[Intro music]
Pita bread is a staple in Middle Eastern countries.
Imported by immigrants, it is now very popular in western countries.
When cooked, the layers of dough remain separated
into the deflated pita,
which allows the bread to be open into pockets,
creating a space for use in various dishes.
You can stuff it with your favourite ingredients
or use it for scooping sauces and dips such as hummus.
To make nice pita bread, you will need
flour, active dry yeast,
olive oil, salt, sugar, water.
That will be for our bread.
For the glazing of the bread, we are going
to be using egg yolk, olive oil,
little bit of sugar, black and white sesame seeds.
Start to sieve the flour to make it light.
So I’m using all purpose flour
and at the store sometime you could buy pre-sifted flour,
but do you really need that?
Then add the sugar, the salt,
the yeast and mix together.
Work it well.
Add the oil and about half of the water.
Work into the well
mixing the water and taking a little bit of
the flour in the same time.
So clean your cutter here.
Add the little bit of water
just enough to make a soft dough.
And again. Little bit more.
Good.
Clean the cutter.
On a marble or granite, place the dough.
Take a little bit of extra flour
just to clean the bowl and to work the dough.
We are going to be kneading the dough.
So put it everything in together.
If it is sticky add some flour and knead.
So to knead the dough, it takes 3 steps.
You have to fold the dough one side to the other,
so edge to edge straight down,
then with your palm of your right, of my right hand here
I will be pressing the dough to the centre of the mass and turn.
Always turn to the same side and then repeat the operation.
Fold edge to edge straight, so really one side over the other side.
Press at the centre of the mass, turn
and you keep doing that for about 10 minutes.
I know.
If your dough becomes slightly sticky, dust it with flour.
So I've been kneading the dough for about 8 minutes.
Add a dash of olive oil into your bowl.
Like a quarter teaspoon.
Cut your dough few times.
Then we will have the temperature to reach the center of the dough
and the dough will rise faster.
Place the dough into the bowl and wrap it up tightly.
Leave the dough at room temperature or
near a warm place for about an hour or until it doubles in size.
The pita bread has risen quite a bit.
It has doubled in size.
o we are going to divide it into little breads.
So place it on your working station
and I'm going to cut it in four.
Good.
Dust some flour on the work station
and work the dough little bit.;
just to make it like a little ball.
Here we go. Then roll it.
Turn, roll, turn, roll.
So I'm using a small rolling pin.
You could buy those ones in Indian kitchen store for instance.
This is a very good rolling pin for flat breads.
Cover the pita with your rags to make sure they don't dry.
And let them rest and they will raise a
little bit for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile we are going to prepare our glaze.
Break the egg and separate the yolk from the white.
Add the oil and sugar.
Mix.
Then add a tablespoon of water.
So it is like an egg wash,
but with olive oil and sugar.
Add it. This step I would say its optional,
if you don't like to have egg products
or if you just want to have regular bread
you could do the pita like it is and have it plain.
This will have little more flavour and
it is recommended but you can do without.
Heat a skillet on medium high heat
and don't put any fat, just add the pita
and brush the glaze over.
Sprinkle the seeds.
Let the pita cook for about 2 to 3 minutes on each side
so the bread it's cook on once you could see its pretty white here
so we are going to flip it.
Nice colour and it feels crusty.
Meanwhile prepare the next one.
Lets remove that one.
Nice. Nice one.
This one actually started yolk side down first
and I think this side is better,
so I will do the next one like that too.
So what I did, I took it like this
and I just placed it yolk side down.
Bake the pita for couple of minutes
just to make sure the yolks are totally cooked,
especially for the first batch.
Take the pita out of the oven and turn it off.
The pitas have cooled down.
You may serve it now and
I like to cut it in pieces and have it with hummus
or you may make a sandwich; just open it up,
stuff it with your favourite filling and make a great sandwich.
Enjoy your pitas.