The Softest Pocket Pita: Oven Method

[Music] [Applause] [Music] today I'm gonna teach you how to make pocket pitas but this time I'm going to show you how to make them in the oven and I'm also gonna teach you a few do's and dont's more like hacks on what not to do when you're making pocket pitas because in the previous episode when I taught this recipe the same I'm using the same exact measurements same exact recipe I got a lot of comments from people that were very successful with making them and then some people said that half created the pocket half didn't and some of you even said that there weren't any pockets made but they were super delicious if there are no pockets made then it's not gonna be a pocket pita it's gonna be a flatbread and this recipe is designed to be super fluffy and soft whether there's a pocket or not but if you are if you did click on this recipe you want there to be a pocket this recipe is the best recipe that I've ever tested and tasted and ever since I made it ever since I created I have not bought a single piece of pita from outside because they just do not compare once you make it you'll know what I mean let's begin by making the dough all right so we're gonna begin with the starter ingredients and I have some whole milk a cup of whole milk you want to make sure the milk and the water at room temperature a cup of water 2 teaspoons of active dry yeast 2 teaspoons of sugar and a tablespoon of all-purpose flour just mix it all up and after about 8 minutes it should have activated you'll know it's active when a cloud is formed on top in the meantime we're gonna put together our dry ingredients that's four and a half cups of all-purpose flour or 648 grams and I like to use an inexpensive kitchen scale for this and we're gonna add 2 teaspoons of salt to this and I'm just gonna whisk it all together so go ahead and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the flour mixture and need it on low speed for about 13 minutes [Music] add a couple of tablespoons of oil in the mixing bowl and transfer the dough into the mixing bowl toss it around to coat in the oil cover it with plastic wrap and set it aside in the warmest part of your house until it doubles in volume it should take about an hour or so so one thing that you want to keep in mind is that you want this to rise properly that is key in creating soft pitas this is a very light dough so set it aside and it should rise between 45 minutes to an hour if you use my dryer trick that's probably take 45 minutes if you set it aside and it's fairly comfortable in your house it should take about an hour once it Rises punch it down and then it's time to separate it into pieces and we're gonna cut it into ten equal pieces so I like to cut it in two equal pieces first and then roll it out a little bit and the only way they're gonna be perfectly equal is if you weigh it I'm just gonna cut it into five pieces and cut the other one to 5 pieces it doesn't have to be perfect [Music] there we go and then I'm just gonna roll each one into a ball and if it's a little bit sticky you can go ahead and add some flour so if you roll it out using the palm of your hand to kind of cup it it helps create that round ball shape there we go we're just gonna continue doing that until they're all shaped there we go now they're done now it's time to roll them out so to roll them out you're gonna need plenty of flour you're gonna need some flour because if you don't do this and you don't have enough flour they're going to stick to the board and then they're not going to create that pocket now I got a lot of messages about people making this for the first time and I'm not getting that pocket you know that you're making these for you know you're trying to make pita pockets they still taste delicious and soft and fluffy but if they don't create that pocket it's because you didn't roll them out with enough flour so they're supposed to move around easily just like this if you see how I'm rolling it with the rolling pin and I'm turning it a little bit and it doesn't get stuck to the board then that pocket will form and I'll do one the wrong way so that way you can understand why you know how the wrong way is to do it so that way you don't do it that way to keep turning it and rolling out and about six to seven inches in diameter is good and you want to get rid of some of that excess flour now if you have some semolina flour you could put it on your work surface or on your board I have some baking trays that are lined with parchment paper and I'm just going to transfer the pita rounds onto the baking tray so that way they can rest on there so I like to take a ball of dough and dip it into some flour I like to have some all-purpose flour ready to go in a bowl and then I just spread it out a little bit with my fingers you could also do this with the rolling pin but once you make this a few times you're going to get the handle the hand of this the hang of it actually and then I put it onto my board make sure there's plenty of all-purpose flour on there and keep rolling and make sure that the dough is not sticking to the board like we said if you feel like it's sticking then you're gonna want to put a little bit more all-purpose flour on there and you want to roll this out to about six to seven inches in diameter if you make it too thin then they're gonna be more dry instead of fluffy that looks good now I'm gonna transfer them to my baking tray and I'm gonna continue forming these until they're all formed I'm going to save two for the end and I'm going to show you how to do it the wrong way so once you have three on a baking tray that's pretty much how many are gonna fit go ahead and cover them with a clean kitchen towel and you're gonna want to set them aside for thirty minutes in the meantime you can pre-heat your oven to as hot as it gets mine goes up to 525 degrees Fahrenheit all right so I already formed eight the proper way now these last two I'm going to show you how to do it the wrong way so that way once you know what the wrong way looks like it'll prevent you from doing that so I'll just very lightly floured my board this time not too much and I can feel that the dough was a little sticky this is a very tender dough so it is gonna be sticky and I'll show you the difference do you remember how when I was rolling before it was really moving around very easily you're gonna see that because I don't have enough flour first of all it's gonna start sticking to my rolling pin you see that you see how it's sticking and then what's gonna happen is it's going to start to stick to the board you see how it's sticking to the board instead of moving around you see it's being stretched out on the board that is going to create more of a flatbread type pita similar to like a nun or something like that