I love pita bread, how about you? I was looking at buying some pita bread the other day for a meal this week, but decided I wanted to try making them myself. It was actually super easy to make them. I am not a great bread maker, but these were super great!
Here is a little information on the history of the pita. Pita bread Arabic bread is a round pocket bread that is made in the Middle Eastern countries as part of their cuisines. The pocket in the bread is created by steam. This allows the bread to puff up. It is left whole until cooled. Then it can be cut open. The bread is left with a pocket to put your food in.
Pita bread is a flat wheat bread that comes in many different sizes and shapes. Flat bread is most defiantly ancient bread that originated from the land of Greece. In Greece they use pitas for sandwiches or a way to eat their food. Like if you were to use pitas to eat hummus.
[yumprint-recipe id=’50’]Dissolve the yeast in the ½ cup of warm water. Add the sugar. Let the mixture sit for about 10 minutes until it becomes frothy like.
In a separate bowl combine the flour and salt. Creating a little depression in the middle of flour, pour the yeast mixture in the depression.
Using a rubber spatula mix it all together, while slowing adding 1 cup of warm water. The dough will be very sticky and elastic.
Flour a large area of your counter top. Place the dough on the floured area. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes.
Take a large bowl and place 1 Tablespoon of olive oil in it. Coat the bowl with the oil. Place the dough in the bowl. Flipping the dough all over to make sure that it is covered with the oil. Place the bowl covered with plastic wrap in a warm place to raise.
Let raise for about 3 hours until it has doubled in size
After it has doubled in size. Roll it out into a long rope like shape. Cut it into 10 different pieces. Let those 10 pieces of dough rise one more time for 10 minutes covered up.
Then roll out into round pita bread shape. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees with your baking sheet in the oven as well. Place pitas on a sprayed baking sheet. Bake each pita on one side for 4 minutes. Flip them over and bake for another 2 minutes. Using a spatula push down the puff of the pita, and store in a Ziploc bag.