 1/2 plus 1/2)
• 2 tsp salt
• up to 2 tsp olive oil

Preparation

Step 1

In a large bowl (or the bowl of your kneading machine), mix together water and yeast and let sit for a few minutes until yeast dissolves. Add 2 1/2 cups of the flour (put aside the rest for the kneading), salt and olive oil and stir with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough is formed.

If you have a kneading machine, knead according to instructions until the dough is smooth and elastic (or knead for about 5-7 minutes by hand after sprinkling the work surface with some flour). Add enough flour to avoid the dough from sticking, but use as little as possible.

Place the dough in a bowl you will previously have greased with some olive oil , turn it so the ball is fully coated and cover with plastic wrap or a dish towel. Let the dough rise for a couple of hours, until the dough approximately doubles.

Now you have two options: refrigerate the dough until needed (for up to a week) or make your pita bread.

When you decide to make the pita, deflate the dough with your hands and turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide it into 8 equal pieces and flatten each piece into a thick disk. Sprinkle the pieces with some more flour and cover them with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap until you are ready to bake them.

Using a floured rolling pin, roll one of the pieces into 8-9 inch circles, about a quarter inch thick. My disks turned out a little smaller and thinner, despite using exactly the same amounts. I am wondering if my dry yeast package had been open too long? Anyhow, when you are rolling make sure the pieces do not stick to the work surface and sprinkle with extra flour if needed. Also, if the dough starts to spring back, set it aside to rest for a few minutes and then continue rolling.

Now you again have two options: baking the pitas in the oven or making them on your stovetop.
I opted for the first choice.

Pre heat the oven to 450°F/230°C. If you have a baking stone use it, or heat a baking sheet in the middle rack. When your oven is very hot, place the rolled-out pitas directly on the baking stone or baking sheets and bake for about 3 minutes. The dough should start puffing up after about a minute and is done when it has fully ballooned. Cover baked pitas with a clean dish towel while baking the others. I baked mine two at a time. As I mentioned above, not all of my pitas ballooned and the ones that did, did so in parts, in large bubbles. Besides the yeast I used (the package had been open a while), I am pretty sure the heat levels were not high enough: I used parchment paper instead of putting the bread directly on the baking sheet and realized I was getting better results when I increased the heat by ventilating my oven.

I did not try the stovetop method but will be sure to in the future. Here is what to do if you decide to go this way.

Warm a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until very hot. Drizzle some oil in the pan and wipe off the excess. Lay a pita on the skillet and bake for 30 seconds, until you see bubbles starting to form. Flip and cook for 1-2 minutes, until large golden spots appear on the underside. Flip again and cook another 1-2 minutes. If you have problems with the puffing try gently pressing the surface of the pita with a dish towel.

Pitas can be stored for a few days in a closed plastic bag or frozen.