Sourdough Bin Adventures (Episode 3) : Pitas
Pita bread is so delicious, I am surprised that I waited this long to attempt making them.
As mentioned in other articles I've posted, I keep sourdough in a bin in the fridge all week long, which I pinch from to make various things like loaves, pizza, tortillas, etc.. Well now I have a new use: PITAS!
(The sourdough I keep in the fridge is made from 100% freshly ground organic whole wheat, sourdough starter, water & salt--80% hydration.)
It was really quite easy to make them. I just took 150g of sourdough from my bin per pita (I actually weighed them). I formed them into a ball and let them acclimate for a couple hours. Started up the oven with 2 pizza stones in it (one above and one below) and preheated both stones to 550F.
I rolled them out to about 1/4" thick or a little less and cooked them one by one one the bottom stone. They magically poofed up into nice looking pitas!
They look delicious and I can't wait to try one tomorrow for lunch.
How attractive, and easy! they look delicious Loafgeek.
were these from the recipe of peter reinhart's wholegrain breads?
I haven't read Peter Reinhart's book yet--I should get it. I just read about pitas a little bit on the forum here on how to roll them out and bake them--also looked at some youtube videos. As far as the dough goes, I just used what I had on hand (and use for almost everything else)--i.e. my sourdough bin.
Thanks for the compliment.
pitas. They would go very well with some Southwest Hummus. I sort of got hooked on both while living in Saudi Arabia :-)
Nice baking.
.. only one problem: they were really thin on the top and thick on the bottom.
I made another batch of six tonight and tried letting them rest 30 minutes after rolling; this didn't work--again they were thin on the top and thick on the bottom.
Then I tried something wtih the last four of the batch. After putting one in, I flipped it after 30 seconds. The result was it turned out perfect and more evenly crusty on each side. I did the same thing with the remaining three, and all had the same results: same thickness on both sides. They still puffed up really nice and again the crust was better on the top.
I was also very careful to roll them the same thickness--but later on determined this didn't really matter because I stretched out a few by hand after resting (like I do pizza dough) and they puffed up evenly.
How long total did they bake? (You may have mentioned that)
And by a sourdough bin, you mean starter bits that would have been discarded after feedings or is your starter that large?
My pitas always come out thicker on one side then the other. I thought that one side on the stone was the culprit but now you have figured it out. Will bake them correctly from now on like i do tortillas 30 seconds on one side then flip them.
Your pitas look great and I bet they will taste very good too. Nice baking.