and it's still gonna be tender it's still gonna be fluffy I'm still gonna taste good but it's more more likely more than likely actually it's not gonna form a pocket you see what I mean how it's being stretched instead of rolled out so here they are these two loners they're gonna be flatbread they're not going to have a pita pocket I'm gonna set them aside and when they're ready we're gonna pop them in the oven and just so that way we can tell the difference I covered this with a green towel and the other eight they're on three other trays I put them I cover them with white towels so once you form all the pitas you're gonna set them aside and just in your house you don't have to put them in the these are not gonna fit in the dryer so I wouldn't even waste my time with that just set them aside in a warm part of your house or on your kitchen counter you want them to be covered with clean kitchen towels so that way they don't form a crust on top and you want to let them rest for 30 minutes now in the previous video I did use semolina flour and if you like that texture most of you like it and there I did get a few comments where they didn't like that texture so you can leave it out I didn't use the semolina flour today just I could demonstrate that it is not a must-have ingredient for this recipe you could just cover them let's set them aside and what was they saying I was saying with a semolina flour before I went off on a tangent but you can just sprinkle a little bit of semolina flour on to your baking tray that's lined with parchment paper and then put the pita breads on top cover them with the kitchen towels and set them aside for 30 minutes you don't want them to double in size or anything like that you just want them to get nice and puffy this is also gonna make sure that they bake up to be really nice and soft you want to make sure that you pre-heat your oven to as high as it goes some oven go some oven temperatures can go all the way up to 550 degrees Fahrenheit mine goes up to 525 so the best time to do this is once you're rolling the pitas out let your oven start warming up because you want it to be nice and hot if you do have oven tiles or pizza stones make sure that they're warming in the oven while it is warming up you never want to put a cold pizza stone into a hot oven because that is what causes them to crack so you don't want to do that I don't have a pizza stone I have a tile just a big tile that I cut to fit into my oven that will work if you can put one on each level that's fine too but one will do the trick let the oven warm up and once the 30 minutes pass you're gonna put the trays in you could really put them in all together one on each level and then as soon as the pita starts to puff up and create that beautiful bubble it's gonna take about it's gonna balloon up it's gonna take about three to four minutes or so depending on the oven try not to open it too much if your oven has a window and you can peek through and turn the light on that is perfect because each time you open it heat escapes and the temperature drops so once they fully balloon up then they're gonna be ready so they're gonna look different than when if then if you've already used the stovetop method like in my previous recipe so the the stovetop method creates a beautiful golden color on the pita bread because it's directly on the pan which is directly on the heat and it caused them to become nice and golden this method is gonna keep them a little bit pale they're still gonna be delicious so don't you worry about that let them balloon up completely you don't have to flip them or anything like that take them out let them cool completely and then they will be ready to serve a word of warning because it has happened to me if you have an oven that is not situated higher up in your kitchen and you have to open it up and your head is right in the line of fire I will warn you to keep your face away from this heat once that oven opens up because it comes at you and you might even lose your eyelashes especially if you wear mascara like me be careful that is really the only word of caution that I have for you for today so all of the pita bread is ready and all of them did create the pocket except for the last two that we made which even those pretty much almost created the pocket which goes to show you that the more you make them the better they're going to turn out but another thing causes the pocket to not form as if there are little tears on the pita like when you're making it or if they're unevenly rolled out so keep that in mind but this is it this is the thing the more you make them the better they're gonna turn out it's like anything else you do in life practice does make perfect they all puffed up they look amazing they took four minutes in the oven to bake pretty much exactly to the T like four minutes that's how long they they were ready in four minutes don't overcook them because you're probably not going to be able to finish all of these in one day so you want to keep fresh and nice and soft so it is better that once they puff up take them out and you could always reheat them in a toaster oven you could reheat them in the oven if you have like a panini grill like a George Foreman grill that warms them up perfectly they smell amazing they're super soft like we said and if they if they have lots of flour on them just lightly brush it off with a brush any kind of a brush will do let me break into one and show you just how good they look look at that they form the pocket they're super soft these are gonna be perfect for stuffing with your favorite things using to stuff them with falafel my gyro meat which I'll put up in the card section you do not want to miss that it's absolutely delicious just some veggies even tuna fish use it as use them put them on the charcuterie board with your favorite veggies and dips and enjoy it now these two are best in the refrigerator if you're going to use them throughout the week but if you want them to last longer once they're cooled completely put them in freezer safe bags and store them in the freezer they'll keep fresh for a month or two they probably won't make it to the month mark because you're just gonna want to eat these as often as possible I like see things even with some butter and honey and a cup of tea but that's me I hope you guys enjoyed this recipe if you want to learn how to make them on the on the on the stovetop then you're going to want to click on this card right here and I'll see you right over there bye everyone

Channel: Dimitra's Dishes

Views: 109,696

Keywords: cooking show, greek food, greek recipes, Dimitra Khan, euro bakery and cafe, easy recipes, pita pockets, pita bread, oven pita, greek pita recipe, peetas

Id: HARueS_nr2Y

Length: 13min 50sec (830 seconds)

Published: Mon May 18 2020