Pita Bread

Days before, while dining out at one of our favourite restaurants(and a hang out place too) a menu was placed before us that had pictures of the dishes along with the title and description. Through visual viewing of the dishes it was easy to place the order afterwards. Since then I have been thinking to do something similar in my blog too, where an user would be able to select a recipe by viewing the picture of the dish along with the title. I started working on it and though it took me few days due to the limited time I'm able to devote to blogging daily I have finally come up with a new Recipe Index, the link to which I have provided at the top of the page. Hoping this would provide easy access to the recipes.With the page creation having taken much of my blogging time, today I'm here with a simple and easy dish-Pita Bread.

Pita bread is a type of flat bread and belongs to traditional Middle-Eastern cuisine. This soft and spongy bread can made with either wheat flour, all purpose flour or combination of both. This may be served along with dips like Hummus or may be wrapped around fillings like gyros, kebabs to form sandwiches. Pita bread is usually baked at high temperatures that cause the bread to rise and turn puffy. The dough is kneaded well for few minutes and left to ferment for few hours by placing it in a container greased with oil and covered with a damp dish towel. The fermented dough is then punched to release trapped air, spread with a roller and baked.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 1/4 tbsp yeast

1 tbsp sugar

Salt to taste

1.5 tbsp olive oil+ more for greasing

Warm water for making dough

Method:

• Dissolve granulated sugar in 1/4-1/2 cup warm water. Add yeast and keep in a warm place for about 15-20 minutes or until it rises and foam forms at the top.
  
• Mix the flour with oil, yeast and salt. Add enough warm water and make a smooth dough. Knead the dough for at least 7-8 minutes.
  
• Place the dough in a bowl greased with oil and lightly coat the surface of the dough with oil too.
  
• Cover the bowl with a damp towel and keep in a warm place for about 2.5 hours till the dough has doubled in volume.
  
• Punch the dough to release trapped air and divide into equal balls.
  
• Spread out each ball into any shape you desire-oval or round.
  
• Allow it to rest for at least 15 minutes before placing in oven.
  
• While its resting prepare your baking tray. Preheat oven to 400F(200C) and keep your baking tray inside the oven while in preheat mode.
  
• Bake for about 4 minutes. The bread should have puffed up after this time.
  
• Serve hot with hummus.
  

Pooja.

Other Middle-Eastern Dishes: