Pita Bread

SUBMITTED BY: GODGIFU PHOTO BY: cassielynnb

"You can either bake this bread or fry it. For variety, I like to make four of each."

PREP TIME	30 Min
COOK TIME	20 Min
READY IN	50 Min

SERVINGS & SCALING

Original recipe yield: 8 pitas

USMETRIC

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INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup pastry flour
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon applesauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil

READ REVIEWS (5)

DIRECTIONS

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water.
Combine the all-purpose flour, pastry flour and salt in a bowl. Stir in the yeast mixture and applesauce and knead. Dough shouldn't be sticky, but it shouldn't be dry either. If too sticky add 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour till you get the right consistency. If too dry, add 1 tablespoons of water at a time till you get the right consistency.
Roll out into a rope and cut into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a ball and roll out till it's anywhere from a 6 to 8 inch circle
There are two ways to cook pita bread. The flavor is a bit different with both.
To Bake Pita:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C) and put a pita on a wire cake rack. Toss in the rack and cook for 3 minutes or until the bread stops puffing up. When you take it out, smash down the pita (Careful, its hot!) and quickly put it in a plastic freezer bag.
To Fry Pita:
Heat olive oil in a skillet over high heat. When almost smoking, place a pita in the pan and cook for a few minutes on each side, till brown spots begin to appear. It should look something like a tortilla when you're done. Put in a plastic bag once it has cooled a bit.

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REVIEWS

MORE MEMBER REVIEWS

Reviewed on Oct. 30, 2003 by extraordinary machine

Did not get soft at all. They basically weren't pita breads, more like hard pizza shells.

26 users found this review helpful

Reviewed on Mar. 16, 2006 by Ashi

I made the pita bread with my own modifications. I changed the portion of pastry flour to 1 1/4 cups of bread flour. I also substituted 1 tablespoon of honey instead of 1 1/2 teaspoon of white sugar. I used a standmixer with the dough kneader attached, then hand knead after that. Not mentioned in the recipe..., you need to put the dough in a warm area and let it rise for 30 minutes. Knead it the second time. Do a baguette roll to the dough (the technique can be found here). Pre-heat the oven to 500 degree F with the pizza stone inside (rack in the lower third). Cut the dough into 12 small pieces. Stack two pieces then roll them together (so the dough would have more air). Make sure the rolled out dough is near paper-thin (VERY important and this is what makes this recipe a pita instead of a thin crusted pizza dough). Spray some water on pizza stone before place the thin dough on top. Baked for 5-minutes or until it's slightly browned (so it'll be slightly crispy, puffy alone is not enough! Use your oven light to monitor). When ready, flip the lightly browned & puffy pita over (upsidedown) on a flat surface. Soak a piece of paper towel with water, then use it to press the pita down (slowly or it'll break). After the pita cooled to room temperature, put it in an air-tight container, if not consumed immediately.

16 users found this review helpful

Reviewed on Nov. 1, 2005 by CHICK4URBAN

Good bread, not as fluffy as I'd have liked.I may have done something wrong. These freeze well, and thaw nicely. I'll thaw layered in a damp non-fuzzy dish towel in the oven if I need several. For just one or two, I'll thaw them over the gas burner. These cook up nicely and quickly. I roll them out into 8" rounds and bake them 4 at a time on a pizza stone. So far this is the best recipe I've found.

4 users found this review helpful

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