Lily Learns Spanish Through Food: Pitas
Awhile back I got a bunch of cookbooks in Spanish, partially for ideas and partially to help me learn the language. My favorite of them has been a bread cookbook, I promptly ran myself out of yeast testing things out. Well I've got more yeast and now a new recipe to share with you all. I've actually been making pitas for years, but this was a fun challenge to see the difference in technique this one offers.
I took these photos of the pages in the cookbook about this recipe for anyone interested in seeing the spanish text themselves. This book is called Pan Casero.
I get a pound of yeast for 42 pesos, or about 2-3 dollars. It lasts me a few months depending on usage.
Start by making a slurry of a little warm water and yeast. The recipe actually calls for fresh yeast but I couldn't get ahold of any.
Then to combine all the other ingredients into a bowl.
375 g all purpose flour
25 g whole wheat flour
20 g sugar
5 g salt
yeast slurry
250g water
The yeast is ready when it's foamy.
Combine everything until it makes a loose dough, then turn out onto a floured surface.
Knead for 5-7 minutes until it looks like this. Section into 80 gram balls.
Cover and allow to rise until doubled in size. This is where our methods differed. I used to just let it rise as one mass, which took longer and just all around seems to be inferior. The guy that wrote this book is smart, I've found.
Roll them all out on parchment paper like shown, allow them to rise for 15-20 minutes as the oven heats up to 260 degrees fahrenheit. I put my cast iron griddle in there as a baking stone surface and it works really well for that.
The trick to the pita pocket is the thinness, the extra rise and a flip halfway through cooking. If done well, the air bubbles forming in the pita will expand and it'll puff open. It's a lot easier said than done.
I only got three pitas to pocket, this was one of them.
Check out some of my other recent Steemit originals!
Peanut Butter Cacao Nib Seeds and Nuts Bar
Acapulco Sunsets: Shot by Shot
Shrimp and Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms Recipe
Thanks for following and supporting, until next time!
I hate my gluten intolerance. Sometimes the rashes under my arms are worth it to have a freakin' sandwich or tortilla!
Consider maybe doing some detox things, ive heard from many sources that any intolerance, including gluten can be fixed by detox and diet change. While i like my gluten free adventures, i dont have any intention of completely giving up gluten. Highly fermented doughs might work for you, by the way.
Thanks! Yeah, I love gluten, and I have to wonder if it is something else in the wheat like the round up for example as some say. I didn't have these food allergies until my immune system got trashed by Anthrax shots too.
Are you in the US? I've heard that people who struggle with gluten can eat breads made from French flour without problem. Apparently the flour in the US is pretty unnatural, and some people suspect this contributes to the gluten reactions that so many people have these days. I haven't researched it but I'd love to hear what people who do react to gluten experience with different flours.
That would not surprise me at all if it were true. I got some wheat from a local farmer, but he refused to answer if round up was used. Apparently, they spray it on the wheat to speed up the harvesting process. Then we get that chemical on the wheat we eat. Lovely, right?
That looks like a fun project! Foods are rather tricky in Spanish, especially with things like seafood. Every dialect seems to call the same thing by a different name! I lived in Spain for several years and have a few books from there. The hardest thing for me is translating... from grams to volume!
Muy buena suerte con la cocina. Me gustan las fotos pero la esta sobre todo:
¡Saludos!
We make those in my country, but yours have a lot more ingredients added , i would really want to try those, thanks for sharing
I'm finding that there are MANY variations of this all over the planet. Some are made with milk, some with yogurt, some with egg....the variations are endless!
You are so right so are many recipe for this, but thanks for sharing this one
Yummy looking good. I need to start baking my own bread. My try once i’m settled in the new home!
Loving your contented saw you on the Anarchast interview. Great story makes me very wanna follow you. But hey its a long way from UK, once I’ve mad esome steam you never know. Great to connect (followed), looking forward to hearing about all the projects and getting tips :)
This is a great bread recipe to start with! Thanks for the love and support, weve got a lot of good stuff coming down the grapevine
I look forward to it all. I get the recipe once i’ve move and maybe post the results haha depending on the success :)
@lily-da-vine,
That's a very useful post! I will definitely try this! Thank you very much for sharing this great cookery experience with us! Really appreciate it!
Cheers~
Thanks for the support!
Buenos dias Lily! Una pita por favor ;-) I'm trying to improve my english reading your posts ;-) Big hug from Switzerland! Steemitri the mannequin
Such a fun idea to use a cookbook in a different language! I've never made pita using a recipe before, it looks like they turned out yummy.
Nice! I'm lazy so I buy them off WalMart but I'll be sure to check out this recipe. By the way, which cooking book is that? We usually get non-quality cooking books translated into spanish but that book looks good! Thanks.
While I have made countless loaves with yeast, I have never tried making pita bread. Yours sure look good!
Nice recipe, thank you for sharing :)