On Saturday we had supper club. Michael and I have not been able to attend the past few times due to our travel schedule so I was excited to finally be able to participate and I loved the theme: Syrian night. I really like Middle Eastern food!
I signed up to make fattoush and homemade pita bread. I’ve made homemade pizza before but I had never tried pita. I was surprised at the recipe for pita. The same ingredients as my pizza recipe!
Ingredients for Pita
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
3 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water
The ingredients are the same as pizza: flour, yeast, water, salt, sugar.
It does call for proofing the yeast. Dissolve the yeast in the 1/2 cup of warm water and then stir in the sugar. Let that sit for 10 minutes. You will see bubbles forming.
Mix the salt and flour in a large mixing bowl, then add in the proofed yeast and mix.
Slowly add the 1 cup of warm water, allowing the mixture to come together. Depending on the humidity level, you may not need the full cup of water. Add slowly and let the mixture come together, slowly adding more until a ball forms. I let the mixer do all the kneading. (Oops! I forgot to put my dough hook on! Oh well!)
When it’s all done, it should be a nice elastic ball. This can take 5 – 10 minutes of mixing/kneading.
Place the dough ball into a bowl coated with oil, turn the ball so that the entire ball is coated with oil, and leave it to rise in a warm place for 3 hours. I like to wrap the bowl in a clean cloth and place it in the oven with the light on.
After three hours, the dough will have doubled in size. Divide the dough in half, then half again and then again until you have 8 little balls. I had doubled the recipe so it made quite a few little balls. I wanted smaller pita so that everyone could have one but not have it be too big.
In the meantime heat the oven and the baking stone to 500 degrees. Be sure the baking rack is all the way on the bottom of the oven, close to the heating element.W hen the oven is ready, roll out a few balls at a time using a rolling pin.
Transfer to the heated baking stone.
Bake for 4 minutes then flip and bake for 2 additional minutes. The dough will puff right up like magic!
Transfer to a wire rack, mash it down with a spatula, let cool, and then dig in!
These were not difficult to make and kinda fun but pretty time consuming! There’s a local store here that sells them for $1.99. I think I’ll just buy them!
If you want to see how I made the fattoush, click over to the Blended Blog where I’m hosting Tasty Tuesday. I’m sharing that recipe over there!
You can read about my other supper club post here. Linking up with the Blended Blog.
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Wow – making pita looks fun! My husband likes to make pizza – maybe I can convince him to give this a try!