Freshest Pitta Bread

I bought a new cookbook Making Fresh Bread two days ago and Remi got more excited than me.

So before I had even browsed through all the pages, he has studied the recipes carefully and decided we're going to have the freshest Pitta Bread, straight from the oven for breakfast today.

Now, that's nice. He tweaked the kneading process a little bit, so that he could prepare the dough the night before, leave it to expand slowly in the fridge the whole night, wake up early to knead quickly the 2nd time, go back to sleep, then wake up to put the completed dough into the oven. And it took just 5 minutes to bake, as opposed to other breads that takes longer.

Freshest Pitta Bread
makes two breads

175g white flour (use bread flour if you have)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried yeast
1/2 tbsp olive oil
100ml lukewarm water

Sift flour and salt together into a bowl. Stir in yeast.

Make a well in the centre and pour in the oil and lukewarm water. Stir well with wooden spoon until the dough begins to come together.

Knead with your hands until it leaves the side of the bowl. So, what does kneading mean? If you've learn pottery before, it is somewhat similar to kneading clay. Using your fingers, you try to gather the flour together and evenly distribute them into the dough. You also do this by folding the dough into half, knocking it with your fist, and repeating the steps until there's no uneven lumps of flour in the dough.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead well for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Brush the bowl with oil (so that the dough will not stick to it). Shape dough into a ball and put it into the bowl. Cover with a damp tea towel and put into fridge to rise through the night.

The dough should have doubled in volume by morning, with uneven pockets of air inside. So knead more for about 5 minutes on a lightly floured board to remove the uneven pockets of air, divide into 2 balls and leave to rise for 30 minutes to an hour, in a bowl covered with damp tea towel.

With floured hands, slightly flatten a dough ball and roll out on a lightly floured surface to an oval (somehow, he did 2 round pitta breads).

Meanwhile, put a lightly floured baking tray/sheet in oven and preheat to 230C. Transfer pitta breads to the heated trays, spacing them well apart, and bake for 5 minutes until puffed up and golden brown.

Fresh bread for breakfast.