Pita

 

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Pita couldn't be more simple...just flour, yeast, oil and salt.

And that's all part of its heritage. Hailing from the Levant, they're often referred to as Greek or Arabic. The term 'pita' crept into the English language as late as 1936 from the Modern Greek, 'pita' meaning bread or cake or pie! But the word is a lot, lot older than that.

There's evidence that the Natufian people of the Stone Age baked this kind of bread using wild grain as far back as 14,500 years ago...so let's bake.

INGREDIENTS

500 gms strong white bread flour

9 gms crushed sea salt

28 gms of olive oil

6 gms of fast-action yeast

300 gms tepid water

METHOD

Mix the yeast into the tepid water and leave, covered, for five minutes until it starts to froth.

Add the flour, salt and olive oil.

Mix together and then knead until you have a soft, smooth dough. (If the dough is sticky, just add slightly more flour...but not too much)

Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave in a warm place until doubled.

Preheat the oven to 240⁰ or higher if possible (250⁰C will be perfect). Place a baking tray in the middle of the oven to get good and hot.

Tip : if you use a silicone sheet / baking paper, it'll stop the pita burning on the underneath.

Tip the dough out onto a lightly-floured board. Weigh and divide into eight portions.

Roll each portion into a ball.

Flatten the top and roll out into an oval about 20 cms x 15 cm. Roll them thinly or they won't expand and you'll have a much heavier flat bread.

Transfer the pita to the silicone sheet and then place into the hot oven.

In 4 or 5 minutes, the pita will be golden and baked.

Bake each of the eight pita in turn and cool on a rack.

You can re-heat these by misting them with water and then reheating in a hot oven for a few minutes. 

Happy Baking.