Whole Wheat Pita Bread #BreadBakers

"Baking is such an emotional process...a lot of memories come flowing through with each rise and fall."

"Mummy, every recipe I will ever start to make or write will always take your name first! Even the famous Sanskrit quote (that Daddy has always quoted..) Matha, Pitha, Guru, Deivam starts with the Matha (Mother).I miss you like crazy. A huge part of my being has gone with you. I hope I told you enough number of times of how much I love you and though you have probably not argued with anyone more than me, I have told you that without you Mummy I am nothing. Your every advice and words are engraved in my heart and soul forever. I will wait to see you as I know now that Lord has taken you for His Purposes and I am no one to question that but please don't ever leave my side. I pray that though He has taken my Guardian Angel on earth, He always allows you to be my guiding force through Him as you were when you were physically here. Waiting to see you Mummy!"


So I joined this lovely group of BreadBakers last month. Unfortunately even as I got ready to post my first ever recipe as per the BreadBakers theme, I heard of the tragic demise of my dear, dear Mummy who has been my everything all through my life and my prime inspiration of all my cooking and baking. She along with our Lord has been with me through thick and thin and every rise and fall in my life. So I can only pray they continue being with me even more strongly from now on.

This month's host at BreadBakers is Mireille Roc of The Schizo Chef  who chose Yeastly 
Flatbreads. This is an amazing theme to contribute towards as my first post to #BreadBakers as I always have seen Mum love her Zaatar manakish or flatbreads such as Kuboos or Pita Bread with Hummus and Garlic paste. Thank you Mireille for hosting this event and for choosing this theme.

I made the Whole Wheat Pita Bread in my Mum's Kitchen this time as I am with my Dad now. And since we are on Lent till Mum's 40th day of demise, I accompanied this Pita Bread with Hummus. 

You can bake your Pita Bread but this time I chose the stove top as the oven is not handy at the home we presently stay at. Baking in the oven definitely would be the better option. I will try and include that make the soonest possible as G'Gina's Kitchenette is getting ready to make a new change/ announcement in the weeks ahead that may affect my presence at the next BreadBakers event as well (that will have to wait for now as I am taking each day as it comes during this heartbreaking time).

Pita or Pitta bread is famous to the Mediterranean or Middle Eastern regions and is what I grew up eating as a staple next to Chapati. I have always loved the smell and taste of toasty Pita Bread with Cheese as a filling or topping...yumm! Also known commonly as Khubz or Kuboos, Pita bread is a soft, slightly leavened wheat bread that has this marvelous pocket as you cut/tear it open that can be filled with a whole herd of fresh and delicious ingredients such as Falafel, Cheese, LaHm (meat) of your choice.

Ever since Mum's passing there has been rains every now making it quite dark and lacking enough natural light. And also the dusk comes in quite early. So I have to admit that whilst I would have loved to take brighter pictures, I just about managed to come up with these photos of my make with alternatives. The heart wouldn't allow to go on trying as it is quite heavy with the loss of Mummy. She used to make me these warm and toasty Pita/Khuboos breads with my favourite spoons of cheese. I was born and raised in Dubai, UAE which is why Mediterranean / Middle Eastern food is close to my heart always and just the smell of which is laden with sweet memories.

Whole Wheat Pita Bread

You need:

• 3 (quarter litres) cups whole wheat flour
• ½ tbsp active dry yeast
• ½ tbsp salt
• A pinch of sugar
• 1.5 tbsp olive oil
• 1¼ cup warm water

The Make: 

Preparation Time: 15 minutes + 2 hrs resting time | Cooking Time: 24 minutes-36 minutes | Makes 6 Pita breads

Making the dough:

1. Add ½ cup of the warm water into a small bowl along with a pinch of sugar and the yeast and stir to dissolve. Set aside for 15 minutes in a dark, warm place (at room temperature in warm weather). Note 1*
2. In a fairly large bowl, add the rest of the warm water followed by the flour, olive oil, salt and mix lightly with a large spoon.
3. Check to see if the yeast has frothed, otherwise discard and begin again. If frothed, then add it to the flour mixture bowl. Knead well into a soft and smooth dough.
4. Grease the same large bowl with olive oil. Ensure that the dough has the oil applied all over it. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or napkin and allow it to rest for at least an hour and a half or even up to 2 hours in case of cooler weather.

5. Uncover the bowl and you would see that the dough has doubled up.

*Thought twice about adding the above pic and decided to give you the 'real' view of the doubled dough.

6. Transfer the dough from the bowl to a neat working surface and deflate the dough by gently punching into the dough.
7. Divide the dough into 6 equal medium-sized balls. Cover with the kitchen towel again and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

8. Dust the working surface with flour and roll each ball into round circles of 6" each in diameter and about ¼" thick.

9. Again cover the rolled out circles with a kitchen towel and let them rest for 10 minutes separately (not stacked up) on parchment paper or even just on a large plate.


Making the Pita Bread on the stove top:

1. Heat a skillet.
2. Place the bread on to the skillet and cover and cook each side for 2-3 minutes on medium heat. Try to cover the skillet using a transparent lid to see the rising action.
3. Cut the Pita bread in half and you would find pockets as described above. Stuff it with your favourite fillings or just use it as a dipper with hummus. It is quite comforting esp. with the downpour outside.

NOTES
1* What Mum had taught me was when the weather got cool, to warm up the oven/microwave for a minute or two and turn off the heat. Then set the bowl of yeast mixture in the oven and allow it to rest. 
2* In case the dough becomes too sticky than add some more flour. 
3* While proving the yeast, ensure warm water and not cold/hot water is used. Otherwise the resultant dough would most likely fail.

