Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Success in Baking Pita
We were on the list to provide hummos and pita bread for something my son was attending. I decided to make the pita from the recipe in Secrets of a Jewish Baker - my personal top choice in bread books and containing many professional tips that I've never found elsewhere. Unfortunately the results were uneven the first time around - browned them a bit too much so some ended up flat and crunchy. So I tried another batch two nights ago, and it got raves. There are a few things I found from a little experimenting - and from what I learned in writing the Complete Idiots Guide to Pizza and Panini (coming out in August):
- Keep the dough the tiniest bit sticky. You want moisture in it to puff up the pita, which should look like little domes when they're done.
- The steps about letting the dough relax are important.
- The book's instructions say to roll the dough out to about 6-inch diameter circles, but the real trick is keeping it about a quarter-inch thick.
- The baking instructions in the book are a bit off - when you put them onto the hot baking stone or tiles, let them sit for about four minutes and then check on their progress (keeping the oven mostly closed to contain the heat).
- They should be pretty pale. If they get to golden brown, they will be crunchy.
