Home Made Pita Bread (Delia Smith)

Occasionally, I would buy ready-made pitas from the supermarket and stuff them with vegetables and meat for a quick and light lunch over weekends. Although I love making my own bread, making pitas has never crossed my mind. I have no idea how those huge air pocket in the pitas are created. This home-made Pita Bread is the first Delia Smith recipe I tried out because it is really easy - the bread maker (or mixer) did the kneading and I only rolled them out for baking after one round of proofing. 

Quite magically, the pita's characteristic air pocket developed on its while it was baking away in the oven. The wonderful aroma of the fresh pitas baking away in the oven is so addictive. These fluffy home-made pitas are delicious served warm and has a huge air pocket to hold all the delicious stuffing you want to put in. Definitely a highly recommended recipe! I served mine with Delia Smith's Hummus (recipe to be shared later).

This is for Cook like a Star, Delia Smith blog hop event, hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Mich from Piece of Cake. Grab the HTML Code for the event here. This is my first time hosting an event and I am really excited. Hope you all will find some time to cook Delia Smith's recipes and join us! The trendsetter who inspires others to make the same recipe as him/her will also receive a special gift. 

Pita Bread (Makes 12)

From Delia Smith's How to Cook Book Three 

Ingredients

• 1 lb 2 oz (500 g) strong white bread flour, plus 2 tablespoons for dusting
• 2 teaspooons easy-blend dried yeast
• 1 oz (25 g) butter, at room temperature, plus a little extra for greasing
• 1½ teaspoons salt

Method

• To make the dough, tip all the ingredients, along with 11 fl oz (310 ml) water, into the bread maker in the order stated in your manual. Then set the machine to the dough-only setting and press start. Let the whole cycle run (about 1.5 hours). 
• If you are using a mixer to mix the dough, let the mixer knead the dough for about 25-30 minutes, then proof it covered for about 1 hour.
• When the dough is done, pre-heat the oven to gas mark 7, 425°F (220°C). Transfer the dough from the bread maker to a flat, lightly floured surface, divide it into 12 equal portions and roll out three of them to oval shapes measuring roughly 4 x 8 inches (10 x 20 cm), covering the remaining dough with a clean tea cloth. Dust the tops lightly with flour and place them on the baking tray. 
• Pop them into the oven, on a high shelf, and bake them for 8-10 minutes, or until they have become golden and puffy. When they are done, remove them from the oven and wrap them in another tea cloth. (If they're allowed to cool without this, they get too crisp, and a pitta should be soft, not crunchy.)
• Serve them fresh from the oven with Hummus or Tunisian Aubergine Salad or, if you're making them in advance, warm them through briefly in the oven before serving.

This is for Yeast Spotting at the Wild Yeast Blog.

This is for Made with Love Mondays by Javelin Warrior.