recipes:pita

Pita Bread

This recipe comes from the Los Angeles Times California Cookbook. I've never actually used it as it was intended, but only to make pizza. The people who run a Turkish restaurant nearby make their own bread and use the same dough for pizza (suçuk pizza!); however, they don't put oil in their dough, or so they told me.

Half	Full		Ingredient
2.5-3	5-6	C	“bread” flour
1.5	3	Tb	sugar
1	2	tsp	salt
1	2	pkg	yeast. ¹⁾
1	2	C	H₂O
2	4	Tb	oil, but a more neutral-tasting oil, not olive oil (or just a little)
Yield
7	14	7-inch circles 1/8 inch thick (according to the cookbook)
270	539	sq. inches	total surface 1/8 inch thick
3476	6952	cm²	total surface 3-4 mm thick
4	8	32 cm (13 inch) pizzas @ 804 cm². Less if one prefers thicker crusts (as we often did)

Combine sugar, salt, yeast, and 1/3 of the flour.
Heat H₂0 and oil to about 50° C. Blend in to dry ingredients at low speed.
Beat 3 minutes at medium speed
Stir in about 1/2 of the flour to obtain a dough of kneadable consistency.
Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes) on countertop with remaining flour.
Let rise in covered, greased bowl until doubled, about 90 minutes.
Punch down. If making the “full” recipe, divide in two. Make ball(s), let rest on counter, 15 minutes, covered.
Divide into the number of crusts desired, and roll.

I would often, but not always, brush the rolled crusts with olive oil so they would absorb less tomato sauce (and thus stay lighter, in theory).

¹⁾ I was often stingy with the yeast, putting only half as much (depending on the claimed potency on the package, and considering a cup of flour is about 100 g.)