These freshly baked Pitta Breads form week 3 of my new year’s resolution for 2013 to cook at least one new thing every week, for the year. Yummy!
We’re not big bread eaters but pitta breads are something I always tend to have on standby in the freezer. They take up less room than a standard loaf of bread and I find them lighter than ordinary bread and fit for a great range of things. They’re super hot or cold, for accompanying soups, dips or filled with something delicious. My children’s favourite is ‘cheesy pockets’, great for lunch boxes. I love them warm, cut into strips and dipped into houmous.
I wasn’t sure if homemade pitta bread would be different enough from shop bought to warrant the effort of making something that was fairly cheap to buy.
Having now tried it I don’t think I’ll be so quick to put a supermarket pack of pittas in my freezer again. They are cardboardy and flavourless in comparison. I guess that’s the price you pay for convenience. Having said that these were surprisingly simple to make. I cheated a bit and used the bread machine to mix up the dough and after that it was just a case of rolling them out, leaving them to rise for ten minutes and popping them in the oven. Easy peasy; I’m not sure why I’ve never tried to make this handy little kitchen standby before!
This pitta bread recipe will become a kitchen regular from now on. I have made double today so that I could put half in the freezer. (Blows raspberry at supermarket’s ready-made pack and looks smug.)
Ingredients For Pitta Bread Recipe
(Makes 6 Large or 8 Small Pitta Breads)
- 250g strong white flour
- 7g instant yeast sachet
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- tsp olive oil
- 150ml luke warm water.
How To Make Pitta Breads
- If you’re using a bread making machine then pop all the ingredients in, in the order given, and run the machine on dough cycle.Then carry on from number 6.
- If doing it by hand put the flour into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the middle and add the salt on one side and the sugar and yeast on the other.
- Pour the oil and half the water into the well and start to stir it round gradually mixing the flour into it. Add the rest of the water bit by bit until you have a soft dough that leaves the sides of the bowl clean. (You may not need to use all of the water or may need a drop or two more depending on the flour you use.)
- Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 10 minutes.
- Pop it back in the bowl, cover and leave to rise until twice its size. (About an hour.)
- When risen pre-heat your oven to 220c and pop your lightly floured baking trays in to warm up.
- On a floured surface cut your dough into 6 pieces and roll them out thinly into ovals about 2mm thick.
- When they’re all rolled and ready to go, pop them onto your hot baking trays and cook for 5-10 minutes until just beginning to colour. They will puff up like little balloons in the oven.
- Take them out of the oven and cover them with a cloth while they cool to stop them drying out.
If like me you’ve never tried making these I really would recommend giving them a go, the difference between these and the shop bought ones really makes it worth the effort.
I’d love to hear how you get on.