- Hey, I'm John Kanell, and today on Preppy Kitchen,
we're making some easy, delicious pita bread.
So let's get started.
(gentle upbeat music)
First off, grab a bowl with your stand mixer.
We will be using a dough hook later on,
but for now, let's add some warm water in.
Should be about 110 degrees
and I want one cup, 240 mils.
Gonna add in 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar
just to help our yeast wake up and be happy,
and 1/4-ounce package of active dry yeast.
That's 2 1/4 teaspoons if you're measuring it out.
I'm gonna mix this up just until it's well combined.
And I also wanna add in 60 grams,
or 1/2 a cup of flour to give us a head start.
Now whisk this up till it's nice and combined.
This is a delicious slurry of flour
with a touch of sugar
so our yeast can have the best start possible.
Okay, I'm gonna set this aside for 15 minutes.
While it activates, you'll see some bubbles forming.
It should just be in like a warmish place,
not outside in a tundra, warm.
10 or so minutes later, this got much larger.
It's full of bubbles,
and it's time to add in some more ingredients.
One teaspoon of salt.
Give us a nice, little,
little bit of taste and contrast to our pita.
Two tablespoons of olive oil
will add some more softness and richness.
And I'm gonna add in the remaining
2 1/2 of all-purpose flour.
That's 120 times 2.5.
My scale is done.
I'm gonna stir this together
until I have a nice, shaggy dough.
You can use a spoon, you could use a dough whisk.
You just wanna give it a headstart
before it goes into the mixer.
This looks great.
See, it's really coming together.
This is what you wanna see.
Now we're gonna mix on low for about three minutes
just until the dough really comes together.
If you want, you can do this by hand too,
or you can use your mixer,
or you can do it by hand,
or you can use the mixer.
All righty, three minutes of kneading later,
you can see this dough really came together.
But so much tension, you need to relax.
So we're gonna cover this with a towel
and let it rest for about 10 minutes.
Then we'll do some more stuff.
But for now, all that gluten
needs to like just chill out for a minute.
While your dough's rising,
grab either a heavy sheet pan,
a pizza stone, or a griddle plate,
and we're gonna place this on the lowest rack in our oven
and set it to 475.
It needs to be screaming hot for these pitas to bake,
'cause they bake in just a couple minutes.
Pita bread is the oldest type of bread known to exist.
The name literally just means flatbread.
And it's a Middle Eastern bread,
but the Greeks coined the term pita, or so I've read.
And you'd originally cook it on an open fire of course,
you wouldn't cook it in an oven.
This is gonna be a modern version.
(gentle music)
The dough relaxed a bit.
It's ready for a final knead
so it can become it's silky, supple, best self.
All right, pop this on.
Mix on low for about two minutes.
You'll see a beautiful change in texture.
I'm just checking on it, it's only been a minute,
but it's not quite as smooth as I want
and it's definitely not as elastic as it should be.
It's getting there though, it's getting close.
Keep mixing.
You do all the work for me while I sit and watch.
Thanks, mixer. (gentle music)
(bell dings)
Okay, let's take a look.
Softer.
(gasps) It's not as elastic as I want,
so I'm just gonna knead it by hand for a few minutes.
Sometimes the mixer just can't quite grab
on the way you want to the dough,
and it's just kind of noodling around in there
instead of actually getting kneaded properly.
Some people get intimidated by kneading, but it's so easy.
And my kids, Lachlan and George,
actually learned how to knead dough to make their own pizza
so they can make it start to finish.
This would be fun for them,
but I wouldn't let them do the part
with the 500 degree griddle.
No, no, I'll do that part for them.
This is really improving in texture.
That's better, much better.
Now, this can rest and rise.
It needs about an hour, so I'm just gonna use the same bowl.
No more dishes for me.
Add a little bit of oil and it'll be fine.
We're gonna cover this with either a damp towel,
a bonnet, or a plastic wrap,
and let it rise in a warm, cozy place for about an hour
until it doubles in size.
(gentle music)
Everyone should love pita.
It's the perfect vehicle for carrying
all kinds of delicious things,
or toasting for a delicious panzanella salad.
But when you buy it from the store,
it's old, it's stale,
it's not gonna be as delicious as possible.
So try it out, let me know how much more delicious
it was than you thought it could be,
and also what you use this pita bread for?
My oven's getting nice and toasty
and, oh my gosh, this was in a warming drawer,
so it got a little bit toasty than it should have,
and it got huge.
Look at this, that's big.
All right, give it a punch.
There we go, very satisfying.
A light sprinkling of flour.
Not too much.
Invert your warm
and punched-down dough.
So sad, it was so big before.
Divide those into eight equal pieces,
which means you're gonna halve it,
and then quarter it,
and then halve the quarters, math lesson.
Okay, now you wanna shape these into balls.
So just get those corners tucked under.
And just like you're making a dinner roll,
just a nice, little ball.
So if you don't make dinner rolls very often,
which I just realized, some people might not,
tuck the corners in.
Touch your middle finger and thumb.
Place it over the ball,
and make small circles.
Now you have a perfect, little ball of dough.
Repeat for the rest.
These look so cute,
but they did a lot of work and they need to rest.
So grab a wet towel, this is my bonnet I just used,
and just cover them loosely so they don't dry out,
and they need to rest for 10 minutes.
That'll be screaming hot and ready to go.
My little balls of dough are ready to be rolled out
into six-inch circles.
So on a lightly floured surface, ever so lightly,
we're rolling these out into little six-inch circles.
Ooh, it's so cute and circular.
One done.
You can work in pairs and do two at a time,
so just make a little assembly line of rolling two out.
Then we're gonna bake two,
and while they're baking,
you have time just barely to roll the next two out.
That was the wrong rolling pin.
This needs to be a flat one, that's better.
♪ Hm-hm-Hm ♪
I'm gonna roll 'em all out right now,
because I don't wanna have to move the cameras.
Everything's all rolled out.
Grab your first two circles of dough
and we're going into the oven, it's very hot.
Our first two circles of dough
are gonna go right onto that griddle sheet.
And they're gonna cook for about two minutes,
with the door closed, until they're nice and puffed up.
Then we're gonna flip 'em over and two more minutes.
Ooh, look at that puff.
Look at these puffed and beautiful pitas.
They smell amazing, and once you break them open,
they are the perfect vehicle
for all sorts of delicious things.
Of course, I'll try one just for you.
Mmm.
It's fresh, it's chewy, it's crispy,
warm and soft, all in one.
You've gotta make this recipe.
If you liked this video, check out my bread playlist.