PITA OR ARABIC BREAD Recipe

How to make it

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• -If you are careful with your proportions, you won't wind up with a sticky nightmare!
• IN a large mixing bowl combine the flour and salt, mix thoroughly using your hands or a rubber spatula; make a well, add the yeasty water and about 1/2 the lukewarm water; mix and gradually add more water a few TBSP at a time using a rubber spatula (it can be very sticky until well mixed) until firm and elastic and just a little sticky (may adhere slightly to your hand - you want the dough to be as soft and 'fluid' as possible so it can 'pop').
• TURN dough on to a lightly floured working surface and knead for 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. Return to the bowl, cover with a plastic wrap and leave in a warm, draft-free place to rise for 2-3 hours (much less if you are using 'rapid-rise' yeast).
• WHEN dough has nearly doubled in size, punch down, knead lightly, roll out a 'rope' and pinch off hand fulls to form into balls about the size of tangerines - between a ping-pong and a tennis ball.
• PUT pizza stone or baking sheet in oven on lowest rack; remove any other racks to ease access, pre-heat oven to 450 deg. F.
• PLACE balls on a lightly floured surface a few inches apart, cover and let rest for 10 - 15 minutes.
• ON your lightly floured working surface, squash a ball flat and round with your hand and then roll out, flipping and turning, a round of the desired thickness - less than 1/4 inch thick and about 5" across. This will take experimentation, until you achieve the kind of bread you like. I like it very thin, but suit yourself
• SET aside, covered, for another 10 minutes.
• NOW the interesting part: baking the bread. Middle Eastern bread ovens are cavernous affairs (even wood-fired from time to time) and are very hot, with a very hot floor. The bread is put on long paddles (same as pizza) and deployed in the oven until it puffs and browns slightly on top.
• WE try to achieve the effect by using the bottom rack of the oven; using a pre-heated pizza stone or baking sheet; transferring the bread to the hot stone or sheet and baking for about 4 minutes - when the bread has 'popped' and browned ever so slightly on the edges or top. The time depends on how thick and moist your bread is; how your oven is constructed, and how hot the oven is. My best results have been with the stone - you will have to experiment.
• ALLOW to cool, flatten, store in plastic bags. Can be refrigerated or frozen, with appropriate re-heating or micro-waving.

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