Pita Bread is a soft, slightly leavened flat bread baked from wheat flour. It is used in mostly majority of Middle Eastern cuisines and resembles other slightly leavened flat breads such as naan, sandwich bread or even our own Indian Phulke.
Pita Bread is made with very simple ingredients like water, flour, yeast, salt and that’s about it. The hyperactive yeast is secret behind making the Pita Bread impressively puffy.
I wanted to post some recipes for my readers which they thought was impossible to make at home so easily, so I came up with home made version of Pita Bread. Instead of searching for these breads in all our Indian bakeries and supermarkets, it would be so nice if you can make this fresh bread at home.
Traditionally called as khubz (ordinary bread) similar to the Indian flat bread (Phulkas) which is also an ordinary bread of the common man. This famous bread is from Lebanon and is used to accompany many dishes in middle eastern cuisine. Traditionally baked in an oven, but I have suggested a recipe using the tava or stove top. Now-a-days many bakeries sell pita bread, so if you choose to get it from the market always ask for soft and freshly baked ones or just follow these simple steps and get your own fresh Pita at home.Pita bread can be stored for a few days wrapped in a plastic bag and kept in the freezer. It’s simple but yes, make it a day before if you’re thinking to surprise your hubby by placing this Arabic filler in his lunch box or kiddos school Tiffin box as it will save your time in morning and I know how time runs when we are actually preparing lunch box in those early morning. So, make yourself super mom’s by just following these easy steps for home made Pita Bread.
| Tip: Some amazing ways to use Pita bread, it can be used to scoop sauces or dips such as hummus or to wrap kebabs, gyros or falafel in the manner of sandwiches. It can also be cut and baked into crispy pita chips. |
Ingredients for Homemade Pita Bread
- 320 Grams plain flour / Whole Wheat flour
- 70 Grams plain flour / Whole Wheat flour (for dusting & Kneading)
- 1 Cup Warm Water
- 2 teaspoon Dry instant Yeast / 20 grams fresh yeast
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2 teaspoon melted butter / Olive oil
- 1 teaspoon melted butter / Olive oil (for oiling the bowl)
Method for making Homemade Pita Bread
- In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in a little water and set aside to dissolve completely.
- Mix the flour and salt together; add a teaspoon of oil/melted butter (if you’re using any). Mix together and add the dissolved yeast, add more water and continue to mix until you get a rough dough.
- Now knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for about 5-8 minutes until the dough is firm and elastic. If the dough is sticky, dust more flour on it and knead on to get a non-sticky, elastic dough. Then oil the used large bowl and place the dough into it. Making sure that the dough is well brushed with oil.
- Cover the bowl and leave to rise for 2 hours or until it doubles in size.
| Tip: The oil prevents the dough from sticking to the bowl. |
- Then deflate the dough by gently punching it down. Then Place on the lightly floured surface; cut out into orange sized balls (if you want a large bread), or into golf sized balls(if you want a smaller pita bread)
- Take one of the balls(keep the others covered o prevent drying out) ,Then Flatten the ball with your palm and roll out flat; sprinkle some flour as you roll until you get a large circle. Then place on a floured surface and cover while you repeat the process for the remaining balls.
| Tip: Remember to always dust with flour if it is sticky and flip the dough over so that it does not stick to the table. |
- You can use a circular cutter to get a perfect circle…yes here is the secret you got, normally we really have to work hard from our childhood to get perfect circular shape but still most of us end up making maps so try this cutter please and yes you can cheat with this one.
- If you want to make the Shawarma bread on a pan (on stove top), simply heat up a non stick pan until it’s very hot. Then place the rolled dough on it. When you begin to see bubbles, flip over to the other side and watch as the balloon forms…that’s the fun part of the whole process.
- The balloon will also form if you don’t flip over, but that will result in one side burning and turning black (we don’t want that, right?)Deflate the balloon and place on a tray lined with a damp kitchen towel, and repeat the process for the remaining dough.
Method for making Pita Bread in Oven
If you want to make use of an oven, preheat the oven to 450ºC, place the baking tray and place the rolled-out pitas directly on the baking tray (as many as will fit), and bake for about 3 minutes.The pita will start to puff up after a minute or two and is done when it has fully ballooned. Cover baked pitas with a clean dish towel while cooking any remaining pitas.
Enjoy them with Falafel ball or even your favorite marinated chicken.
Featured Image Credit: Flickr.com (Stephanie Congdon Barnes)
Content Image Credit: Flickr.com (Cassie-D.J , Rsun0525)
