Home | Appetizers and Snacks | Beverages | Breads and Quick Breads | Breakfasts | Cakes and Icings | Candy, Sweet Snacks and Nuts | Casseroles and Main Dishes | Cookies | Desserts | Fun Stuff! | Links | Pies | Salads | Sauces and Miscellaneous | Side Dishes | Soups

The Ladybugs' Recipes

Soft Pita Bread

From:  TrapperJane
Ingredients:
4 c
1 pkg
2 tsp
1 T
1 1/2 c
bread or all-purpose flour
dry yeast
salt
olive or vegetable oil, plus some for baking
HOT water (120-130 degrees)

Procedure:

Special equipment:  

  1. If you have, one a wok scoured clean on the outside
       (I used my great-grandmother’s little iron griddle)
  2. A bowl inverted and covered with cloth.
Mixing:  
  1. By hand or mixer, place 2 cups flour, yeast and salt in bowl.
  2. Mix tablespoon oil with hot water and pour into flour.
  3. Stir with wooden spoon or mixer to blend well.
  4. Add additional flour 1/2 cup at a time to form a shaggy mass of dough.
  5. Knead about 8 minutes until dough is soft and elastic.
        If you have a dough hook about 5 minutes.
  6. Place dough in greased bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap.
  7. Let rise until doubled.
  8. Punch down and turn dough onto a floured work surface.
  9. Divide dough into 8 (possibly 9) pieces and shape in a ball. **
  10. Roll dough out with rolling pin, dust each pita with flour and drape them together over the cloth-covered bowl to rest for 10 minutes.
Cooking:  
  1. Using either an inverted wok or griddle or whatever you have you think will work, preheat your pan until a drop of water sizzles and bounces.
  2. Lightly brush oil in the pan and place your pitas one at a time.
  3. Bake like a pancake until lightly browned underneath, about 3 to 4 minutes, turn and lightly brown on the other side.
  4. Watch heat carefully so it doesn't get too hot or your breads will be crisp, you want them soft and foldable.
  5. When done, cool slightly and place in a large plastic bag to keep them soft.
  6. Either freeze or refrigerate, heat in the microwave right before serving them with your favorite filling.
** This is where you'll have to experiment as to what size pita you want. (Original directions had a pita ending up 15" to 16" in diameter, that was too big for me and would have been very thin.) I wanted soft and about 1/4" to 1/3" thick. After making one pita that was too thin and ended up dry, I decided I would make the rest of the dough into 8 balls and used an 8" saucepan lid as something of a guide.