Pita bread is a great alternative to bread. Moreover, from the popular Oriental cakes, you can cook a variety of foods. Especially actively used is Armenian lavash, on the basis of which you can prepare hundreds of dishes. But the thick cakes are no less tasty. But the real lovers of oriental bread do not always manage to get really tasty and fresh pita bread. So, why not cook it?
Pita bread at home - general principles of cooking
Thin lavash (Armenian) is a canvas that resembles paper. Most often prepared from unleavened dough. Lavash in the form of cakes are prepared on the basis of yeast or dairy products. Ideally, they are cooked in a tandyr, but now even Oriental bakers are increasingly turning to modern technology to facilitate the process.
The basis of any pita is flour, which must be sifted, mixed with liquid and salt. Yeast dough is kept warm for at least an hour. But if the rise is weak, then time can be increased. The unleavened dough needs to lie down for at least 20 minutes in order for the gluten to swell, the mass to become more elastic, easier to roll out and not to contract.
The amount of flour in the recipes is approximate and may vary slightly, depending on the moisture content of the product. You just need to know that the dough for fresh pita bread should be as steep as possible, it is kneaded until it stops taking flour. The consistency of the yeast dough should be softer, airy so that the yeast can rise.
Recipe for thin Armenian lavash at home
For the preparation of the usual lavash at home will need only three ingredients, and they will be in every home. Such a pita is stored in a package for up to four days, so you can always fry the cakes in advance. The number of products is designed for 7 round pita breads, with a diameter of 25-28 cm. The pan should be no less. Ingredients
• 300 grams of flour;
• 170 grams of water;
• 1/2 teaspoon salt.
You will also need a mixer with nozzles for thick dough (usually they are in the form of spirals).
Cooking
1. Boil water, dissolve the salt and let cool just 5 minutes, not more.
2. At this time, sift the flour, pour it into a deep bowl, make a well.
3. Pour in hot water, take the mixer and begin to knead the dough. It will immediately seem that the flour is too much, the lumps will be dry, but it is not. Mix for 5 minutes, everything will come together and you will end up with a thick, but not very beautiful dough. At the end it will need to lay out on the table and knead hands.
4. We form a bun, cover it with a film and let it lie for half an hour. During this time, gluten will swell, the dough will become elastic, smooth and pliable.
5. We divide our bun into 7 equal parts. Each roll into a thin cake.
6. Heat the frying pan and fry the pita bread on both sides. It is very important to choose the right temperature. If it is high, pita will burn and get ugly burns. If the fire is small, then the pita will dry, it will crumble.
7. Put the prepared pita breads on a moistened towel, cover and flatten each cake. Otherwise, they quickly dry up, will crumble.
Recipe for Georgian lavash at home
Georgian flat bread differs from Armenian lavash with its pomp, softness, pleasant salty taste. The recipe is not much more complicated than the previous one. To make this pita bread at home dry yeast is used, but you can also take fresh.
Ingredients
• 300 grams of flour;
• 1 teaspoon yeast;
• 1 teaspoon salt;
• 1 teaspoon sugar;
• 200 grams of water.
Cooking
1. Sift the flour and mix with all the other dry ingredients, make a recess in the center of the pile.
2. Water is heated to a warm state. Her temperature should be around 45 degrees. 3. Pour into flour and knead the elastic dough. Knead until it ceases to adhere to the hands and walls of dishes.
4. Cover the bowl with the dough with a towel, leave for an hour. The mass should fit, it is good to increase in volume.
5. We take the dough out of the cup, stretch the circle with our hands. Rolling pin is not used. Put the resulting pita bread on a greased baking sheet, make a hole in the center with a finger. It should be big enough, as the cake rises during baking.
6. We send pita bread in the oven, bake until done at 220 degrees. Then take out, cover with a clean towel and let lie under it. If this is not done, the crust will become tough.
Thin pita bread at home - recipe with yeast
Another option for pita bread recipe at home, but with yeast and butter. Baked in a pan, also make small cakes according to the diameter of the pot.
Ingredients
• 200 grams of water;
• 7 grams of yeast;
• 50 grams of oil;
• 400 grams of flour;
• 1 tsp. salt.
Cooking
1. Heat the water, dissolve the salt with yeast, pour in a glass of flour and let stand 10 minutes.
2. Oil melt, cool. You can use margarine, but fatty, with a small amount of water. Pour into the dough. Stir.
3. Pour out the remaining flour, knead the dough. Cover with a napkin and leave for half an hour warm.
4. Divide the dough into 7 balls, cover and let stand for another 10 minutes. This is to make it easier to roll the pita.
5. Roll out cakes, they should be as thin as possible.
6. Bake cakes on a dry skillet on both sides.
7. We put on the table, immediately cover with a towel. Put the pita on each other and in this form give cool.
8. Then remove the towel and shift into the package. But if you plan to use pastries right away, then you do not need to do this; we use pita breads fresh until they are dry.
