Hi Everyone-
Today I made pita bread using the recipe from Bread Baker's Apprentice. This is actually the lavash cracker recipe adapted for pita and perhaps because of this the pita-making directions were not totally clear to me.
While the pita tastes good, I have a few questions about making it and had a few problems. Some of the pita inflated and formed a pocket while others did not. I am wondering what I did wrong.
The dough can retard overnight in the refrigerator. The recipe does not say if you need to let the dough rest at room temperature before proceeding with the shaping of it. I left it out for about an hour. Does this seem about right?
It took me a while to shape the dough thinly enough. I let it rest every few minutes and eventually got it where it seemed right. Is it possible to over-roll the dough? It should have been divided into 6oz pieces that are rolled out to 8in diameter. This seemed really large to me so I made 4oz pieces in 6oz diameter (it only made four pitas). Did making them smaller affect the quality of them?
Lastly- the recipe says to bake at 500F until it puffs and forms a pocket but that the dough shouldn't get too golden. Because my dough wasn't puffing well, I took it out after only about 4 minutes because of the color. I also didn't know how long this whole process could take. After tasting it, the cooking time seems to be fine because it was cooked through and had a nice consistency.
Does anyone have any idea why they all didn't puff? Over-working, the size, not enough time resting.... SO many things can go wrong!
Also- any suggestions for making these part whole-wheat would be greatly appreciated!
I look forward to hearing from you!
Beth
