Pita Bread Chips

Pita is a leavened bread that is widely consumed in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine and is now widely consumed across the world. Pita is used to make wraps, pocket sandwiches and chips. Today, I bring you Pita bread chips that can be served with various dips like hummus and / or babaganouj. It is very easy to make Pita at home, especially for Indians who make various breads like chapatis, theplas, naans and bhaturas - a mix of leavened and unleavened breads. So, let's go on to making Pita and then pita chips which is just a baby step from there. I referred to the recipe by Floyd Mann given here.

Ingredients (makes 8 Pitas)

for Pita Bread

All Purpose Flour - 3 cups (I used half wheat and half flour)

Salt - 1.5 tsp

Sugar - 1 tbsp

Yeast - 2 tsp (dry yeast)

Olive Oil - 2 tbsp

Warm the water and keep aside. In a bowl mix together the flour, salt, sugar then add the oil and water little by little to make a dough. You can mix with a fork or spatula or in a food processor and then once it comes together take it out. Then knead till the dough comes together and becomes springy it will take about 10 minutes. When done, oil the insides of a bowl and put the ball of dough in it and roll the dough around in the bowl so that the ball of dough is lightly coated with the oil. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and keep it in a warm place for the dough to rise. Keep for approximately 1.5 to 2 hours or till the ball rises to double its size. If you have time overnight keep it overnight. Once the dough has doubled, gently punch it down to release the air and divide the dough into 8 to 10 balls. Again, cover with a damp towel and keep in a warm place to rise for about 20 minutes. At this time, switch on the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, if using an oven. It can also be cooked on an iron griddle on stove top.

 

After 20 minutes, take out one ball of dough at a time and roll each one with a roller pin. Use a little dry flour to help roll each ball into circles of 1/8th inch thickness. Again, keep this for about 5 to 10 minutes for the dough to relax. Insert a cookie tray (or baking stone, if you have one) into the oven and place as many pitas as possible with a little space in between each one. In about 3 to 5 minutes the pitas should puff up into balloons. If it does not puff up the dough may not have had enough time to relax, in that case let the balance pitas rest for about 10 minutes before baking.

 

If baking on a stove top, heat an iron griddle on medium to high heat and place one pita on it. The pita will rise in small bubbles, at this time flip it over and then it should rise completely. If it does not rise let it cook and take it off the heat. Do not let it burn. These pitas are good to eat as a wrap or crisp it and then have it plain, sprinkled with salt.

A tip to get the pitas to puff is to - Spritz very little water on each rolled out pita and let them rest for a couple of minutes and bake after that. If using an oven, Spray a little water on the cookie tray and close the oven for a few minutes and after that add the pitas in.

 

Ingredients for seasoned pita chips

Pita bread

Salt as per taste

Seasoning like - Oregano or Cayenne pepper or garlic powder or onion powder or dry mint pwd

Olive oil

Since I wanted to make chips, it did not matter if the Pitas puffed or not. Now, to make pita chips - preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Mix the seasoning of choice, salt and olive oil, then rub or brush this on each pita. Cut each pita into 8 triangles and spread them on a cookie sheet and slide the tray into the oven. Bake for about 5 minutes or till crisp. It will bown lightly but do not let it burn.

 

Serve the Pita chips in a bowl with a dip of choice.

 

 

Vegetable Party Pizzette

Pizzettes are small pizzas that are great to be served as a starter in parties especially if you are cooking for a larger crowd. Pizzettes can be prepared in advance and popped into the oven just before the party without requiring you to stand over the stove at that time. Two or three different combinations can be made and these pizzettes may be the most liked snack of the evening. Make these when you have children over and they will enjoy it, additionally you will be able to control the quality of ingredients that go into it.

 

At home I rarely order pizza, since my husband doesn't have cheese and hence pizza is out of the question. I made some pizzettes without cheese specifically for him, hopefully, he has this home-made pizza. 

 

Ingredients for pizza base

Maida / All purpose flour - 2 cups (I used half wheat flour and half maida)

Yeast - 1 tsp

Sugar - 1 tsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Olive oil - 2 tbsp

Warm 1/4 cup water and add the sugar and yeast and mix and keep aside for 10 minutes.

Sift the two flours and add into a bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour and add the salt and yeast mix and knead to a soft dough. Add 1 tablespoon to the dough and knead again. Take another bowl, apply the reserved oil and place the dough in it.

The dough

Cover with a wet muslin cloth or towel and keep the bowl in a warm place for the dough to rise. Keep for an hour or two till the dough rises to double its size.

The Dough doubled in size

Ingredients for toppings

Tomato sauce - 1 cup

Cheese - preferably mozzarella. I used a mix of cheddar and mozzarella.

Vegetarian options like - tomato, onion, bell peppers, broccoli, olives, jalapeno, etc.

Non Vegetarian options like - chicken, chicken salami, etc.

The combinations I used was - tomato-onion-bell pepper; onion-broccoli; onion-tomato. In the past, I had combined cooked chicken pieces alongwith onion, pepper and tomato.

 

Grate the cheese. Chop the ingredients and combine 2 or 3 ingredients to make a few combinations and keep aside.

My tray of toppings

 

Procedure to make the pizzetes

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

 

Pat the dough down and divide it into two equal sized balls. Grease the baking tray with olive oil. Take one ball of dough and using your fingers pat into a big round pizza of 1/4 inch thickness. You can make one huge pizza of this size if you want or use a round cookie cutter to cut out small pizzettes. Brush the top with olive oil and lay them on the tray leaving about 1 inch space between each pizzette. Spoon a little tomato sauce on each pizzette and spread it to cover the top completely.

Tomato sauce topped pizzettes

Top with any combination of ingredients and then top that with some grated cheese. Do the same with all the pizzettes. Put the tray into the oven and bake till done.



A couple of pizzettes without cheese
 

Different Pizzettes ready to be put into the oven

Tomato Onion Pizzette

 

 

Tomato, Onion, Bell Pepper Pizzette

 

Tomato, Onion, Broccoli Pizzette

 

 My Vegetable Party Pizzette goes to

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