Friday 5 September 2008

Perfect Pita Pocket


As you know I am "Bread Baking Phobic" and seeing what others are capable of making does nothing to quell this feeling of inadequacy.

I am not a very brave person. I'm not one of those girls who jumps up in the middle of the night, cricket bat in hand to go and investigate. I usually crawl under the covers, aim a foot at Hubby's rib cage and in my best stage-whisper say, "Get out, there's someone outside".

There is one thing you can be sure of, if I have a real phobia, I'll take one occasion to face it head on and prove to myself that I can do anything. A fine example of this is my fear of unnatural
heights. I can climb a mountain and feel no fear - but I am terrified of standing on a ladder or riding the big wheel at the show grounds.

There came a time when all the planets were correctly lined up and the family decided to go bungee-jumping and guess who went first - ME! I have the certificate proudly displayed in my office, just to remind myself that, although I won't climb a ladder without breaking into a sweat, I have conquered my greatest fear.

I have now faced my bread making demons and I can proudly tell you - I have come out a winner. This is one phobia I will never allow to cloud my kitchen again.

While trawling the net yesterday I came upon this recipe and decided I also wanted to be a Bread Baking Babe! I did not have all the ingredients, but knew I could "make do" and the result was absolutely terrific.

I made the following changes to the recipe and will guarantee that it works perfectly :

Perfect Pita Pockets


I subtituted the 3 cups whole-wheat pastry flour for 1.5 cups brown-bread flour and 1.5 cups normal cake flour.
I then used 3.5 cups normal cake flour for the rest of the recipe.

I followed all the directions in the method exactly and baked mine on 2 terracotta tiles, I usually use for pizza making.
They came out absolutely perfectly.
I did think it was going to be a mess, when I felt how soft and sticky the dough was.
I had to flour the board well to help roll them out, otherwise it sticks to everything.

There is only one problem now, those shop bought pitas I used to think were so great - are terrible compared to the home made ones, so now every time I want pitas, I am going to have to bake them! I guess you can't have everything in life.

I had mine filled with a grilled Chicken Fillet and lots of salad.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good for you! And bungee jumping?! Wow! Brave of you!
Maryann xox

Cookie baker Lynn said...

Your pitas turned out beautifully. You have no reason to fear the bread - you have conquered! If you send a link to Ilva she will send you a Bread Baking Buddy badge to proudly display on your site.

Homemade Heaven said...

Maryann - I still shiver when I think of standing on that ledge and just jumping off!
Lynn - I am now so motivated to get out there and bake bread. I've always seen the beautiful breads you make and never thought I could do it. I now realise, you just have to take it step by step and it's that simple!

Nina Timm said...

I have such a fear of heights, I could not do a bungee jump! Well done on conquering your fears with both the height thing and the bread baking....the pitas looks delicious!!!!

Nikki @ NikSnacks said...

welcome to the fold, girl. Welcome to the fold! yeah, your pitsa turned out great! not be afraid of the bread any longer. Embrace it :)

Anonymous said...

Bliss!!! Just one thing - what size is your cup?

I get so confused because there are so many different "cups" all over the world - would you mind giving me the weights?

Homemade Heaven said...

Nina - I have that same fear, still to this day. The pitas have really inspired me to bake and break bread more often!
Nik - I am so not scared any more, I just can't believe what I have been missing out on!
Just - I use a 250ml cup. I don't think with bread it is such a problem, as you use slightly more and slightly less depending on the flour.

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Those Pita Breads look really good! Beautiful!

cheers,

Rosa

Homemade Heaven said...

Rosa - Thanks, I was suitably impressed myself!

Jeanne said...

You went bungee juming?!?! You crazy, wonderful person! I could never ever. Even watching my friend jumping at Bloukrans gave me the heebie jeebies...

I am also a bit of a bread-baking phobe, but thee's more chance of my getting over that ;-) Your pitas look az=mazing - the ones yuo get in the supermarkets here are always too thin and just develop holes when yuo try to make them into pockets, so I will have to bite the bullet and learn to make my own...

Lien said...

Great job.. you've overcome your fear and you'll see'you'll be infected with the bread baking bug and bake a lot of bread!
(How brave can you get: bungee-jumping??? never in a million years even if they paid me!)

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

;0) Another one bites the dust! You've become a yeastie! Terrific story! And totally fantastic pita!
Now, I've jumped out of a plane but Bungie jump, no way!
So glad you baked with us.

Karen Baking Soda said...

You are not a brave person... and then you tell us you went bungee jumping ánd conquer the yeastie beasties... You blow me away!
Great looking pita's!

Thanks for being a Buddy with us!

Homemade Heaven said...

Jeanne - My jump was the scariest thing I have ever done - even worst than baking bread! You are so right about the shop bought ones being impossible to cut - they always have holes in all the wrong places.
Lien - This bread making thing is totally addictive! Have even more to share soon!
My kitchen - Jumping from a plane is worse, it lasts too long, don't think I could ever try that. I am so happy being a yeastie!
Baking - Blogging is definitely bring out the hero in me!

Jeremiah 17: 7-8

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water."

It is not your business to succeed, but to do what is right : when you have done so, the rest lies with God.
C.S. Lewis

Search This Blog

South African Food and Wine Blogger Directory

The South African Food and Wine Blogger Directory

Foodista

Followers

Labels