You might think that pita bread is difficult to make, but really, it’s super simple! Do you want to know how I know? I made the dough and left one of my high school students in charge of shaping the dough during an afternoon of baking. I figured that if a high school student who lives on Taco Bell and Gatorade can form delicious pita pockets, anyone can! And look at those big, pillowy puffs of bread! Perfect!
You can use this pita bread to make a pita-pocket sandwiches or simply tear off pieces of the pita bread and dip them in homemade hummus.
From Food Network
These pita pockets are easy to make!
Ingredients
1 package instant yeast (2 1/4 tsp instant yeast)
1 teaspoon sugar
11/2 cups warm water (110 degrees)
1 teaspoon salt
31/2 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting
Instructions
- In the bowl of a heavy duty mixer, stir together the yeast, sugar, water, and salt. Using the dough hook with the machine running at low speed, add the flour, a little at a time, mixing until all the flour has been incorporated and the dough gathers into a ball; this should take about 4 minutes. Continue to let the dough knead until it's smooth and elastic, 5-8 minutes longer.
- 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. Keep 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.
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1 response so far ↓
1 Deena @ stay at home FOODIE // Nov 21, 2011 at 9:10 pm
I’m going nits over here…. My oldest daughter is going to think I’m awesome!
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