Pita Bread

Making pita bread is something I picked up at the bakery. Turned out that was the only kind of bread I was completely skilled at making (I was particularly hopeless at making knotted bread rolls). I think I know why pita bread came easily to me. The process of rolling out the pita dough balls is very similar to making rotis aka chappatis. And in any Indian household making rotis is a daily affair.

Pita bread is light, can vary from fluffy to crispy based on your liking, and takes very little time to bake. You can pocket chicken/ lamb kebabs/falafel, spread some garlic sauce, throw in some pickle and presto, you get a home-made shawarma! 🙂

You could also mix some Za’atar with olive oil and spread it over your baked pita bread. Heat it in the oven for like a minute and you get Za’atar bread. You can even cut it into slices, which you then bake some more to get ‘em all crispy, and dip them in some yummy hummus sauce. And they go oh so well with tapenade! I could go on and on about the awesomeness of pita bread.

Do not get intimidated by the thought of making your own bread – this pita bread recipe is super simple and completely risk-free! I can assure you your bread will puff up like a balloon and you will be beaming with pride while taking out the 1^st batch of pita bread from the oven.  And this will be an excellent start to home-made bread making.

The main ingredients for my pita bread are flour and milk powder. A lot of people prefer to not add milk powder but I quite like the slight hint of milky taste in my bread. Keep the dough hooks ready for the electric mixer to knead the dough.

The bakery I worked in made batches of pita bread every day to send it to their sister branch. This meant I witnessed and took part in pita bread making for a long time. At the end of it all at least I earned a passing compliment from the head chef: ‘You could get employed here’. Hah!

Ingredients

For 18 pita breads

3 ½ cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons milk powder
1 egg, at room temperature
1½ tablespoon dry yeast
1 cup warm water + ¼ cup warm water for dissolving the yeast and sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ teaspoon salt

Method of Preparation

1. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in 1/4^th cup warm water.
2. Sieve the flour, milk powder, baking powder and salt into a clean dry bowl.
3. Make a well in the middle and add the egg, 1 cup warm water and the yeast and sugar mixture.
4. Mix all the ingredients well using a wooden spoon/ hand. Knead the dough using your hands in the bowl until it comes together.
5. Put the dough hooks on your electric blender and knead the dough on medium speed. This will combine the ingredients and break down the flour so that the dough will become stretchy and elastic and rise well in the oven. Knead until the dough is soft and smooth and just a little sticky to the touch, about 10 minutes. Add a little flour or water if necessary.
6. Prepare a bowl by lining it will some olive oil. Oil your hands as well. Lift the dough ball and massage it with your hands and toss it into the oiled bowl. Cover it with a damp kitchen towel and keep it in a dark corner of your kitchen for the dough to rise. Let it rise for 2 hours. You should check on the dough every hour and punch it down to release any air trapped in it.
7.  After 2 hours the dough should have almost doubled its size. Divide your dough into 18 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball using your palm in circular motion on a flat surface. Lay all the dough balls on a flat tray, cover it with the damp towel and let it rest for 20 minutes.
8. While the dough balls are resting, prepare your work surface by lightly flouring the surface on which you would roll out the pitas. Keep some dry flour ready in a small bowl.
9. Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius (400 degree Fahrenheit). To prepare the surface on which your bread will bake, adjust the oven rack to the middle of the oven. If you have a baking stone, put it on the oven rack to preheat as well. If you do not have a baking stone, you can use a baking tray on the middle rack of the oven.
10. After the dough is relaxed, work with one dough ball at a time. Place each dough ball on the lightly floured rolling surface. Sprinkle some dry flour from the small bowl onto the ball. Flatten the ball into a disc using your hands. Sprinkle some more flour if it gets sticky. Now use your rolling pin and stretch out the dough ball into a disc of thickness between 1/8 and ¼ inch.
11. Open the oven and place as many pita discs as possible on it. Do not let any 2 discs overlap. Let them bake for 3-4 minutes. They should be baked through and puffy. If you like your bread crisp and brown, bake for an extra 2-3 minutes, turning them over every minute for uniform browning.