we eat thousands of these things every
single week of course it's the beautiful
greek pitta and i'm going to show you
how to make them now get baking
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my students today are friends kate and
kim kim admits her baking leaves a lot
to be desired but she's desperate to
improve and cafe owner kate bakes cakes
but never makes bread
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also baking along are partners patrick a
self-confessed foodie and russell who
can't bake but makes a mean fried
breakfast but my next bread a pitta is
so easy i'm sure all of them will master
it in no time have any of you guys made
pizza before no never haven't even
thought of it no pita bread is is so
versatile the actual way that it works
in an oven is fascinating you'll be able
to see it grow in the oven and bloom up
right in front of your eyes and it's
actually very quick to do
in the bowl i've actually got wholemeal
flour stone ground wholemeal flour and
i've got white flour so i'm doing half
and half and to blend that together
again takes the pitter to another level
to my flour i'm adding olive oil instant
yeast salt and cool water
then just give it a quick mix with your
hand straight away
i've got something i can work with
it's best to add the water a little at a
time until you have a soft sticky dough
i'm using
wholemeal flour because it's quite a
grainy mixture and it does absorb the
olive oil and it tends to balloon it a
little bit when you're proving up
certainly when you're baking it put a
little bit of flour on the bench
and all i do is just fold it up and you
can see almost straight away you've got
a dough it's it's literally there should
i feel that
oh yeah it's really really nice it looks
lovely and soft it feels lively doesn't
it yeah you feel the weight that's
literally within
five seconds
because i'm only using 250 gram
it's considerably smaller so if you do
it one hand so with this hand
you can basically have a cup of tea do
whatever you want answer the door answer
the phone
now while you're having a cuppa keep
kneading the dough it should become less
sticky if you follow my simple technique
this is basically a folding technique so
all i'm doing is just rolling it up
flattening it down rolling it up
flattening it down
you'll know when your dough is ready
when it feels smooth and silky then
cover the dough and leave it to double
in size so i've got a dough down here
that's been resting for about an hour
and a half two hours you see how big it
grows
now this will make two pitters good
sized pitters or four little ones if you
like
now if i just split that
you shape them into balls put you put
your fingers over the top
and then just spin it round there you go
okay
just flatten each ball with your fingers
and roll out into an oval
roll them out quite thin it's normal for
pitters to be quite thin obviously
but you want to take them to a little
bit of an oval and you can see the shape
of the
the pitta now see
that's basically where you want to be
put the pitter onto a tray with some
flour
and then transfer to a hot oven i've got
a tray in there which has already been
preheated
slide it on there
close it up
leave it for 10 minutes
what you're looking for is the slightest
bit of color to arrive on the top and
you see almost a dryness happening on
the top of the pitter
that's when it's ready if you ever look
in there you see it's it's doming
slightly
what's happening is the outside of the
pitter quickly seals in the oven and
then steam pushes it up into a pillow
shape
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time to see if my students have been
paying attention they've already got
some pita dough and all they have to do
is shape it and roll it out but kate
needs some help
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technically that's just spinning in a
bit of flour one of the secrets and i've
seen this all the time right
if i get a piece of dough and put it in
that flour and i go like that what
happens
what happens it just spins round like
that but
if i was to get a piece of dough on a
surface actually flour free slap that
down the middle and go like that
all of a sudden it's got something to
stick to and there it is see
simple as that
it's crucial your dough is smooth
because if it's cracked this could
become a hole when it's baked and it'll
let out the steam and the pitter won't
rise all right guys right okay so we've
got london the giant bit
you needed to divide it in half and
divide it in half again you could have
made the big ones they're just a little
bit more awkward to make and this one
over here it's all right actually it's
pretty good um
make sure it's all about the same so
you've got to fold there flatten that
down
nice and flat
after just a few minutes in the oven
let's see if the magic has happened see
the color around the outside
just indicating that they're quite dry
oh nice look at the height of that fella
wow that's very very good if you just
flip it over and have a look on the
underside see the color
that color there is what you're looking
for that little fleck of brown which
you'll always get on the base because
that's the one that was in contact with
the with the tray that was heating in
the oven very well done
oh look at the size of that fella
well done wow well done
wow
that is just literally it's like a
little cloud
i pierce that that is going to be where
the steam comes out see
wow
there you have it
smells amazing
i can't believe how easy they are
it's so simple absolutely are you going
to make these now i am never going to
buy them again no i don't think you will
that's the thing
oh pitter king
thank you hold on
this just goes to show that even
students who have never made a pity
before can succeed first time round
i've been making pizzas for a long time
and actually
the examples i've got here are all very
very good are you happy with them
let's have a closer look first at kate's
i mean look at this there's your little
pocket there straight away that is just
fantastic really really good now kim
moving on these are good it probably got
done with a little bit longer in the
oven
but
you've still got the pocket inside and
actually it's baked yeah what it's
lacking is that color and you know what
the difference is between that and that
20 seconds really wow 30 seconds
possibly and actually it depends on the
temperature you have that is lovely soft
that's not dirty that's bread that is
it's a good pizza thank you but will the
boys have done as well now these guys
here i've seen this one before this is
very good um lovely
flash of color coming down here very
very good i mean i'd buy a load of them
and how's patrick's giant size version
turned out now this this is very good
don't worry about the shape that's the
thing look at the shape of that looks
like a boot
looks like italy put your knife in there
just run it down you can almost see
yourself through it it's that thin
excellent
well there you have it a little bit of
greek magic in your own kitchen
you're definitely going to do these
again
simple okay i think you guys should tuck
in and enjoy it a little bit of pitta
magic
so come on get bacon
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you