Another option for thin pita bread at home - a recipe for kefir
If you fry the preparation of this dough in a dry frying pan, you will get an analogue of Armenian lavash. And if you fry in butter or vegetable oil, you get a very tasty, ruddy and fragrant flat cake. Here is such a universal recipe for pita bread at home.
Ingredients
• a glass of kefir;
• 1 tsp. soda;
• 1 tsp. salts;
• flour;
• spoon of butter.
Cooking
1. Pour the kefir in a bowl, add soda and mix well. The mass will get stuck, the quenching process will go. Add salt, oil and stir until dissolved.
2. Pour the sifted flour, knead the stiff dough. It should turn out rough, slightly dry, not sticky to hands and dishes. So it should be, lie down and become more elastic.
3. Cover the dough with cling film, leave for half an hour.
4. Divide into 5-6 parts, roll the balls and cover again so as not to dry out.
5. We take one by one, roll it out with a rolling pin into thin flat cakes.
6. Fry on both sides in a dry skillet or in oil.
7. If the pita breads were prepared using the dry method, then after baking, they should immediately be covered with a towel. Dry cakes should be covered with wet wipes or gauze so that they become elastic.
Thin pita bread at home - recipe for the oven
Pita breads baked in a pan are delicious, fragrant, but it happens that you need a flat cake of large size. For example, for snack roll or multi-layer shawarma. Or simply there is no suitable pan. In this case, you can make a thin pita in the oven, the recipe is simple, but in this way there are several features.
Ingredients
• 150 grams of water;
• 350 grams of flour;
• 3 spoons of butter;
• 1 teaspoon salt.
Cooking
1. Sift flour, divide into two parts.
2. Dissolve the salt in the water, add the oil and combine with half the flour. Stir until smooth. Add the remaining flour, knead elastic dough. We remove for 30 minutes. 3. Divide the dough into arbitrary pieces. The size depends on the size of the pan.
4. Take one piece, roll out. It is not necessary to make pita round. You can roll out an oval and even make a square by cutting off the curved sides.
5. Put pita bread on a baking sheet, send bake. The temperature in the oven should be about 180 degrees. Keep pita bread for 2-3 minutes.
6. As soon as the cake begins to redden, we take it out and rinse it with water. This can be done simply under the tap.
7. Wet pita we put in a pile, cover with a towel and leave for half an hour to lie down. Then you can remove the storage in the package, where they will become even softer and more pliable.
Uzbek lavash at home - recipe under the lid
The peculiarity of the Uzbek lavash is a baking method under the lid, which allows to get a moist, non-crumbly crumb. Prepared with the addition of yeast, in the oven. Baking turns out lush, airy, an excellent substitute for traditional bread. The number of products per cake is medium in size.
Ingredients
• 80 grams of water;
• 80 grams of milk;
• 2 spoons of butter;
• egg;
• 1 tsp. dry yeast;
• sesame;
• salt;
• 250 grams of flour.
You will also need a frying pan with a lid, in which we will bake Uzbek lavash.
Cooking
1. Mix all the dry ingredients, do not forget to sift the flour.
2. Heat the water with milk, add the flour mixture, knead the dough. At the end pour the oil. We form a lump and put it in a greased bowl. Cover with a napkin and keep an hour in a warm room.
3. We take out the dough, hands form the cake in such a way that the middle was thinner than the edges. They should be in the form of a thickened roller.
4. At the bottom of the pan put a piece of foil, then our cake. In the center do punctures with a fork. Cover the shape with a towel, letting the billet stand for another half hour.
5. Stir the egg with a fork, grease the cake. This must be done carefully so that it does not fall. Sprinkle with sesame. 6. Cover the form with a lid and send the cake in the oven. Bake at 200 degrees for about 15 minutes. If pita bread does not fry well, then at the end you can hold the mold without a lid, but not for long. Enough of a minute.
Pita bread at home - tips and tricks
• When mixing fine pita, you can use milk whey instead of water. The dough will get tastier and more tender.
• Pita tastes better when the dough is salty. Therefore, you can add a little more salt than indicated in the recipe.
• Thick lavash in the form of cakes will be tastier if you smear the surface with water and sprinkle with sesame before planting in the oven. Similarly, you can use any seeds, nuts, taste and aroma will only benefit.
• Isn't there a large pan for pita bread? You can use a small, laying a cake on the sides of the dishes. But in this case, the middle will redden a little more.
• Thick pita bread will be especially fragrant and tasty, if immediately after baking it is smeared with a piece of butter or ghee. The same technique can be used if the product is dry in the oven.
• When baking thick pita breads, it is not necessary to use only wheat flour. If you want to make a variety or make bread more useful, you can add rye flour (no more than 40%, as it does not contain gluten), a little ground oatmeal or bran. By the way, bran you can sprinkle pita like sesame.
