Pita bread and pita chips

Spicy gyros served in soft, slightly chewy but warm pita bread is an unbeatable fast food. The pita pockets and other packaged pita bread options of supermarkets don't even approach the qualities of a piece of freshly-baked pita straight out of the oven. And they aren't hard to make. In fact, as far as breads go, they are about as easy as it gets. And the "pockets"... well they appear on their own as you bake the bread. Each piece puffs up in the oven, and if you cut off a piece of the finished product, you will discover that there is indeed a pocket inside.

There are many recipes out there, the one I'm about to share here is simple and never fails to yield perfect pita pockets.

Ingredients
1 tbsp dry yeast
1.5 cups warm water
1 tsp sugar
3-3.25 cups flour
1 tsp salt
olive oil to coat the dough

Preparation
Dissolve the yeast and sugar in 0.5 cup warm water. Set aside for 15 minutes, until the top gets frothy. Meanwhile combine the flour with the salt in a medium bowl and form a hole in the middle. When the yeast solution proofed, pour it into the hole and add the remaining 1 cup of warm water as well. Mix until it comes together into a sticky dough.

Remove from the bowl and knead for 3 minutes (or until smooth) adding more flour as necessary. You should get a soft, elastic dough in the end. Take a clean, dry bowl and add a little bit of olive oil to the bottom (as little as possible in order to coat the dough completely). Roll your dough in the oil to lightly coat. Cover the dough in the bowl and allow to rise for 2 hours.

Preheat your oven to 500
°F with a baking sheet on the shelf closest to the bottom. Arrange your other oven shelves so that later you can toss the pita dough onto the hot baking sheet easily.

Pinch off balls of the dough without deflating ith too much, to form 10 equal sized balls in the end. Place them onto a floured surface and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise for 15 more minutes.


When your oven is ready, take 3-4 balls and roll them out into a thin (1/4 inch) circle. Toss onto the hot baking sheet in your preheated oven. Bake for around 3 minutes, then turn and bake for 2 more minutes. Allow to cool a bit on a cookie rack under a piece of cloth before serving (or freezing). You will need to adjust the baking times according to your oven.


These can also be turned into scrumptious pita chips: slice each pita into 8 wedges, brush with extra virgin olive oil (this gives it a wonderful taste). Place the wedges onto a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Salt and pepper to taste (paprika is delicious on them too). Bake for 5-10 minutes in a preheated 400°F oven, turning once. You want the chips to be golden brown. Be careful not to burn them! Serve with your favorite hummus:

Jo etvagyat! (Bon appetit!)

Comments

  1. another one about yeast culture....
    I like the bread version better

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, ever since I joined a biology lab, my favorite pastime is culturing yeast :-)

    I do love the bread version fresh, but when it's a little old, making it into chips makes them seem fresh again!

    ReplyDelete

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