In which our heroine attempts to bake… with unintended results
My friend Mea, in response to my lament about not being able to find pitas without plastic, sent me a recipe so I could bake them myself. Mark, do not laugh! I did not mistake BisQuick for flour this time. I did, however, misread 1 1/4 cups of water as 1/4 cup of water and was very confused about why the “dough” would not get doughy. (I kept adding water, thinking I was doing the wrong thing but not knowing exactly which wrong thing I was doing.) But okay, even before I put in the flour, the yeast would not do much of its yeast thing. And after letting the breads rise for the prescribed 45 minutes and finding that no rising had actually taken place, I put them in the oven to see what would happen. And what happened are these little bread stepping stones. The outside is hard. The inside is heavy and doughy. And the pocket… um… let’s just forget that they were supposed to be pockets. They taste okay.
Oh, and by the way, in my attempt to bake my own pitas in order to save plastic, I bought a plastic packet of yeast and didn’t even think about it until tonight!
Here’s the recipe:
Pita Bread II Recipe
Ready in: 30-60 minutes
Difficulty: 2 (1=easiest :: hardest=5)
Serves/Makes: 12
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup lukewarm water, 110 F
2 teaspoons honey
1 package yeast
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 500 F. In a large mixing bowl mix yeast, water and
honey. Let sit until foamy. About 5 minutes. Stir in salt and flour.
Knead the dough for about 10 minutes. (Added therapeutic value.) Divide the dough into 12 small balls. Roll or pat the balls flat. They should be about 6 inches across and 1/4 inch thick. Put them on lightly buttered cookie sheets. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise for about 45 minutes. Bake the bread 12 minutes until lightly brown.
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Does anybody know the company or where to buy non GMO yeast without Sorbitan Monostearate or other chemicals in eco packaging or at least in a large plastic packaging? Thanks for any suggestions.
for pita, The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum has a recipe that has worked consistently well for me. It also has no sugar or honey. I find it best to let the dough rise/rest over night in the refrigerator. I pull it out in the morning, allowing it to come to room temp. before baking that night.
I learned this techniqe for making anything that requires a ball of dough, and the first pitas I tried were great, so maybe it will help. Take the piece of dough and sort of tuck the sides under and towards the middle, almost as if you’re rolling a sock into a ball. Turn it a bit and repeat, still keeping the same side up. This stretches the top surface. Then put the ball on a very lightly floured surface (you want a bit of stickiness or friction, so a wooden cutting board works well), put your hand on top and with fairly firm pressure make a circular motion, keeping the ball of dough more or less in one place. NOW pat it into flat pita shapes and let them rise as recipe directs. Also, I bake pitas right on the oven rack. Keep trying!
Hi! Found your blog from Crunchy Chicken’s place… Pitas, in my experience, can be difficult to get right. I have found a method that works (usually). I don’t follow the directions fully. Start with the warm water and honey (or sugar) with the yeast, let it sit and do its yeast thing for a bit (no more than the time it takes you to measure out all the other ingredients). Mix and let rise as the directions recommend. When baking them, make sure you not only pre-heat the oven, but the cookie sheet as well! I line my cookie sheet with parchment paper (I reuse, reuse, reuse it for baking all sorts of breads) before preheating. I’ve also found out that the most reliable way to get a pocket is to not mess with the dough before you roll it out – if it’s already got it’s own “sturcture,” for lack of a better word, it seems to pocket better. Also – you can get yeast in glass jars – it seems like a LOT of yeast, but a few loaves or batches of other breads will use up your jar of yeast pretty quick like! Good luck!
My sister said The Moosewood Cookbook has a good pita recipe … don’t we have that? And mooses are the second coolest animal!
This is just all too funny!!!! You look like you have a black “plastic” bag on in front of the oven. ha ha, showed it to Angie and she thinks it’s maybe a black sweatshirt with flour. She could see the finger prints. Keep on blogging girl…….
Hey, M. The next time I bake, I think I need some supervision. Or maybe I could come over and bake with you some time. Or watch you bake and take notes. Or just come over and get some bread. Yeah, that’s it!
When last we ran into our plastic avenger, Betty Crocker……
LOL, honey. And only because I have misread recipes- my biggest mistake was 2 TBS salt for 2 Tsp salt-
you now have lovely troll size pavers for your garde? mini frisbees?
helpful hint from Auntie M. you can buy yeast in jars- just let it live in the fridge after opening.