Pita bread

Despite the fact that I did this bread at college, it took a little bit of experimentation. The first attempt certainly didn’t look like pita bread. Good job dough at college proves ridiculously fast.

Just written out the recipe below. It probably would’ve helped on the day had I actually followed the instructions.

The first attempt started as follows; 225g strong white bread flour and 1 teaspoon salt in one bowl, 15g fresh yeast, 140ml lukewarm water and 10ml of vegetable oil (the recipe specified extra virgin olive oil, but there wasn’t any to hand) in another bowl. The dry ingredients were gradually mixed into the wet and then the dough was turned out and worked until smooth and elastic. Back it went to a bowl and it was left to double in size (on top of the ovens at college. If you’ve seen my previous post, you’ll know that the tops of the ovens are rather warm and make the dough prove incredibly fast).

Dough doubled, I turned it out of the bowl, knocked it back and divided it into 2 pieces (yep, if you’ve already flicked to the recipe, you’ll know that that’s not quite right). Each bit was rolled out on top of a floured tea towel until about 3mm thick. I attempted the classic pita bread shape but I can’t say they were too neat. They went on a baking tray to prove until doubled in size, then got put (still on the same baking tray) into the oven... which I hadn’t properly preheated. Yeah, I’m not the only one who’s seeing the glaring reasons why this didn’t go right the first time.

So, the first attempts came out of the oven and they looked like flatbreads, or pizza bases, but not like pita breads. This was unduly worrying; there was still about 2 hours of the lesson left, plenty more time for a second attempt.

First change; my tutor suggested that I tried making a much wetter dough. This I did, but I was a bit more convinced that the thickness of the dough that went into the oven, the oven temperature and the lack of a preheated baking tray to create a bit of oven spring were the key problems. I rectified these by not leaving the dough to prove more quite as long after rolling it and actually getting myself in gear with a preheated oven and baking tray. And, hey presto! Pita breads were born.

Lessons learned; read the recipe, follow instructions and generally just think...

Simplified recipe

Ingredients

225g strong white bread flour

1 teaspoon salt

15g fresh yeast

140ml lukewarm water

10ml extra virgin olive oil

Method

1.       Sift together the flour and the salt

2.       Mix the yeast into the water in a large mixing bowl until dissolved, then add the olive oil

3.       Gradually add and incorporate the flour into the liquid until it comes together as a soft dough

4.       Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place in a clean bowl, cover and leave to double in size

5.       Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead gently to knock it back

6.       Divide the dough into 4 to 6 pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Cover and leave the rest for 5 minutes

7.       Roll out each piece of dough until 5mm thick. Cover and leave to rise for 20 to 30 minutes

8.       Place several baking trays in the oven and preheat the oven to 230°C (450°C or gas mark 8)

When they’re ready, slide your pita breads onto the preheated baking trays and bake for 4-6 minutes until puffed up but not coloured