Pita

Updated at: Thu, 15 Feb 2024 19:14:22 GMT

Step 1

Put the water into a small bowl and sprinkle over the yeast and sugar. Leave for 5–6 minutes to react and become foamy.

Step 2

Put both flours and the salt into the bowl of a stand mixer, with the dough hook in place, and mix on low speed to combine. Add the olive oil and the yeast mixture, turning the speed to medium-high, and knead for 7 minutes. The dough should be smooth, elastic and a bit sticky.

Step 3

Transfer the dough to a well-oiled large bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 1–2 hours, or until doubled in size. Alternatively, leave to prove, covered and refrigerated, overnight.

Step 4

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and divide into six 100g pieces. Use your hands to roll each piece into a round ball. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rest for 20 minutes.

Step 5

Preheat the oven to 240°C fan or your highest oven setting. Place a large baking tray in the oven to warm up.

Step 6

Cut out two pieces of baking parchment roughly the size of your baking tray, lay them out on your work surface and sprinkle them with a little flour. Top one piece of paper with two balls of dough, spaced well apart, and use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll each one out into a round, roughly 12cm in diameter. Don’t tear or overwork the pitas at all, or they won’t puff up.

Step 7

Carefully transfer the paper with the two rolled-out rounds to your preheated tray and bake for 4–5 minutes, or until lightly golden and puffy. Transfer to a clean bowl and cover with a damp tea towel to keep warm (save the parchment paper to reuse again). While they’re in the oven, prepare the other two rounds in the same way and, when ready, transfer them to the hot tray and bake in the same way. Continue until you’ve made six pitas in total. Keep them covered in the bowl until you’re ready to serve.

Step 8

NOTES Get ahead - Make the dough the night before, leaving it to prove in the fridge overnight and bringing it back up to room temperature when you’re ready to work with it again. - Freeze the raw dough once you’ve rolled it into rounds, wrapping it very well before storing it in an airtight container. Defrost before cooking.

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