Pitta bread

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 8 Pittas bread, you will need:

• 1 500 g flour
• 2 25 g yeast
• 3 300 ml water
• 4 9 g salt
• 5 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 ½ teaspoon caster sugar
• Total weight: 870 grams

Times:

Preparation	Resting	Cooking	Start to finish
25 min.	2 hours 30 min.	3 min.	2 hours 55 min.

Step by step recipe

• 1: In the mixer bowl, or a large bowl, pour ½ teaspoon caster sugar, 9 g salt and 300 ml water (warm).
  Add 500 g flour, 25 g yeast, and finally 2 tablespoons olive oil.
• 2: Knead for 4 minutes on medium speed (position "1"), or manually until you get a smooth elastic dough.
  Note: For the best way to knead, see: A few tips for effective kneading at home.
• 3: Gather the dough into a ball, dust with flour, then cover with a plastic sheet. Leave to rise at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours, until the dough is doubled in volume.
• 4: Cut the dough into 7 or 8 small lumps. Roll into balls, place well spaced on a baking sheet, and cover with a damp tea-towel.
  Leave to rise again for about 30 minutes at room temperature.
• 5: Then roll out the balls of dough into flat rounds approximately 10-15 cm (4-6") diameter and about 5 mm ( ¼") thick (they should not be any thinner).
• 6: Cook the pitta:
  • Using a wood fire if you have a bread oven
  • In a convential oven at 240°C ou 464°F, directly on the oven floor
• 7: If you use a bread oven, take care because the pitta cook very quickly (one minute or less!), and need to be turned round and over to colour uniformly.
  Your pitta bread is finished.
• 8: You could throw a "pitta party", preparing everything to be put out on the table, leaving your guests to assemble their own pitta sandwiches. Choose a variety of fillings such as:
  Diced tomato and cucumber with herbs and vinaigrette.
• 9: Diced avocado in a lime and olive oil vinaigrette.
• 10: Tuna rillettes.
• 11: Guacamole, Hummus, etc.
• 12: To make a pitta sandwich, cut in half while still warm.
• 13: Then fill the pocket of each half as you choose from the suggestions above.

Remarks

An idea to try: a complete pitta meal with a savoury course as described above, and a sweet course with small diced fruit, custard cream or whipped cream, melted chocolate, etc... For the sweet part, it's a good idea to dust the pittas with caster sugar before puting them to the oven, so that they caramelize slightly.

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