Egyptian Pita Breads
Recipe for Egyptian "Aesh Baladi", serves 8:
- 2 teaspoons dry yeast.
- 1 cup warm water.
- 1 teaspoon salt.
- 3 cups flour.
Dissolve the yeast in 1 cup warm water. Sift together the flour and salt and mix the yeast and water. Work the mixture into a dough and knead for several minutes.
Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it proof in a warm place for 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 350°. Divide the dough into 6 equal portions and roll into balls. With either your hand or a rolling pin, pat and press each ball of dough into a 5-inch circle about 1/2-inch thick. Place on a sheet of greaseproof paper and bake for 10 minutes, or until the pita are light golden brown.
The next two pita bread recipe are made in a same way, the only difference is in the composition. So, follow the recipe below for both.
Aash Baladi bread
- 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour.
- 7 oz. water.
- 1/2 tsp. salt.
- 1/4 oz. Dry Yeast.
Aash Makamar
- 4 C bread flour
- 1 Tb active dry yeast
- Salt to taste
- 1 tsp of sugar
- 2 C of warm water
Mix the yeast and the water. Mix the dry ingredients and water using by hand or a kitchen mixer for 7 minutes to develop the gluten matrice in the dough. When it is finished it should be the same texture than a pizza dough. Cut the dough to small pieces , flatten them by hand or rolling pin. Cover .and let it proof for 15 minutes Pre-heat your oven to 500 F
Bake in the middle rack on a plate one at the time. Cook until it puffs up and reach a nice golden brown color.
"Everything I eat has been proved by some doctor or other to be a deadly poison, and everything I don't eat has been proved to be indispensable for life. But I go marching on."
George Bernard Shaw