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme.  Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com

Yeasty Flatbreads from the #BreadBakers

• Chickpea Moroccan Bread by Food Lust People Love
• Emirati Khameer by The Schizo Chef
• Focaccia by Simply Veggies
• Garlic Naan by Seduce Your Tastebuds
• Grilled Bacon Onion Cheese Flatbread (Flammkuchen) by Magnolia Days
• Grilled Naan by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Homemade Naan by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Hönökaka - Swedish Flatbread by Passion Kneaded
• Kesra - Moroccan Flatbread by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Man'oushe - Lebanese Flatbread by A Shaggy Dough Story
• Margherita-Style Grilled Flatbread by Cali's Cuisine
• Orange Herb Pitas by Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Paneer Kulcha by I Camp in my Kitchen
• Roghni Roti by Sneha's Recipe
• Sausage Gravy Pizza with Peppers and Onions by Pastry Chef Online
• Simple Pita Bread by A Baker's House
• Spelt Biskers by What Smells So Good?
• Tigelle - Italian Flat Bread by Cooking Club
• Whole Wheat Pita Bread by G'Gina's Kitchenette
• Za'atar & Cheese Manakish - Levantine Flatbread by Ruchik Randhap
• Za'atar Spiced Khobez by Cook's Hideout

Manakish (Levantine Flatbread) or Pies with Za'atar

Manakish (pron.) Manaeesh is a flatbread such as pita bread made with yeast. It can be had as a wrap topped with variations such as Za'atar, Minced lamb, Cheese(such as Akawieh-a white brine cheese or Kashkawan), Chili or Spinach. I used to have a lot of the Cheese Manakish when I was carrying my little one Izzy.

Za'atar Manakish

There are various ways to make this dough but in essence it does not vary much from the Pita bread.

To make the Manakish dough or Pie dough,

You need:

Active dry yeast with sugar

• 2 tbsp of dry active yeast or 1 packet of dry yeast
• 21/2 cups of fine flour or unbleached all purpose flour or whole wheat flour *In India we do not easily get the all-purpose flour
• Additional 1/2 cup of flour for the kneading process
• 1-2 cups of lukewarm water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 3-4 tbsp olive oil
• Chopped olives (optional)

* My mum adds eggs, but I will use that when I make my Pizza dough just as she does!

The make:

Cooking Time: 20 minutes| Preparation Time: 1 hr, 10 minutes|Makes 6 Manakish, 4 medium pies

The dough: 

Note: This dough can be used to make the Manakish wrap, pies and even Pita bread (just remember it takes 2 hrs more for the Pita bread to rest)

•  Whisk together the yeast, 1/4 cup of lukewarm water, sugar and 1 tbsp of the flour and let it rest for 10 minutes. It should have a foamy creamy texture however if it does not then your yeast has gone bad, so restart with new yeast. 
• Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to it the mix.
• Next take a bowl with the flour and salt and mix well. 
• Pour the yeast mix into a large bowl and slow keep adding the flour mix one cup at a time and knead well. You will find the mixture to be a bit stickier than the normal Italian pizza dough but that is fine.



On the oiled bowl

• Coat a clean bowl with a dab of olive oil and move the dough to the bowl, cover with a plastic wrap/cling film and allow it to rest and rise for about an hour and a half.

Dough ready to be wrapped

Za'atar topping:

Since I recently made the Za'atar spice blend, I decided to use the same.

• Take 4 tbsp of Za'atar in a bowl with 2-3 tbsp of EVOO and  mix well.
• Set aside

Manakish:

On dusted work top

• Dust some flour lightly on a wooden base or your clean worktop. Next take the dough onto the dusted base and knead it well, it may still be slightly sticky as you are kneading (dust flour as require but do not overdo). Divide the dough mix as required and roll out into your preferred size. Roll out the Manakish into a perfect or almost perfect round. I used my Chapati board(Indian Flatbread board and used its size as a natural measure).

Dusted worktop

Note: If you are making Pies, you need the dough rolled out to be thicker and smaller probably enough to cover the center of the board only, you can make it as small as you need for the pie as mini pies as well, just make sure it is thick. In fact you would not need to roll it using a rolling pin, just make it  into a small ball, hand mould it to the size you require and use the palm of your hand to flatten.

Rolling out the dough

Kneading one more time

Top with Za'atar mix

• Top with the Za'atar mix and place it in your oven on its base or a tray. Use the lower rack in case you have different levels. I placed mine on the base directly and kept the flame at medium. It literally takes not more than 2 minutes to cook. In case your oven does light on top, then pop it into the microwave for a minute on grill/bake. The settings on each oven is different so try it for one Manakish and see how it works for you.

In the oven

• Top with chopped olives if you like.
• After the manakish is cooked, you can fold it into a wrap (you can use parchment paper to cover and pack it as an evening snack for your loved one) . 

Just out of the oven

Side profile

Close up

Traditionally the oven is brick based and the bread is placed close to the fire. It literally takes one minute.

Normally the ones with lamb mince as a topping is usually made with diced tomatoes and vegetable oil and served with pickles or ground pepper and labneh or yoghurt. It is normally quite heavy and can be had as a  lunch or dinner meal.

Za'atar Manakish served up

I also tried the Za'atar topping on a Mediterranean bread I bought from Q-Mart. It had sundried tomatoes, herb onion, Pizza Sauce and the usual wheat flour, sugar, salt, etc.

Za'atar on Mediterranean bread

Hope you enjoy this as a snack, breakfast or meal! If using the mince meat (Lahem) option or for vegetarians egg plant or zucchini as toppings, it could be had as a meal on its own or with some Hummus and Fattoush on the side. Incidently the Mince Meat Manakish is called Lahem Bajeen in Arabic which is ground fillet mignon on flatbread. The Lebanese version is quite savoury where the meat is cooked with tomatoes and shallots. Try with with the variants of toppings. Bon Appetit...