pita

An easy and impressive bread. There are a few tricks, but overall pretty straightforward. I use a 66% hydration dough for this - and much more yeast than normal (almost double). Mixture of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour, olive oil and sugar (could use honey). Baked on my primo at an insanely high temperature.

Note, there is no reason to use active dry yeast in particular. It's what I use because I use a lot and can buy it by the jar. Of course if you are using active dry yeast, make sure to wake it up in water with a little sugar.

The sugar in this recipe is indepenent of the yeast. It helps browning a bit and brings out the nuttiness in the wholewheat dough.

Ingredients (6 pitas)

400 g AP Flour
100 g whole wheat flour
8 g salt (1.6% - bakers percentage)
12 g white granulated sugar (2.4% - bakers percentage)
333 g warmish water (about 90F) (66.6% - bakers percentage)
5 g active dry yeast (1% - baker's percentage)
30g extra virgin olive oil (6% - baker's percentage).

Method

Mix together the flours and salt in the bowl of the stand mixture. Dissolve the sugar in the water. If using active dry yeast add to the sugar water and leave to stand for 10 minutes or so, If using instant yeast, you can add it directly to the flour/salt in the bowl.

When you are ready to make the dough, use the dough hook of the stand mixer, turn the mixer to its lowest setting and add the water mixture in a thin stream. When half the water is added, pour in the olive oil.

Knead for about 10 minutes until the dough has become a stretchy mass. It won't be very sticky (relatively low hydration). Once it is kneaded, turn onto the counter (no need for flour or ooil here), and stretch it a few times before forming a ball.

Place a little oil into a bowl large enough to hold the risen dough. Add the dough ball and roll it around do it is lightly coated in oil.

Cover (I use a shower cap for this purpose) and leave to rise - until doubled. About 60 - 90 minutes depending on temperature.

When risen, put the dough onto the counter and cut into 6 equal pieces. They should weigh between 145g and 150 g. Roll these pieces into tight balls and leave to relax for about 15 minutes, covered with a floured towel.

Light the grill (if using) and get it really hot. My thermometer registered 650F. Or heat the oven to 500F. Make sure you have a baking stone on the grill or in the oven.

Roll each ball into a round - 1/4" thick. I find it handy to use spacers on the rolling pin to make sure that the rolling is even. 

The rolled out dough is sturdy enough to handle, so gently place one or 2 at a time onto the baking stone. If using the grill, close the lid. The individual pieces will take 3 - 5 minutes to bake.

Resist the urge to peek - at least for the first 3 minutes. The individual rounds should puff up - the layers separating. Turn them over when done on the bottom to get some color onto the top.

Cover with a towel and keep warm in a 200F oven. (That's one reason I cook them on the grill!)

arayes - aka lamb-a-dillas

We saw a recipe for arayes in Cooks Illustrated this week. The idea looked so good that we just had to try it. When I described it to a dinner companion (a Texas Boy) on Friday evening, he said that just like quesadillas only with lamb. Hence the name.
The result is a really crispy, slightly smoky sandwich which can be eaten out of hand.  But it also makes a substantial meal. Because the recipe makes quite a few of these, we needed some victims (aka volunteers) to try them out. They came, they ate (and, I think, they liked). If not there was always the MacDonald's on the way home. Even though they are Kiwis, they are far too polite to tell me if they had to stop on the way.
We served them with a couple of salads and some tzatziki. They turned out ( the arayes, not the guests) as well as expected. And there are left overs!
The salads will be described in another post. Suffice it to say that the Coppell Farmers' Market was a source. And especially the la-ti-da farms feta.

Ingredients

1 large white onion cut into pieces

1 cup oregano (leaves and stalks)

1/2 cup lemon thyme (leaves and stalks)

zest and juice of one lemon

1T whole cumin seeds

1T whole coriander seeds

2t black pepper corns,

2t coarse sea salt

1t red pepper flakes

1/2" cinnamon stick

1/4 cup good (but not best) olive oil

1 T smokey paprika

2 lbs lamb leg, cut into 3/4" cubes. Chilled in the freezer for 30+ minutes.

