How to Make Pita Bread

Receta de The View from Great Island

 

How to Make Pita Bread

Yield: makes 6-8 pita

Ingredients

• 1 cup water, at about 100F, or warm but not hot to the touch
• 2 tsp (or 1 packet) active dry yeast
• 1 Tbsp olive oil (plus more for coating the dough and oiling the pan)
• 2 tsp salt
• 3 cups all purpose flour (fluff the flour before scooping and leveling)

Instructions

1. Put the warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer (or a regular bowl if doing by hand) and sprinkle in the yeast. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
2. Blend in the oil and salt, and then mix in the flour. Once the flour is incorporated, knead for 5 minutes until the dough is soft and elastic.
3. Coat the dough lightly with oil and place in a clean bowl. Cover with plastic and then a clean kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm spot for an hour, it will double in bulk.
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Cut it in half, and then cut each half into 3 pieces, so you have 6 total. I like to take each piece and form a round ball, that way it is easier to roll out evenly. Keep the rest of the dough covered as you work with each piece.
5. Roll out one of the pieces of the dough into approximately a 6 inch round.
6. Heat a skillet or cast iron pan on medium high until it is hot. My gas range goes from 1 (low) to 7 (high) and I kept the heat at mark 5. Lightly oil the pan for the first piece of dough, but after that you should be fine without adding anything additional.
7. Lay the round of dough on the hot pan and cook for about 30 seconds, until you start to see bubbles, or lumps, appear. Flip it over and cook for one minute. Then flip it again, and cook for a final minute.
8. Remove the bread and immediately wrap it in a clean kitchen towel. The steam will keep it soft. While one pita is cooking you can be rolling out the next piece of dough.
9. Repeat with the rest of the dough, and keep all the pitas stacked inside the towel until they have cooled. Then you can store them in plastic baggies.

NOTES: The puffing can be a little bit capricious…if you really want it to puff and make an inner pocket, cut your dough into 8 instead of 6 pieces, and roll them on the thin side.  Make sure your pan is hot.   These can be cooked in the oven, but again, I tried that and wasn’t happy with the results.  The pan gives you more control.



.  You can freeze them.