Transcription
Today I'm sharing how to make pita bread, or as we call it, "khubz." Khubz is the Arabic word for bread, and it is Arab. Pretty, pretty straightforward, right?
I'm actually very excited to share this recipe because when I look back, I never knew how to make bread. I struggled to make dough in general. I really, I was terrible at it, and I didn't want it to get the best of me. I was like, "No, there's a way to consistently make good bread. I really want to understand how to do this." So, after a lot of trial and error, and practice, and feedback from family and friends, I learned exactly what it is I was doing wrong. And now, I'm happy to say I can consistently make my bread, my pita bread, puff up perfectly every single time.
The most important thing I've learned with making any sort of bread is patience. Having patience to let your yeast bloom. Having patience to let your dough rise. Having patience to let your dough set after it's risen, after you shape it. It's really a patience game because, number one, you need to give time for your gluten to develop while you're kneading. And then, at the same time, you need some time for the yeast and the air to do its thing while it's sitting and resting. That's very important. If you rush, it's not going to give you what you want. Bread is really something that teaches you patience, and that's something that I've really had to learn myself. It's a very satisfying thing, like when you are able to put all this time and effort into bread, and then you see that perfect puff come out in your pita. It's a very, very satisfying feeling, and it's a grat- it's a very gratifying feeling. I don't know how to explain it. It's just, it's a level of like, "Yeah, I did that."
And I hope that in this video, I'll be able to share all the mistakes I've made and everything I've learned, and give you that so you can kind of fast-track this, so you can just jump right into making bread and not have to make all the mistakes I made. So, I'm going to do my best to be really thorough with this and step you through exactly how to make pita bread.
All right, let's get this started. This recipe will give you eight pieces of bread. And also, I'm going to be using percentages for this recipe for each ingredient, but you can also just double or triple to scale this recipe however you like, if you want to make, you know, like larger batches. I've learned that bakers prefer percentages so they can quickly scale their ingredients based on the amount of flour they use because sometimes you don't get a nice even number to work with. So the percentages help make it easier to adjust and scale as needed.
Anyways, the first thing I'll mention is that baking, especially bread, is way easier if you use weight over cups or tablespoons. This method always yields a consistent result, and I had to learn that the hard way. So, if you want to save yourself some trial and error, use weights.
And to get this going, we'll be weighing out 500g of bread flour. Now, why bread flour? Bread flour actually has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour. And this higher protein content is essential in developing gluten. You get a denser, more compact gluten network, which in turn helps trap more air bubbles generated by the yeast that we'll get to in a minute here. So, basically, you get a nicer texture by using bread flour. And also, for those interested, bread flour is milled from hard wheat. Like, it's actually a tougher, harder wheat, while all-purpose flour is milled from a combo of hard and soft wheat. You can use all-purpose flour to make this recipe, of course, but using bread flour will really make a difference in the texture.
Next, we'll weigh out 10g of salt. I'm using fine sea salt here. And the purpose of salt when making bread is primarily for taste, yes, but it is also a natural yeast regulator. Yeast likes to feed on sugar, and the salt helps prevent it from feeding on too much too quickly. So, you'll have some extra sugars in your dough to give you a nicer caramelization or browning of your bread. And for bread, most aim to use 2% of the amount of flour used. So, 2% of 500g is 10g.
Now, onto our yeast. I like to use active dry yeast. And we'll weigh out five to six grams of yeast, which is about 1% of the total flour used. And we'll be blooming this in 100g of warm water. Most of us are probably used to adding sugar in this step, but it's not necessary. The purpose of adding sugar is to make sure the yeast is alive, and you'll see it foam up quite a bit. These days, yeast is pretty stable and can actually just feed off the sugars in the flour. So, we're just going to bloom our yeast here in warm water for about 15 minutes. And you'll know if the yeast is alive, um, by the smell. When it starts to bloom, it's extremely fragrant. It's very obvious. You'll know. And you'll also see a bit of foaminess like I have here. So, that's one thing to take note of.
Once the yeast has bloomed, add it to the flour along with another 200g of warm water. So, in total, we're using 300g of water, which is about 60% of the total flour used. 60% of 500 is 300. Start mixing that together. And once you get a kind of shaggy-looking dough, add the salt and then continue to mix it together until it's all fully incorporated.
Then turn that whole bowl over onto a clean surface. And I like to add a bit of olive oil to my hands to keep the dough from sticking to my fingers. Shout out to Leosine for keeping my hands clean. I do have a link in the description for this olive oil with a discount code if you're interested. And then start kneading the dough. This step takes some time, and whatever you do, do not add more flour. I repeat, do not add more flour. As you knead, the dough will absorb all the flour we have and it's going to start to get sticky. And I know at this point it's tempting to add more flour, but you'll increase the flour content and that's going to change the rise. So, when it does start to get sticky or look kind of like this, you'll want to use this slap and fold method. Basically, grab the dough, let it dangle and stretch a bit, and then slap it against the counter, then roll it over itself, rotate it 90°, and repeat. This will help the gluten development, and the more and more you do it, the softer and the smoother the dough will get. So, I promise there's no need to add more flour. It will become less sticky using this method. And then you can go back to kneading by hand or rolling it, however you want to call it. In total, I spent about 10 minutes kneading the dough. It's a bit of a workout, but you're left with this really nice, smooth, and slightly sticky dough.
Then go ahead and place that in a well-oiled bowl. Cover and let it rest for at least 90 minutes. I'm leaving it for 2 and 1/2 hours. And you can also let it rise overnight in the fridge.
