Pita bread

Pita bread (from the Greek word pita, meaning “flatbread”) is a popular bake throughout the Middle East and Maghreb — soft pockets made from a simple yeast dough consisting of just water, flour and yeast. They can be filled with all kinds of delicious fillings: vegetables, meat, sauces and more. During baking, the dough magically puffs up and rises dramatically — you’ll definitely want to sit by the oven and watch :). The bread is soft and fluffy inside near the crust, with a lightly crisp exterior. It also freezes very well.

Makes 10.

Ingredients for pita breads:

• 3 cups strong bread flour
• 1¼ cups lukewarm water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 10 g instant dry yeast or 20 g fresh yeast

Sift the flour and mix with the dry yeast (if using fresh yeast, prepare a starter first). Add the remaining ingredients and knead into a smooth, elastic dough. You can knead the dough by hand or using a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook (this will take about 15 minutes). Place the kneaded dough into a bowl, cover with cling film and leave in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1–1.5 hours.

Punch down the risen dough. Divide it into 10 equal portions (about 75 g each) and shape into balls. Roll each ball into a flat round approximately 15–17 cm in diameter (the thinner the dough is rolled, the thinner the pita walls will be). Place the rolled pitas onto a lightly floured surface, cover with a tea towel and leave to rise until doubled in size, about 30–40 minutes.

Meanwhile, begin heating a pizza stone in the oven to 220°C. If you don’t have a pizza stone, preheat a baking tray in the oven for a few minutes before baking.

Place the risen pitas onto the hot stone or tray and bake at 220°C for about 12–14 minutes, or until lightly golden. During the first 5 minutes of baking, the pita breads should puff up and become beautifully rounded. Remove from the oven and, while still warm, slice open and fill as desired.

/For a wholemeal version, replace half of the white flour with wholemeal wheat flour./

Method for bread machine users:

Place all the yeast dough ingredients into the bread machine in the following order: liquid ingredients first, then dry ingredients, and finally the yeast. Select the ‘dough’ programme (kneading and first rise). Once the programme has finished, remove the dough, knead it lightly, and continue according to the main recipe above.

Enjoy!