pita bread
I do hope you like the changes. The blog has a recipe page and a new feature, a print button, to make it easier to locate and print out the recipes. I've been working on this redesign since February so it's been a bit of a labour of love. It's not complete yet as I still have to relabel some of the posts and make a few minor tweaks. I've also joined instagram though there isn't much to see at this stage as my latest purchase, a little tablet, is only a few hours old.
Now onto this week's recipe. When it comes to making bread, I've been having a bit of a battle with my new oven and so far the oven is winning. I've worked out the best way to make pizza in my oven so I figured I'd be able to make some flat breads.
A few months ago I bought a copy of 'Falafel for Breakfast' by Michael Rantissi and Kristy Frawley. The recipe book has been much thumbed since I bought the book but I've only just started cooking from it.
Last weekend I made a Middle Eastern spread for lunch. I made three recipes from the book and this recipe for pita/za'atar bread was the first thing I made. I quickly demolished these flatbreads and have just made another batch.
I made a half batch of the dough and topped 2 of the pitas breads with za'atar and olive oil.
Here's the recipe for you from Falafel for Breakfast by Michael Rantissi and Kristy Frawley. For all my recipes, I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional gas oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C. My oven is quite slow, so I baked the pita breads at 200°C.
Pita Bread – makes eight,
Ingredients
500g strong bread flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting
1x 7g dry yeast sachet
1 tbs sea salt flakes
2 ½ tbs extra virgin olive oil
350 ml warm water
Pita bread
Put the flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl and mix to combine. Make a well in the centre and slowly add the olive oil. Using your hands, combine the flour and oil. Gradually add the warm water until the dough is a little sticky (you may not need to use all of it). The dough will come together when you start kneading it.
Dust a work surface with flour and knead the dough for 3–4 minutes, until it forms a nice smooth consistency.
Put the dough in a clean bowl and cover with a damp tea towel (dish towel) or plastic wrap with a few holes pricked in it. Leave in a warm place to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a ball (or whatever shape you like). Dust the work surface with extra flour, place the 8 balls of dough on it and cover with the damp tea towel or plastic wrap with holes to rise again for 30 minutes.
Roll out each ball of dough into a circle about 5 mm thick, or whatever thickness you like. Leave to rest for 20 minutes.
Put the dough circles on the baking tray (you may need to cook them in batches) and bake for 10–15 minutes, or until a light colour. Allow to cool on a tea towel (dish towel) and use within 1–2 days.
Za’atar bread
8 tbs za’atar
150 ml good-quality olive oil
To make za-atar bread, once you’ve rolled the balls of dough into rounds and set them aside to rest for 20 minutes, preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Put the za’atar and olive oil in a bowl. Mix to combine.
Gently stamp your fingers into the dough rounds, making little valleys just deep enough so the za’atar oil won’t roll off the dough. (Don’t press too hard as you want the dough to remain aerated.) Spoon the za’atar oil over the dough.
Put the dough circles on the baking tray (you may need to cook them in batches) and bake for 10–15 minutes, or until a light colour. Allow to cool on a tea towel (dish towel) and use within 1–2 days.
For my lunch, I filled the pita with hummus, beef kofta and salad. The following day for a delicious snack I dipped the toasted za'atar bread into the hummus.
I hope you enjoyed your weekend. I'll be back next week with this month's Plate 2 Plate post.
Bye for now,
Jillian
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