Soft (Pita) Flat Bread

I made these to go with our Falafels tonight. I was worried I wasn't doing it right at the beginning, but much to my surprise (and excitement) they actually turned out pretty darn good. Maybe baking will be in my future afterall :-). I saw the recipe on Dish Delish. She posts some great vegetarian meals and super yummy desserts! (to serve with the falafels I cut each pita in half and opened them up at the seam to stuff them)

Makes 8 flatbreads
Ingredients:
3 c. flour
1 1/2 c. boiling water

1/4 c. potato flour OR 1/2 c. potato flakes
1 1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 tsp. INSTANT yeast

Directions:
Place 2 cups of the flour into a large mixing bowl (or Kitchen Aid). Pour the boiling water over the flour, and stir till smooth. Cover the bowl and set the mixture aside for 30 minutes. This process will cook out some of the starch, making the bread very soft and pliable.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the potato flour (or flakes) and 1 cup of the remaining flour with the salt, oil and yeast. Add this to the cooled flour/water mixture, stir, then knead for several (5-7) minutes to form a soft dough. Add additional flour only if necessary-- The dough should form a ball, but will remain somewhat soft. Let the dough rise, covered, for 1 hour. (Note: Since this is a flatbread, the dough will not rise very much due to the small amount of yeast-- But it should still rise noticeably.)

Divide the dough into 8 pieces (each around 3-4 oz.-- I use my kitchen scale for this), cover, and let rest on an oiled surface for 15 to 30 minutes. Roll each piece into an 8-inch circle, and dry-fry them (fry without oil) on a griddle or frying pan over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes per side, or until they’re flecked with brown spots. Adjust the heat if they seem to be cooking either too quickly, or too slowly; cooking too quickly means they may be raw in the center, while too slowly will dry them out. Stack the cooked bread in between a soft, clean towel to keep them warm and soft. Serve immediately, or cool before storing in a plastic bag.

4 comments:

Kelley said...

Wow! I'm excited they turned out. Yay!

4*KowBoys said...

So, if it's a pita, can you cut it in half and have the pocket inside? or is it just a flat bread? I am curious. Looks easy enough. hmmmm...

Marci said...

I cut it in half to have the pocket and it worked well, so mine was an actualy pita. On the blog I found it on they didn't do that and used it as a flat bread, just stuffing and folding in half.

4*KowBoys said...

Awesome! I will have to try these out!!