The Meaning of Life and Other Vegetables

Hello everyone.

I feel that the recent stretch was quite intense, so I would like to take a short break from RSU and other such lofty matters. You might need a break too… if you have actually been following through.

Another thing I really like doing is making food. So today I’m going to teach you how to make awesome Pita bread pockets. It’s not just baking, it’s an art form. Making Pita bread is fairly straightforward, but getting it to form a pocket (have a void inside), with even walls, is not trivial at all. The pocket is awesome for filling – only your imagination will limit what you can put in there.

I haven’t really planned for this, so I don’t have any photos at the moment – apologies. I realise that photos can be helpful, but it’s not a showstopper in my opinion. Next time I’ll make Pita pockets – which can be any time, next week or in 6 months – I’ll take photos and add them in here.

Okay, here we go.

The most critical factor for pocket success is oven temperature. You need an oven capable of reaching at least 250°C (482°F), preferably fan forced (“turbo” in some countries). You might be able to get away with 230-240°C (446-464°F); you can surely bake a tasty Pita bread at these temperatures, but you are much less likely to get the pocket void in it.

What you will need (for 10-15 Pitas, depending on their size):

• 2.25 cups lukewarm water (not hot)
• 2 tbsp yeast*
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 kg plain white flour**
• 1 tsp plain cooking salt – any
• 0.5 cup vegetable oil***
• A good dough mixer with a kneading hook****
• A kitchen benchtop scale
• A rolling pin
• A few tea towels*****

*) The instant dried kind – the one that looks like fine grain (and best kept in the freezer after opening). It’s critical that it’s not expired, and the fresher it is, the better. If it’s a bit on the older side, I’d consider buying a fresh batch (where I live it’s easy to get and cheap).

**) No additives / improvers whatsoever. Plain. I also made Pita pockets from wholemeal (whole wheat) flour, but it just won’t provide the same level of palette gratification.

***) Yes. It might sound/feel excessive, but it’s part of the secret. It will keep your Pitas fresh for longer. Not to mention it will make them so much yummier. If you are the kind that is concerned about calories, perhaps avoid this recipe altogether. It’s not light. An average-size Pita pocket (150g) is equal to about 3 average slices of bread. I use sunflower oil, but it’s not critical. It’s just my default vegetable oil for cooking; I guess any vegetable oil will do for Pitas. I also used canola oil in the past, with good results. I never tried olive oil for this, so I don’t know. Mind you – olive oil tends to lose some of its nutritional awesomeness in high heat (which we will be applying here).

****) You can knead by hand, it’s just harder. Please note that good yeast dough (which is what we’re trying to achieve here) loves plenty of kneading, so if you are going manual prepare for quite some work.

*****) Might be known as “hand towels” or “dish towels” in your country.

What you need to do:

1. Place the water in the mixer bowl.

2. Sprinkle the yeast over the water.

3. Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the yeast (no need to mix).

4. Wait 10 minutes (the yeast will wake up and procreate).

5. Add the flour into the bowl (no mixing yet).

6. Add the salt on top of the flour (no mixing yet).

7. Add the oil.

8. Activate the mixer at minimal speed. After all the ingredients combine into a single chunk of dough (more or less), increase the speed gradually. Nothing crazy, but enough to ensure it picks back everything that gets thrown off or stuck to the bowl walls. I have a Kenwood mixer with a speed scale marked 0 to Max (which is 7), and I go to 1 and after a little while to 2, but not faster than that.

9. Let the mixer knead at the higher speed (as above) for 5 minutes. By now the dough should look like a single, neat and smooth chunk, maybe a tiny bit sticky, but the bowl walls should look “clean”.

10. Leave the bowl covered for at least half an hour. If the ambient temperature is on the lower side, you might need an hour or even more. The dough rises and doubles (or even triples) in volume.

11. Prepare a spacious, floured work surface. I use a round table that is about 1m in diameter (you probably don’t need THAT much space, but it’s convenient).

12. Using the kitchen benchtop scale, form a piece of dough weighing 150-155g (it’s a matter of preference – you can experiment with smaller and larger). Put it on the floured surface and start “folding” from the outside in: pick the right and left sides, pull a little to the sides, lift, fold, and push the edges down (hard-ish) at the centre of the piece. Repeat with the top and bottom, then repeat in random order all around. Do this for a bit, but no need to linger a lot. I’m guessing 5-10 such movements would do (I told you upfront it’s an art form). Then pick up the piece of dough in your hands, and roll it into a nice ball (shape is not super critical). Roll the ball in a bit of flour, place aside on the (generously) floured surface, and cover with a damp tea towel. To achieve the desired effect, wet the towel under running water and wring well so that it’s not wet, only damp. This is to avoid the balls from drying while they rise.

13. Repeat step 12 until you use up all the dough. When you place the dough balls under the damp towel(s), next to each other, leave generous gaps between them – at least the size of the ball. They will continue rising while you work, so if there isn’t enough space between them, they will stick to each other. Place them in order, so that the next stage is performed on them in the same order they were created.

14. Turn on the oven and wait for it to reach 250°C (482°F), or a little more if it can.

15. Using the rolling pin, roll the dough balls down to 1cm-thick circles (each ball becomes a Pita). For 150g Pitas, the resulting circle will be about 15cm in diameter. Be careful not to make them thinner than 1cm. Work on a generously floured surface, and prepare 2 or 3 Pitas at a time. Cover them with a DRY towel until they are ready to go into the oven. Don’t roll down all the Pitas upfront – only the ones about to enter the oven each time. If you roll them all upfront they will rise too much by the time they will go into the oven. You will still get awesome bread, but not likely to get pockets that way.

16. When the oven is at the target temperature and the 2-3 Pitas are rolled and ready to go – place them in the oven and bake for about 4 minutes. Place them on a grid at mid-height, so the Pitas could enjoy the heat equally from all sides. If you want to avoid the grid “burn marks”, you can use an oven tray instead, but then you’d have to turn the Pitas over, half way (about 2 minutes in). The exact total baking duration will vary according to your specific oven, local ingredients, your particular work manner and so on, so you will need to experiment a little to get it right. The goal is to get Pitas that are very slightly brown (not perfectly white), possibly with some little spots of slightly darker brown. It’s also a matter of personal preference (some people like them with tiny slightly burnt bits – go figure).

17. Once a round of Pitas is in the oven, it’s time to roll down the next 2-3 ones.

18. When taking the baked Pitas out of the oven, place them in a large container (I use the empty mixer bowl), and keep it covered with a dry towel. They need to “breathe” while they cool down, otherwise they will get wet from the vapor, and sticky. On the other hand, you don’t want to keep them exposed because they will lose their moist and longevity (art, did I say that already?). You might want to take them out of the container and “shuffle” them a little every time you add new ones in, otherwise the ones at the bottom will get wetter.

19. Once all the Pitas are baked, let them all cool down to room temperature. At this point they are at their prime, so go ahead and have some! Warning: You are likely to make all kinds of embarrassing sounds. Once they’ve cooled down, it’s best to place them in a plastic bag and put in the freezer. You can keep them outside the freezer, and will probably enjoy their best for another day or so, but after that they will dry/stiffen, so unless you have a gathering on the same day, I recommend freezing. Whenever you want to have one, just zap it for 30-60 seconds in the microwave oven – they will come out almost as fresh and moist as just baked. Longer than that will get them hot and awesome for a few minutes, but then they will dry out and harden, so not recommended.

That’s it! Now go and experiment and become a Pita pocket master.

Peace to all.