Pita bread
Pita bread – Aish abyad
pita bread
In Egypt, the bread is best likened to pita bread. The main difference is that it’s round.
Bread is an incredibly important staple in Egypt. If you’d like to find out more see my article ‘Bread in Egypt’.
The Arabic word for bread is khobz. But in Egypt they call it Aish, which literally translated means ‘Life’. This reflects the importance they place on it.
This Pita bread or Aish is eaten with every meal; breakfast, lunch and dinner.
There are predominantly two types of bread. Aish Baladi, which is made using wholemeal flour and has a bran crust. And Aish Abyad which is made using white flour.
There’s no need to buy any fancy bread flour, 00 or anything. Just normal plain flour is all it takes.
The fact that you could make bread with normal flour totally blew me initially. The first time I wanted to make bread in Egypt I’d asked my husband to buy some flour for it. I told him to make sure he bought bread flour because nothing else would do. When he came back, he said he’d been to the bakery to buy the flour and he’d insisted that it had to be bread flour, just as I had told him. At this comment, everyone fell about laughing apparently, asking what else he thought you used flour for?
OK let’s make pita bread
This recipe makes 8 pita bread
Ingredients
- 15g dried yeast
- 2 tsp sugar
- 300ml warm water (about the temperature of warm bath water)
- 500g plain flour plus a little extra for kneading
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 4 tbsp oil
Optional extras – If you want to make some extra special pita bread you could add 1 tsp garlic puree + a small handful of fresh coriander finely chopped. These are not traditionally added but they can be very tasty when included and as I said it just makes it extra special.
Method
First, let the yeast work its magic
Mix the dried yeast, sugar and warm water in a bowl and leave for about 10 minutes until it starts to bubble.
Dry ingredients into a bowl
Put the flour, salt and oil into a large mixing bowl and add the garlic and coriander if you choose to.
Add the yeast mix
Add the bubbling yeast mixture and mix all the ingredients together.
Sprinkle flour
Sprinkle a little flour onto a clean work surface and tip the ingredients out onto it.
Knead your pita bread dough until nice and smooth
Knead your dough for a few minutes until it becomes smooth and soft.
Rub down with a little oil and watch it grow
Pour a little oil into your hand and rub it over the surface of the dough. Then put it back into the bowl and cover with cling film. Put it into a warm place for about an hour to prove (swell up until it doubles in size).
Turn it out and knock it back
Once the proving has taken place, turn the dough out onto the floured work surface once again, and knock it back (punch the air back out of it again).
Knead your pita bread dough
Now, spend the next few minutes kneading your dough, until it forms a beautiful and smooth ball
Divide into eight
You need 8 equal portions. So, the easiest way to divide the dough is to cut it like a cake. Cut it in half, then into 4. Then cut each of those portions into 2. That’s your 8 equal parts.
Roll it out
Take each of your 8 portions one at a time and knead it a little to form it into a ball. Then roll it out to about ½ cm thick.
Let your pita breads rest
Your rolled out pita breads now need to rest for about 15 minutes. This gives them the opportunity to puff up a little again and get nice and light.
When the dough is rested heat a large, heavy bottomed frying pan over a high heat.
Cook your pita bread one at a time
Cook the dough one at a time in the dry (i.e.no oil) frying pan for just under a minute – until they start to lift from the pan. Turn it over and cook the same way on the other side.
Place the cooked bread on a clean tea towel whilst you cook the rest of your pita breads – they are very steamy and if you put them on a plate, they may become soggy.
The smell of freshly baked bread is so inviting
The smell of freshly made Pita Bread is so good. That alone is a great reason for trying this recipe. Estate Agents joke about the smell of freshly baked bread selling houses, when you smell them you’ll know why.
Pita bread is amazing
Egyptians would have these pita bread with everything imaginable. But they are particularly good served warm with dips, with grilled meat and salad or with Egyptian ful medames and falafel.
Pita breads can easily be frozen and just warmed up on the top of the stove when you need them. this ensures that the bread always tastes at its freshest.
I do hope you’ll try making these Pita Bread they’re incredibly easy to make.
If you’d like to see other recipes from ‘Secrets of a Cairo Kitchen’ please click the link below.