Every once in a while, we make an impulsive purchase while out and about for errands. Today's impulsive buy was from the bakery. Now, most of the items in the bakery have eggs or milk on the list of ingredients, but not most of the breads! We went there, originally to buy a loaf of bread for the week. It is a part of our lives that bread goes with many meals, and during the week, working, there are days that you want to make a sandwich or toast for lunch. Often, we make our own bread, and we keep the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day starter in the fridge so we can make loaves as we need to, but today, we "had to" buy this pre-made dough. And, now that we bought the dough, what do we do with it?
First, we listed a lot of different types of bread that we could make just by mixing in some ingredients or spices. Then, we talked about all the styles of loaves that we could choose to make, including dinner rolls, bagels, mini loaves, or pita bread. And, that was the end of the conversation as we bought the dough.
This was labelled as Pizza Dough, but we know that it is just a plain bread dough with which we could create many things. Pita bread went perfectly with our choice of dinner foods, including chick peas (revithia), greens (horta) and rice (pilafi). So, why not make it so it is warm and fresh for dinner. That's what we did. By purchasing he dough already made and ready, we were able to make individual pites in just under 20 minutes time, which was the same amount of time that it took for the rice cooker to make the rice. Here is how we did it:
For this recipe, you will need a pizza stone and/or a cookie sheet. We used both to learn which one was a better choice, and to see if either method yielded different results. For baking the pita bread, we preheated the oven and the pizza stone to 450º F (about 175º C). This is an absolutely necessary step! Please make sure that the pizza stone is hot, and that the oven is fully at temperature. Otherwise, the pita bread will be very crispy and dry. For this, we lined our cookie sheet with a silicone mat because our cookie sheets are definitely not photo worthy, and with the mat, there would be no issue with dough sticking to the pan. The pizza stone was fully heated to 450º F, along with the oven.
Start by lightly sprinkling flour on the surface where you plan to work. Spread out the flour so it is a light coating on the counter top. Using a bench knife or a scissors, cut equal sized pieces for as many pitas as you want to make. We cut 5 small pieces for three people to eat. The final product baked ended up becoming about 4-5 inches (about 15 cm) in diameter.
By hand, roll each piece into a ball. You are going to want to lightly flour the surface where you set down the dough. Then, you want to use a rolling pin to roll out the balls into flat, round discs. Try to keep the discs evenly rolled all around the edges, too. You may have to dust the dough and/or the rolling pin with flour to assure that nothing sticks.
Once the discs are rolled, allow the dough to rest for a moment. Check that the temperature of the oven is actually 450º F (about 175º C). Now, you have to make a choice, or do both like we did. You can put the dough discs directly on the pizza stone. The dough will almost instantly start to puff at the edges. Or, you can put the discs on the cookie sheet, allowing some space for growth in between the discs. Now, set the timer for the oven for 5 minutes. When the timer buzzes, turn over the pita discs so the second side can cook. You want to bake each side until you get full rising, puffing, and a slight colour change.
Serve these warm with a meal, with a dip, or with a little oil and oregano rushed on the top. These homemade pita breads are a simply satisfying addition to any meal. If the pita bread does not rise and puff, that means that the pizza stone and/or the oven are not fully hot enough. These pitas are not easy to split open in the middle unless they puff up while baking. Ours did get some height, which was exciting. But, we know that the next time, we are going to roll them out thicker than what we did today. Today, we rolled to about 1/4 inch thickness, and next time, we will go more than 1/2 inch (about 1.5 cm) thick for each one. Through thick and thin, we enjoyed and were pleased with our impulsive purchase.
Holy Tuesday Service of the Bridegroom ("O Nymphios") from Holy Trinity Church, Pireaus, Greece.
Source of video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVzMkmkdMVE
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