Pita Breads (Egg free/Dairy free and Vegan)

I've got myself a new camera, and I've spent the last month playing with it rather than blogging!  However, I'm now ready to rock and roll as I've managed to get the hang of the camera and I've read my way through a tonne of info including the wonderful Plate to Pixel by Helene Dujardin.  I also have benefited from some short and sweet photography lessons from my wonderful photographer brother Hamish Campbell.

This is the first of my posts with the new photos and I think you really can tell the difference.

So here we go.....

The Pita Bread recipe I used is pretty basic and I was so excited to see it work - I can't believe it does!  How does it do that puffy thing?  I can't understand it, but I love it.

I've got a brand new Rectangle Stone that I was desperate to try out too, so this was the first recipe I did on it.  I gave it a little rub down with a bit of vegetable oil first before using it, and it worked perfectly.  The stone gives a lovely even heat and the breads stayed warm for ages while we had our soup and went back for another!

Ingredients

1 tsp dried yeast
350g strong bread flour
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
210ml water

Extra flour for sprinkling
Oiled clingfilm to cover

Method

1.  If you have a bread maker then bung in all of the ingredients and put the machine on a pizza dough or basic dough setting.  Or use a mixer with a dough hook if you have one.  If not, mix all the ingredients in a Classic batter bowl until they form a dough, and get kneading for about 10 mins on a lightly floured surface.  The dough should be smooth and elastic at this point.

2.  If using the mixer/machine now place the dough on a lightly floured surface and divide it into ten pieces.  Roll each piece into a smooth ball.

3.  Cover the balls of dough with lightly oiled clingfilm and leave to rise for about 10 minutes.

4.  Preheat the oven to 220°C.

5.  Place the dough onto the rectangle stone or other flat stone such as the medium round stone, and flatten slightly.

6.  Roll each one out using the baker's roller into a slightly oval shape.  Sprinkle with a little flour.

7.  Leave to rest for a further 10 minutes, or if you are like me just bung them in the oven because you can't wait!

8.  Bake for around 10-14 minutes - mine took 12 minutes for the ones on the top shelf and 13 for the middle shelf! They should be lightly browned and puffed up.

9.  You can leave them on the stones or remove to a stackable cooling rack to cool.

I enjoyed mine with a fabulous sweet potato and lentil soup.  It warmed me right to my toes on a cold winter day!

These Pitas keep for about 2 days in a sealed container and toast up nicely, or you can freeze them too.