When I borrowed my friend’s book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and furiously copied down the scads of recipes I wanted to try, I obviously copied down the recipe for Pita Bread wrong. My recipe for Pita Bread looked suspiciously (and exactly) like my recipe for Italian Semolina Bread. Hmph.
Not to be derailed from my intention to make Pita, I took to the internet in search of a Pita Bread recipe. More specifically, the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day Pita Bread recipe. I found this:
ingredients.
- your favorite non-enriched recipe for bread dough
- flour
directions.
- Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. If you have a baking stone leave it in the oven while your oven is heating.
- Over a well-floured working surface gather a small piece of dough (about the size of golf ball or slightly larger) and roll into a ball using flour (otherwise the dough will stick to your hands).
- Flatten the ball slightly on the surface in which you’re working and using a rolling-pin and plenty of flour, roll the dough flat — as flat as it goes. The dough will want to spring back and shrink to a smaller shape. That’s OK. Just try to get it as thin as possible without ripping the dough.
- Place the rolled-out dough on the pizza stone in your oven and bake until the dough has puffed and begins to brown slightly. (This seemed to happen within four to six minutes, for me.)
- Remove from the oven and wrap in a clean cloth towel to keep the bread soft. (I did not follow this step and my pita stayed soft. However, I may have done something wrong… I did use Bran-Enriched White Bread dough because I had it on-hand.)
My Pita Bread didn’t exactly look like the Pita in the picture on the website I found. First of all, I made about five or six pitas, and only one turned out any semblance of round. Not a big deal. My pitas seemed to be a bit thicker than the ones in the picture – more so like flat bread. Additionally, one of my pitas never deflated. I’m not quite sure why that happened. Perhaps it was because I used an enriched bread dough recipe. Regardless, the pita tasted great and I was rather impressed with myself and the end product. Other than the funny shape of my pitas, overall I was really pleased with my homemade version of the much drier pita bread you will find in the store.
Recipe rating:
Food Snob 
Awesome! I’ve been wanting to try making my own pita bread, so this is a good incentive. 🙂 A few days ago I found this blog with a recipe, too: http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2010/12/pita-bread-078-recipe-010-serving.html. She mentions that if the pita gets too golden brown it might not deflate–maybe that happened?
I also want to try making my own English muffins. Have you ever made those from scratch?
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I like how she prices things. Her pitas look better than mine!
I made some more tonight and figured out if you roll the dough thin, they’ll turn out more like a pocket pita and if you roll the dough a little thicker; they’ll turn out like flatbread. I physically had to deflate one of the ones I made tonight. I’m not sure why? It wasn’t too brown. They’re so easy and fun to make!
I have never made English muffins, but I want to! My sister made them a year or so ago and she said they turned out great. I can ask her for the recipe if you need one. 🙂
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Ooh, good to know about the thinner vs. thicker. I can’t wait to try making them! Yeah, I’d love a recipe for English muffins. I think that blog I mentioned earlier has a recipe, too, but I like comparing different recipes. Have you ever made hamburger buns? I’d like to try making those next time we need them, too.
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Cool. I’ll ask my sister. I tried making hotdog buns which was difficult due to the shape. I think hamburger buns would be a little easier. You should definitely try them!!
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