6 x 6" pitas

Method

Pulse the onion, oregano and lemon time in the food processor until the onion is quite small. 8 or so pulses. You may need to scrape it down. Turn out into a bowl.

Grind the spices finely in the spice grinder, adding the coarse salt as that helps to grind them. Add the ground mixture, paprika, lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil to the onion/herb mixture.

Mince (grind for my American friends) the lamb twice using the coarse die. You need to do it twice because the lamb fat is unevenly distributed. The second grinding distributes it better.  I added a couple of table spoonfuls of the onion mixture to the grinder at the end to encourage all of the meat to come through.

Mix the lamb with the onion mixture until thoroughly incorporated. Use hands (mine are now really soft) or a silicone spatula.

Chill the lamb mixture for a while (at least an hour)

2 hours before cooking, slice the pitas in half (I use a serrated knife for this) horizontally. So for each pita you have two 6" disks of pita.

Mound the lamb mixture in the center of a pizza half, spread almost to the edge and top with the other half of the same pita.

Squeeze flat and wrap in cling wrap, refrigerate for a couple of hours. 

When ready to cook, fire up the grill (I used the Primo) with so that the coals have a nice ash coating. Grill the sandwiches directly over the coals until the pitas a crispy. Turn the pitas over and grill on the second side.  Time on the grill is about 7 minutes per side 

Remove from, slice into quarters and serve immediately.

Pita Chips

Hardly worth writing about, one might think. But one would be wrong. You can buy some crisp, flavorless abominations in a bag - or you can make your own really simply. I tried using white and wholewheat chips. The white pita made far and away better chips. So here goes.

Ingredients

6 Plain white pita chips

6T olive oil

Salt to taste (about 1t)

Method

Pre-heat oven to 350F - 325 if using wholewheat pita. Cut each pita into 6 pie-slice shaped pieces. Open up each piece so that the inside is completely exposed.

Place the pita pieces rough side upwards on a wire rack over a sheet pan. Brush each piece with a little oil and then sprinkle on some salt. Place the loaded wire rack and associated sheet pan into the middle of the oven. Bake for about 11 minutes (slightly longer for whole wheat), turning the rack around front to back (not over) about 1/2 way through.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Cover.

Fall Salad on North Texas Now

Madame's students asked if I would do a guest segment on the North Texas Now television show that they produce. It seemed like a good idea at the time. But it was scheduled for October 26 - a bitterly cold and blustery day to be out in the Botanic Garden in Fort Worth. The segment was only going to long enough for one dish and a crafty technique. I chose to make a fall salad with a warm onion/kiwi/clementine dressing. It had yellow tomatoes so it looked proper for the season, and some baked pita chips to give it some crunch.
Halving small tomatoes is a pain to do, but luckily there is a trick to i. Here's a link to the blog page that illustrates the "trick" (albeit with olives, but the principle applies). Wow your friends and family with your knife skills as you zip through masses of small tomatoes in a matter of seconds.

Ingredients (serves 8 as a side salad)

1/4 cup olive oil (doesn't need to be extra virgin)
1 medium red onion, peeled and chopped - not diced small, you want some size and shape
2 kiwi fruit peeled and each sliced into 8 or 9 slices
3 clementines, peeled and segmented (use canned mandarins without their juice if you prefer)
24 yellow cherry tomatoes halved (by the technique referenced above to save time)
1 lemon - zest and juice
Some roughly torn lettuce leaves (or baby spinach as a substitute if you wish)
A handful of baked pita chips broken into small bite sized pieces
Salt and pepper to taste.

Method

In a large skillet (preferably non-stick) heat the oil gently over medium heat. When shimmering, add the onion and stir. Cook slowly (sweat) the onion for about 8 minutes to soften it, but do not allow to brown. When the onion is softened, add the sliced kiwis, the segmented clementines and the lemon zest. Heat through, stirring gently so as not to break up the fruits. When warmed through turn off the heat, add the lemon juice and stir to combine. This essentially makes the dressing from the pan contents + the lemon juice.
Meanwhile place the lettuce, pita chips and tomatoes in one large or several individual bowls. Add the dressing (solids and liquids) over the top of the greens, tomatoes and pita chips. Season to taste.
Serve while still warm.