Greek Pita Bread
photo by kstrating
- Ready In:
- 2hrs 4mins
- Ingredients:
- 6
- Yields:
-
1 batch
ingredients
- 354.88 ml warm water
- 14.79 ml olive oil
- 946.36 ml flour
- 14.79 ml sugar
- 9.85 ml salt
- 6.16 ml yeast
directions
- Combine the yeast and sugar in a small bowl.
- Add 1/2 cup of the warm water and let it stand for 10 minutes to proof and ferment.
- Dissolve the salt in the remaining warm water.
- Put the flour in a large mixing bowl, making a well in the middle and put the dissolved yeast and salt water into it.
- With your hands, blend it into a dough. You may need a bit more or less water depending on your flour.
- Knead the dough in the bowl with your fists for 10-15 minutes or until smooth.
- Pour the oil over the dough and knead it again until the oil is absorbed.
- Cover the dough in the bowl with a towel and set in a draft free area to rise to double it's bulk (1-2 hours), then punch it down and knead it again for a few minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cut pieces of dough, egg-size or larger, depending on the size of the pita desired.
- Shape them into balls with your hands and roll them out over a lightly floured board or pastry cloth to 1/4" thickness.
- Set 2 or 3 pitas on a lightly oiled cookie sheet and bake them on the lower rack 2-3 minutes each side.
- Bake longer for pita pockets.
- Susie's note: Pitas should be white and soft. Wrap the baked pitas in a clean towel until they are cool, then store them in plastic bags to prevent them from drying out. When you are ready to use them, heat a bit of oil in a skillet and fry them a minute or so on each side, or until golden brown. Use them immediately, because they get hard when they dry out.
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Reviews
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Oh, my. If you haven't made this recipe before, please double it - if you don't, you'll wish you had! I made the dough in my mixer using the dough hook and let it run for 10 minutes. I did use the full 2 hours of rising time. I rolled out all my pitas and stacked them, then baked them 2 at a time in a 350 oven. We didn't want pocket pita, so baked just 3 minutes per side for soft, foldable pitas. I do think 1/4 inch is a little too thick - I think mine were about half that, but I might go 1/4 inch if I was going to make the pocket pita. Easy and tasty - beats the heck out of store bought. These would be great to make ahead of time and freeze - which is what I plan on doing this weekend. Thanks for a great recipe!
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I was making a test run on this recipe before I made ground beef gyros tomorrow and WOW , these are easy and perfect. My DH just stole two to go with humus. I will probably have to make a second batch for the gyros tomorrow, I know my kids will eat them once they are home from school. Thanks for sharing.This is definitely a keeper. The only thing I did differently was used my bread machine like another reviewer did and it really made this simple.
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Tweaks
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If you have a breadmachine, just substitute breadmachine flour (eg..better for bread flour) and put all the ingredients into the breadmachine in the order listed. Select "dough" setting and keep an eye on it to see if you need to add more water. I had to add about 1/2 cup more water to make the dough pliable. Follow the remaining directions once the dough is ready. I baked and fried some to eat that night and froze the rest after they were baked and cooled. Later, I defrosted them and fried them in olive oil right before serving. Both methods turned out deliciously soft yet firm enough for dipping in tzatziki sauce.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
I live on the beautiful Texas Gulf Coast. We can fish and crab from our own pier or jump in the boat for a spin. We love the relaxed lifestyle here.
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