Next, we'll be shaping the dough. So, 2 and 1/2 hours later, the dough has doubled, or even more than doubled in size. I'm going to turn this over onto another clean surface, and I'm going to very gently shape this into a ball. I do that by pulling the sides towards each other, and then pinching at the bottom, and then rotate 90°, pull again, and pinch at the bottom. And repeat that until you have something that resembles a ball or a sphere. And then you can put it on the counter and do like a quick shaping like I'm doing here.
Next, we're going to cut this dough into eight even pieces. And the way I do that is just by cutting everything in half until I have eight pieces. So, cut the main piece in half, you get two. Cut each half to get four. Then cut each quarter and you get eight. I eyeball this. So, you could also do this by weight. You'd need to weigh out the full amount of dough first, divide by eight, and then weigh out the eight even pieces. It's an extra step. I think it's a bit excessive. We're just making some bread at home. It doesn't need to be perfect, so I don't find that super necessary.
Once you've cut your eight pieces, shape them into spheres or balls by doing the same stretch and fold method like I'm doing here. Pull the sides and pinch at the bottom. Rotate 90° and repeat until you have something that resembles a sphere. Do this for all eight pieces. And then cover them once again and let them rest for about 30 minutes. Leave a little bit of room between each piece in this time because they're going to relax and they're actually going to expand a bit. And when they expand, they might stick to each other. So just leave a little bit of room around each one.
Now it's time to roll the dough into the shape that we'll be baking in. So for pita, we want a circular piece with no creases. I like to use a thin straight rolling pin. I just find them easier to use than the tapered ones, but both work really well. So, what you're going to do is you're going to lightly flour your surface and then you're going to start rolling the first piece in one direction until it's stretched a bit. Then, flip the dough upside down and 90° and roll again. Repeat this over and over to get as close as you can to a circle. This method also helps prevent any creases from forming. If you get a crease, that will essentially close off any air from traveling to that part of the bread. So, you won't get a nice air pocket like you normally would in a piece of pita. So, roll until you have a nice thin, smooth circle. You'll know when to stop because the dough won't stretch much more. And also, don't be too aggressive when rolling either. If you use too much force, you'll create those creases. And once you get those creases, it's very hard to undo them. So, gently roll them. And you'll know when to stop because as you stretch it, it's just going to kind of shrink back to the size it wants to be.
And once you have a nice piece like this, uh, go ahead and set it aside under a like lightly floured surface, and cover for another 30 minutes. And in that time, we're going to get our oven ready. I'm using a pizza oven to do this. I'm going to let it heat up on high heat for about 30 minutes and then I'm going to drop it to a low heat. If you're using your home oven, set it to either 500°F or 550 if yours goes that high. And if you have a pizza stone, this is the time to place it in the oven to heat up as well. If you don't, you can actually place a baking sheet upside down and let that heat up with the oven. It's not the best method, but you'll get a nice result regardless.
Once the oven is hot, place each piece on the hot surface and bake for about 3 to 4 minutes. It takes a second, but the dough will slowly start to rise and then all of a sudden it rises super quick. I'm keeping an eye on the top. I'm looking for a nice even browning all over. And that's it. No need to flip the dough either. You can just leave it as is and remove it after 3 to 4 minutes. I'm going to let this one play out in real time so you can see how this rises and comes together. Hello. And just like that, you have a very nice, beautiful piece of bread. I'm obsessed with this. This is like one of my favorite things ever. If anything, it is the most amazing thing I've ever made. I am obsessed with baking bread. It's, it's a game changer.
And as they come out, I place them in a basket and I cover it with a towel to preserve the warmth. And that's it. You've got yourself a nice basket of pita bread.
All right, I have my basket of bread right here. And since I am Palestinian, I'm going to eat this with some za'atar, zayt, or zaytun, however you want to say it. Zayt is oil. Zaytun means olive oil. So I'm using olive oil and za'atar. This is like not just mine, but like our pride and joy. Za'atar is something that most of the Levant is extremely proud of. We all have our, you know, pride towards our za'atar. There's Palestinian za'atar, there is Lebanese, Syrian, Jordanian za'atar. And even within each country, there's different blends and different types. Like, everyone has fun making their own version of za'atar. So, today I'm having this with Lebanese olive oil, which I always talk about, and a Palestinian blend of za'atar. And we dip in the oil and into our za'atar. And that is just a beautiful, beautiful bite. Do I need to describe it? I think my face says it all. There is nothing quite like fresh homemade bread. Oh my goodness. I don't think I'll ever make a recipe better than this. From here on out, this is it. Channel's over. This is all I can do. I can't top this. It's so good. So fluffy, crispy. Nature's got that tang. Oh my god. It's the simple things, man. I love, I love, love, love this. The simple things.
Like I said in the beginning, bread is a game of patience, especially with this one. The longer you let it rise for, the better it's going to be. Um, you're going to get more like development from that yeast and the gluten over time. So the patience matters. I know a lot of the times, especially me when I first started, if it's like, "Oh, let the dough rise for 60 to 90 minutes," 60 minutes on the dot, I would start working. This one, no, I let this one sit for like 2 and 1/2 hours, and it makes a huge difference. The dough softens, the, the everything just develops more. So, it's really just a waiting game. That's really all it is. And when you're rolling out your dough, just be patient. Do your best to make it even, and I promise you'll get a really, really nice result every time. Even if it doesn't puff up consistently and evenly, it's still going to taste incredible. Yeah, you won't have the pocket, but who cares? Like, it's still beautiful. It's still tasty. It's exactly what you'd want it to be.
So, yeah, this is how you make pita, pita bread, whatever you want to call it. And, um, I really hope this is one you can try because homemade bread is a game changer, and only four ingredients, five if you count a little bit of olive oil. So, yeah, I, I really hope you can give this one a shot. And until next time, peace.