I’m always amazed at how much difference in quality there is between homemade and store bought breads. So if you are eying the recipe length and wondering “Is this really worth my time?”, my answer to you is YES! Always a yes.

It might seem like there are a million steps by the length of the recipe, but actually, it’s all pretty straightforward. Plus, there are instructions for both stovetop and oven baked pitas, so choose whichever you like more. Stovetops would always be my preferred choice, as you get those delicious charred parts. But the advantage of oven baked is that you get to make more pitas at the same time and don’t need to hover over them.

INGREDIENTS:

(Yields 8 pita breads / 0.06 EUR per pita / 0.48 EUR for all)

1 cup warm water (–)

1 tsp active dry yeast (0.13 EUR)

1 tsp sugar (0.01 EUR)

2 1/3 – 3 cups plain white flour, divided (0.20 EUR)

½ tsp salt (0.01 EUR)

3 tbsp olive oil + more for greasing the bowl (0.13 EUR)

METHOD:

First prepare the yeast by whisking together water, yeast, sugar and 1 tsp flour in a large bowl. Set aside for 10-15 minutes until it’s bubbly. If the yeast doesn’t bubble it means that either your yeast was old or the water was too hot and killed it, in which case you need to discard the mix and start all over again, or your dough won’t puff. Sorry, it’s just the way it is.

Once the yeast is bubbly, put in 2 1/3 cups of flour, salt and olive oil and give everything a good stir. Once the dough starts coming together, dump it all onto a lightly floured counter and knead for about 10-15 minutes, until the dough becomes silky and forms a nice ball, sprinkling with more flour if necessary.

Clean the large mixing bowl you were using, add a bit more of olive oil in it and turn the dough ball around until it’s greased on all sides. Cover the bowl with a clean dish towel and set aside for 1-2 hours for rising, until the dough doubles in size. You want the dough to rise someplace warm where there are no drafts.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 220°C if baking pita in the oven. Turn the risen dough over on a counter and softly deflate. Gently knead into a ball and divide into 8 equal parts. Whatever you’ll be using up right away, roll into thin disks and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in the oven for 4-5 minutes, until pitas are puffy. Everything else you can keep in your fridge, tightly wrapped in a plastic wrap up to one week. I’ve found that pita’s actually taste better when you use the dough after it’s been sitting in a fridge, so it’s worth having a batch of dough around.

If you’re making pitas stovetop, preheat skillet over a high flame and bake pitas for 1-2 minutes on each side. To keep the pitas warm until ready to eat, wrap them in a clean kitchen towel. They are best eaten right away, while still warm.

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Uvijek se fasciniram time kolika je razlika u kvaliteti između domaćeg kruha i onog kupovnog. Tako da, ako gledate dužinu ovog recepta i pitate se „Da li je ovo stvarno vrijedno mojeg vremena?“, moj odgovor je DA! Uvijek da.

Možda vam se čini da po dužini recepta da ovdje ima milijon koraka, ali zapravo je sve poprilično jasno. Osim toga, tu su upute za pita kruh koji možete peći i na štednjaku i u pećnici, pa odaberite opciju koja vam se više sviđa. Pečenje na štednjaku bi uvijek bilo moj prvi izbor, jer onda dobijete finu zapečenu koricu. Ali prednost pečenja u pećnici je da istovremeno možete peći više kruhića, i to bez da cijelo vrijeme stražarite nad njima.

SASTOJCI:

(Za 8 pita kruhića / 0,44 kn po piti / 3,52 kn za sve)

1 šalica tople vode (–)

1 žličica suhog kvasca (1,00 kn)

1 žličica šećera (0,01 kn)

2 1/3 – 3 šalice glatkog brašna, podijeljene (1,50 kn)

½ žličice soli (0,01 kn)

3 žlice maslinovog ulja + još malo za namastiti posudu (1,00 kn)

PRIPREMA:

Prvo pripremite kvasac tako da u velikoj zdjeli izmiješate vodu, kvasac, šećer i 1 žlicu brašna. Stavite na stranu na 10-15 minuta dok ne postane pjenasto. Ako kvasac ne postane pjenast, znači da je ili star ili da vam je voda bila prevruća pa ste pobili kvasac, pa to morate baciti i početi ispočetka jer vam se inače tijesto neće dignuti. Sori, to je jednostavno tako.

Kada je kvasac postao pjenast, dodajte unutra 2 1/3 šalice brašna, sol i maslinovo ulje i dobro sve promiješajte. Kako se tijesto bude formiralo, tako sve istresite na lagano pobrašnjenu radnu plohu i mijesite 10-15 minuta, sve dok tijesto ne bude glatko i ne oblikujete ga u loptu, a po potrebi dodajte u tijesto malo po malo brašna.

Očistite posudu koju ste koristili, kapnite malo ulja u nju, pa okrećite po posudi kuglu tijesta kako bi se namastila sa svih strana. Pokrijte posudu čistom krpom i ostavite tijesto da se diže 1-2 sata, dok se ne udvostruči. Najbolje je ostaviti tijesto da se diže na toplom mjestu bez propuha.

Kada ste spremni za pečenje, zagrijte pećnicu na 220°C ako pečete pite u pećnici. Dignuto tijesto izokrenite na radnu plogu i nježno ispuhnite. Lagano umijesite kuglu i podijelite na 8 jednakih dijelova. Ono što planirate odmah koristiti razvaljajte u tanke diskove i rasporedite po protvanu za pečenje obloženom masnim papirom i pecite u pećnici 4-5 minuta, dok pite ne budu lijepo pufaste. Sav višak tijesta možete čuvati u hladnjaku dobro zamotan u plastičnu foliju do tjedan dana. Osobno mislim da su kruhići još finiji kada tijesto odstoji neko vrijeme u hladnjaku, pa se isplati imati turu tijesta pri ruci.

Ako radite pite na štednjaku, dobro zagrijte tavu na jakoj vatri i pecite pite 1-2 minute na svakoj strani. Da vam kruhići budu topli, držite ih umotane u čistu kuhinjsku krpu. Najbolje ih je poslužiti odmah, dok su još topli.