Pittas are really versatile and good fun to make yourself. Even better, they freeze well, so you can make a big batch of them every so often and have stacks in. There are lots of recipes for pitta breads easily accessible from Google; Delia Smith has a good one too, but she uses a breadmaker to make the dough. This one is based on the recipe by Madhur Jaffrey in her Eastern Vegetarian Cooking, with a few tweaks here and there.
Mix together with your hands in a large bowl:
250g strong white bread
200g plain wholemeal
1 tsp sea salt
Then dissolve in 50g hand-warm water in a small bowl or glass:
2 tsp dried yeast
1 tsp sugar
- and leave it for 5-6 minutes.
Make a well in the flour, add the yeast mixture, 1 tbsp olive oil and 200g hand-warm water. Mix it together until it comes together in a ball and the sides of the bowl are clean. You'll probably have to add some more lukewarm water to bring it together - about 2-3 tbsp probably.
Turn it out onto a clean, dry surface and knead for 10 minutes until you've got a smooth and stretchy dough. Brush the large bowl with a little olive oil, put the dough in, cover it with a damp cloth and leave to rise somewhere warm for 1.5 to 2 hours.
Make sure your bowl is big enough for it to double in size! I used a smallish glass bowl for these before and after photos and the risen dough nearly took over the kitchen:
Once it's risen, knock it down and knead it again until it's nice and smooth. On a clean, floured surface roll it out into a sausage shape. Actually I did it into two sausages, about 6-8 inches each, which were easier to manage. You should divide your dough into 12 equal pieces. Squish them down into ovals and then roll out until they're about a quarter of an inch thick.
They need to prove for about 45 mins next. I found the best way of doing this (so they didn't end up sticking together) was to line roasting tins (or baking sheets) with baking parchment, sprinkle this with flour, lay out the pittas and then cover it loosely with a tented polythene bag. Leave out on the surface.
About 20 minutes before the end of this period, heat your oven to its maximum temperature and put either a cast iron griddle or frying pan, or a baking sheet, into the oven to heat up. When the oven's got to the top temperature, add 2-3 pittas at a time to your pan in the oven and cook them for 3 minutes.
When they're done, wrap them in a damp cloth to cool. Before eating, re-heat them under the grill.
*********************
What to have with them?
Hummus is a good thing to make and one of these days I'll work out the measurements for my bung-it-all-in recipe! A really good way to make hummus is to blend together all the ingredients (chick peas, a teaspoon or two of light tahini, a garlic clove, 2 tsp or so of roasted & ground cumin seeds, the juice of half a lemon, 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil**) in a bowl using a hand blender.
Another really nice thing is some spiced or otherwise flavoured yoghurt. Here you can experiment a lot. We like to just squish a couple of garlic cloves in salt and add that. Another thing we do is roast & crush coriander seeds then stir them through, maybe with a pinch of cayenne pepper too.
Pittas are great for packed lunches and picnics, especially for kids. Our two like them filled with hummus, chunks of sausage or fish. They're really nice with salt beef and English mustard in them too. There's also the old Grub on a Grant student special of pitta bread pizzas, which are pretty much what you'd expect!
Ingredients:
250g strong white bread flour
200g plain wholemeal flour
1tsp sea salt
1 tbsp olive oil
250g lukewarm water
2 tsp dried yeast
1 tsp sugar
Method:
Mix together with your hands in a large bowl:
250g strong white bread
200g plain wholemeal
1 tsp sea salt
Then dissolve in 50g hand-warm water in a small bowl or glass:
2 tsp dried yeast
1 tsp sugar
- and leave it for 5-6 minutes.
Make a well in the flour, add the yeast mixture, 1 tbsp olive oil and 200g hand-warm water. Mix it together until it comes together in a ball and the sides of the bowl are clean. You'll probably have to add some more lukewarm water to bring it together - about 2-3 tbsp probably.
Turn it out onto a clean, dry surface and knead for 10 minutes until you've got a smooth and stretchy dough. Brush the large bowl with a little olive oil, put the dough in, cover it with a damp cloth and leave to rise somewhere warm for 1.5 to 2 hours.
Make sure your bowl is big enough for it to double in size! I used a smallish glass bowl for these before and after photos and the risen dough nearly took over the kitchen:
Once it's risen, knock it down and knead it again until it's nice and smooth. On a clean, floured surface roll it out into a sausage shape. Actually I did it into two sausages, about 6-8 inches each, which were easier to manage. You should divide your dough into 12 equal pieces. Squish them down into ovals and then roll out until they're about a quarter of an inch thick.
They need to prove for about 45 mins next. I found the best way of doing this (so they didn't end up sticking together) was to line roasting tins (or baking sheets) with baking parchment, sprinkle this with flour, lay out the pittas and then cover it loosely with a tented polythene bag. Leave out on the surface.
About 20 minutes before the end of this period, heat your oven to its maximum temperature and put either a cast iron griddle or frying pan, or a baking sheet, into the oven to heat up. When the oven's got to the top temperature, add 2-3 pittas at a time to your pan in the oven and cook them for 3 minutes.
When they're done, wrap them in a damp cloth to cool. Before eating, re-heat them under the grill.
*********************
What to have with them?
Hummus is a good thing to make and one of these days I'll work out the measurements for my bung-it-all-in recipe! A really good way to make hummus is to blend together all the ingredients (chick peas, a teaspoon or two of light tahini, a garlic clove, 2 tsp or so of roasted & ground cumin seeds, the juice of half a lemon, 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil**) in a bowl using a hand blender.
**ok, so that's almost a recipe for about a tinful's-worth of chick peas (although we cook from dried). It's vague because I usually start the extras (especially the tahini and the lemon juice) small, taste as I'm going along, and add some more if I think it needs it.
Another really nice thing is some spiced or otherwise flavoured yoghurt. Here you can experiment a lot. We like to just squish a couple of garlic cloves in salt and add that. Another thing we do is roast & crush coriander seeds then stir them through, maybe with a pinch of cayenne pepper too.
Pittas are great for packed lunches and picnics, especially for kids. Our two like them filled with hummus, chunks of sausage or fish. They're really nice with salt beef and English mustard in them too. There's also the old Grub on a Grant student special of pitta bread pizzas, which are pretty much what you'd expect!
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