Easypitabread Recipes

Steps:

• In the bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water; stir to blend. Let the yeast stand until foamy, about 5 to 10 minutes.
• Stir in the salt. Add the flour, a little at a time, mixing at the lowest speed until all the flour has been incorporated and the dough gathers into a ball; this should take about 4 minutes.
• Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it's smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turn it over to coat, and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise until double in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Place a large pizza stone on the lower oven rack, preheat the oven (and stone) to 500 degrees F.
• Punch the dough down, divide it into 8 pieces, and gather each piece into a ball; keeping all of them lightly floured and covered while you work. Allow the balls of dough to rest, covered, for 15 minutes so they will be easier to roll out.
• Using a rolling pin, roll each dough ball into a circle that is about 8-inches in diameter and 1/4-inch thick. Make sure the circle is totally smooth, with no creases or seams in the dough, which can prevent the pitas from puffing up properly. Cover the disks as you roll them out, but do not stack them up. Put 2 pita rounds at a time on the hot pizza stone and bake for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the bread puffs up like a balloon and is pale golden. Watch closely; they bake fast. Remove the bread from the oven and place on a rack to cool for 5 minutes; they will naturally deflate, leaving a pocket in the center. Wrap the pitas in a large kitchen towel to keep them soft.

Steps:

• You will need a large bread bowl, a rolling pin, and unglazed quarry tiles or several baking sheets, or alternatively a castiron or other heavy skillet or griddle at least 9 inches in diameter.
• Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in a large bread bowl. Stir to dissolve. Add whole wheat flour, one cup at a time, then 1 cup white flour. Stir 100 times (one minute) in the same direction to activate the gluten in the flour. Let this sponge rest for at least 10 minutes or as long as 2 hours.
• Sprinkle salt over the sponge and stir in the olive oil. Mix well. Add white flour, one cup at a time. When the dough is too stiff to stir, turn it out onto a lightly floured bread board and knead for 8 to 10 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic. Return the dough to a lightly oiled bread bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until at least double in size, approximately 1 1/2 hours. Gently punch down. Dough can be made ahead to this point and then stored, covered, in the refrigerator for 5 days or less.
• If at this time you want to save the dough in the refrigerator for baking later, simply wrap it in a plastic bag that is at least three times the size of the dough, pull the bag together, and secure it just at the opening of the bag. This will give the dough a chance to expand when it is in the refrigerator (which it will do). From day to day, simply cut off the amount of dough you need and keep the rest in the refrigerator, for up to one week. The dough will smell slightly fermented after a few days, but this simply improves the taste of the bread. Dough should be brought to room temperature before baking.
• This amount of dough will make approximately 16 pitas if rolled out into circles approximately 8 to 9 inches in diameter and less than 1/4-inch thick. You can also of course make smaller breads. Size and shape all depend on you, but for breads of this dimension the following baking tips apply:
• Place unglazed quarry tiles, or a large baking stone or two baking sheets, on a rack in the bottom third of your oven, leaving a one inch gap all around to allow air to circulate. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Divide dough in half, then set half aside, covered, while you work with the rest. Divide dough into eight equal pieces and flatten each piece with lightly floured hands. Roll out each piece to a circle 8 to 9 inches in diameter. You may wish to roll out all eight before starting to bake. Cover rolled out breads, but do not stack.
• Bake 2 at a time (or more if your oven is larger) directly on quarry tiles or baking sheets. Bake each bread for 3 or 4 minutes, until the bread has gone into a full "balloon" or until it is starting to turn lightly golden, whichever happens first. If there are seams or dry bits of dough - or for a variety of other reasons - your bread may not go into a full "balloon". Don't worry, it will still taste great. The more you bake pitas the more you will become familiar with all the little tricks and pitfalls, and your breads will more consistently "balloon." But even then, if you're like us, it won't always "balloon" fully and you won't mind because the taste will still be wonderful. When baked, remove, place on a rack for about five minutes to let cool slightly, then wrap breads in a large kitchen towel (this will keep the breads soft). When first half of the dough has been rolled out and baked, repeat for rest of dough, or store in refrigerator for later use, as described above. You can also divide the dough into more, smaller pieces if you wish, to give you smaller breads.

Steps:

• add the first five ingredients together and leave them for at least ten minutes covered.
• mix with the flour. i usually use standard grade white flour and if i need more when im mixing up the dough i use wheatmeal flour.
• mix up the dough until you get it to bounce back slightly when you press it. it shouldnt be sticky.
• cover it with flour, leave it to rise covered for at least thirty minutes.
• divide up the risen dough into eight pieces and roll each one out.
• make each protion 15/18 cm in diameter.
• leave to stand for 10 minutes before baking.
• dont open the oven too much.
• take out the bread as soon as it has finished rising.
• you can freeze it after it has cooled down and reheat it for use later.
• note, its ok for the bread to go flat again after you take it out of the oven.

