Pita bread is a soft and slightly puffed flatbread made from wheat flour. The word pita is borrowed from Greek, where it means “pastry.” One of the first mentions of the word in English is found in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1936.
Pita bread is baked at a high temperature which turns the water in the dough into steam, causing the pita to puff up. When removed from the oven, the layers of baked dough remain separated inside the deflated pita, allowing the bread to be opened to form a pocket. The popularity of pitas in America is partially attributed to using the pocket in place of sandwich bread. Other common uses for pita bread include tacos, wraps, breakfast pockets, and pita chips.
Recipe Servings: 8
+ 1 hour 35 minutes resting
Ingredients
Directions
- Whisk together the water, yeast, and sugar in a large bowl.
- Add a ½ cup flour and whisk until combined. Let the mixture sit uncovered for 15 minutes.
- Add the salt, olive oil, and 2 cups of flour, stirring until the dough starts to come together.
- Sprinkle a little more flour on top of the dough and then use your hands to knead it in the bowl for 1 minute or until the dough starts to form a ball.
- Place the dough on a floured surface and knead it for 2 minutes. Cover the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.
- Knead the dough again for 2 minutes. Add flour as needed, trying not to use too much.
- Place the dough in a clean bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel. Let the dough rest for 60 minutes or until it doubles in size.
- Place a pizza stone, cast iron skillet, or baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven and heat the oven to 515°F.
- Divide the dough into eight equal pieces, rolling each one into a ball. Cover the balls and let them rest for 10 minutes.
- Use your fingers to shape one of the dough balls into a disc on a floured surface, being careful not to press all the air out. Keep the other balls of dough covered while working. Then use a rolling pin to roll the disc into a flat 7- to 8-inch disc that is a ¼- to ⅛-inch thick.
- Place the disc onto the hot pizza stone (or other baking sheet) and bake it for about 2–3 minutes before flipping it over and baking for another 1–2 minutes. Transfer the pita to a plate and cover it with a towel.
- Repeat this process for the remaining balls of dough. Depending on the size of the baking surface, more than one may be able to cook at a time.
- Keep the baked pitas covered until ready to serve. To reheat pitas, wrap them in foil (can wrap several together) and heat them in the oven until warm.
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