My Pita Bread....

Pita is a round flat bread that is eaten by people in Turkey and Greece. It has a pocket like interior in which fillings like vegetables and meat are added. At present most hypermarkets around the world sell ready made pita. I am going to share with my readers my homemade pita bread that I made today


Ingredients

500 gm high protein flour
11 gm easy-blend yeast
1 tsp fine sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter (melted and cooled )
100 ml milk
230 ml warm water


To make Bread


Sift flour and add in the salt to mix. In a small bowl , put in sugar and add in part of the warm water (about 100ml ). Stir the fine sugar in water until the sugar dissolved. Then sprinkle the dry yeast into the sugar mixture to froth for about 10 minutes. Add this frothy mixture into the sifted flour together with the melted butter and the remaining luke warm water ( the water cannot be too hot or else it will kill the yeast and the dough will not rise.) Knead the dough for about 10-15 minutes until the dough is smooth on the surface. ( You can use an electric blender with a dough hook if you have one) . Then put the dough in a bowl (bottom of bowl brushed with a little oil to prevent sticking) . Put the whole bowl inside a clean plastic bag and tie up the bag to prevent air from going in. Leave the dough to rise for about 30 minutes

Dough double in bulk

When the dough has double in bulk, shape it into sausage and divide it into 16 even portions. This is how I do it. First, I weigh the whole dough ( Mine is 800 gm). Divide into two 400 gm portions. Then divide the 400g portion into two 200 gm portion... and ... so on to get 16 equal portion of 50 gm for each portion. Shape each portion into a smooth ball and then flatten each ball gently with your palm or use a rolling pin to form a round circle about 0.5 cm thick. Place it on a lightly floured surface , covered, to rise for another 10 -15 minutes..

Rounded small balls

Flatten dough

Risen dough




When the dough has risen ,bake it on a heavy base metal flat pan on medium heat until golden brown on one side.(about 2 to 3 minutes) .Then flip it over the other side to bake. Control the heat so that the pita will not be burnt or hard and crisp. A nice pita has a soft texture.Then place it on a rack to cool.

When cooled , make a pocket with a sharp knife on the bread. Stuff the pocket with fillings of meat and vegetables of your choice. I stuff mine with grill chicken breast, sliced onions,tomatoes, cucumber, grated carrots and some salad greens. Dribble some mayonaise on top.