Steps:

• Place yeast into the work bowl of a stand mixer and add 1 cup warm water and 1 cup flour. Whisk together and let stand 15 to 20 minutes for mixture to rise and make a loose sponge. Mixture will bubble and foam.
• Pour 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil and salt into sponge; add 1 3/4 cup flour. Mix at low speed, using a dough hook attachment, until dough is soft, supple, and slightly sticky. If dough sticks to the sides of the bowl, add up to 1/4 cup more flour, a little at a time.
• Knead dough with machine on low speed until slightly springy and still soft, 5 to 6 minutes. Turn dough out onto a floured work surface and form into a ball.
• Wipe inside of bowl with 1/4 teaspoon olive oil. Turn dough around in bowl to cover with a thin film of oil; cover bowl with foil and let sit until dough has doubled in size, about 2 hours.
• Remove dough from bowl and place onto a floured work surface. Lightly pat into a flat shape about 1 inch thick. Use a knife to cut dough into 8 pieces.
• Form each piece into a small round ball with a smooth top, pulling dough from the sides and tucking the ends underneath the bottom.
• Cover dough balls with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.
• Sprinkle a small amount of flour on a work surface and top of a dough ball; gently pat dough ball flat with your fingers, forming a flat, round bread about 1/4 inch thick. Let dough round rest for 5 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough balls.
• Brush a cast-iron skillet with remaining 3/4 teaspoon olive oil and place over medium-high heat. Lay pita bread into hot skillet and cook until bread begins to puff up and bottom has brown spots and blisters, about 3 minutes. Flip, cook 2 more minutes, and flip back onto original side to cook for about 30 more seconds. Pita bread will begin to puff up and fill with hot air. Stack cooked breads on a plate; when cool enough to handle, break breads in half and open the pocket inside for stuffing.

Steps:

• In mixing bowl, combine water and sugar; sprinkle yeast and let stand for 10 minutes or until dissolved and creamy.
• Using electric mixer, beat in 2 c.of the flour, oil and salt; beat for about 3 minutes or until smooth, scraping down side of bowl from time to time.
• With wooden spoon, beat in enough of the remaining flour to make stiff dough.
• Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
• Place dough in lightly greased bowl, turning to grease all over.
• Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in bulk.
• Divide dough into 16 or 32 pieces.
• On lightly floured surface, roll each piece into 7" or 4" rounds.
• Cover and let rise for 15 minutes or until slightly risen.
• Meanwhile, heat ungreased baking sheet on lowest rack in 500 degree oven (240 C).
• Using floured metal spatula, quickly transfer 2 or 3 pita rounds to heated baking sheet; bake for 3 or 4 minutes or until puffed and light golden around edges.
• Repeat with remaining pita rounds.
• Let cool between damp tea towels.
• Pitas will collapse and soften slightly, but pocket will remain.
• (Alternatively, if crisp pitas are desired, let cool on racks) Pitas can be stored in plastic bags in freezer for up to 1 month.
• Makes 16 7" pitas or 32 4" pitas.

Steps:

• Brush on a little olive oil on the pita.
• Spread sauce on top of the pita.
• Sprinkle on the shredded cheese.
• Sprinkle on pinches of desired herbs and spices, and add any toppings you'd like.
• Place on baking sheet, bake for 5-7 minutes at 400°, or until cheese is melted (times may vary).
• Slice with pizza cutter and enjoy!

Steps:

• In a big bowl combine flour and salt. Mix in olive oil and water.
• Knead into a soft and sturdy dough. It should be smooth. Cover the bowl and allow to rest for 40 minutes at room temperature.
• Form dough into about 7 equally sized balls. Roll out the balls to 1/2 inch thickness (note: these wont rise much, so make them as thick as youd like them to be in the end.).
• Place on a paper-lined baking sheet, brush with water and sprinkle with the sesame and nigella seeds.
• Bake in the preheated oven at 200°C/400°F for 15 minutes or until tester comes out clean.

Steps:

• Sift flour and salt together in a large bowl.
• Combine yeast, sugar and 1/3 cup very warm water-give a quick stir and set aside for 5 minutes to activate yeast.
• Make a well in the flour/salt mixture and add the yeast, 1 cup warm water and the olive oil.
• Gently stir to gather dough into a ball-you may need a touch more water-depending on where you live, altitude.
• Turn out and knead for 10 minutes.
• Put into a LIGHTLY greased large bowl, cover and place in a warm spot for around 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• Punch down and knead to smooth.
• Cut dough into 12 pieces, form into rounds, roll out and place on a dusted baking sheet, cover and let rest for 45 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 500F degrees.
• I use my large cast iron skillet for this part, so I place it in the oven and when really hot I place in two pitas and let bake for around 3 minutes-you can broil for 1 minute if you like, just to get the tops browned.
• I wrap the cooked pitas in a slightly damp tea towel for a minute or two-then cool and place in plastic bags.
• This process can also be done on a cooking sheet.

Steps:

• Mix the yeast with 300ml warm water in a large bowl. Leave to sit for 5 mins until the yeast is super bubbly then tip in the flour, salt and olive oil. Bring the mixture together into a soft dough. Don't worry if it looks a little rough round the edges.
• Tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead for 5-10 mins until you have a soft, smooth and elastic dough. Try to knead using as little extra flour as possible, just enough so that the dough doesn't stick - this will keep the pittas light and airy. Once kneaded, place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave to double in size, approximately 1 hour.
• Heat oven as high as it will go (ideally 250C/230C fan/gas 9) and put a large baking tray on the middle shelf of the oven to get searingly hot. Divide the dough into eight balls then flatten each into a disc with the palm of your hand. On a lightly floured surface, roll each disc into an oval, around 20cm long, 15cm wide and 3-5mm thick.
• Carefully remove the hot tray from the oven. Dust with flour then place your pittas directly onto it - you may have to do this in batches. Return swiftly to the oven and bake for 4-5 mins, or until the pittas have puffed up and are a pale golden colour. Wrap each hot pitta in a clean tea towel once it's baked to keep it soft while the others cook.