Pita – The Ephemeral Bee

It has been way too hot for bread baking lately so I have been searching for grill friendly alternatives. I finally settled on making pita. I have made pita once before, and remember them turning out pretty well and the recipe being fairly easy. Time to give it another go.

A bread or pizza stone will make grilling these a lot easier for you. I used one this time around, but the first time I made pita, I cooked them directly on the grill. It worked, but it required some additional maneuvering.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup warm Water + 1 cup warm Water
2 tsp Yeast
pinch of Sugar
3 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Salt
3 – 3 1/2 cups all purpose Flour (not bread flour)

Directions:

Combine the yeast, 1/4 cup water, and pinch of sugar in a small bowl and set it aside for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, beat together the remaining cup of water, olive oil, salt, and 1 1/2 cups flour until smooth and creamy. It will take a couple of minutes.
Pour in the yeast mixture, and continue to beat/mix.
Add in the remaining flour 1/2 a cup at a time.
Knead the dough for about 5 minutes by hand, or a couple of minutes by dough hook, until the dough is soft and smooth.
Place the dough in a covered, greased container to rise for a hour.
Turn on your grill, and allow it to heat to about 475 F (246 C). If you are using a bread stone, make sure to give the grill enough time to fully heat the stone.
Turn out your dough, and divid it into 8 equal pieces.
Roll each piece into a tight ball.
Use a rolling pin to roll each ball out into a 6″ disk. This can be a bit of a challenge since the dough has a little bounce to it and may stretch back.
Place the dough disks on a well floured baking sheet and cover with a cloth.
Allow the dough to puff up and rise slightly for 15 minutes.
This is the tricky part, you are going to use one hand to quickly transfer each pita to the hot stone or grill without letting the pita deflate or loose it’s form. I could fit three pitas on my stone at a time.
Once you have moved your pitas onto the stone or grill surface, close the grill and allow the pitas to cook undisturbed for at least 4 minutes without checking on them. You do not have to flip the pitas when cooking them.
Cook the pita for 8 – 10 minutes total, before moving them off the grill to make space for the next round.