Skip to main content

Pita Breads and Flatbreads, Focaccia and Pizzas!!!

Flour, Water, Yeast and Salt

These are the only ingredients you need to bake a delightfully crusty, flavor packed flatbread or pizza. Call it as you like it, the flavor in this bread is in the technique and method you use to make the dough, not in the ingredient.

If you use the No time dough method to make the crust or focaccia, you will only taste the flour and salt, or some yeasty flavor of some sort, no deep hearty tones, something you cannot explain why you keep on munching on the bread even if there is nothing else there but the bread itself.

That's how good and excellent it is. What method? Simple. Fermentation.
It builds flavor, extends the shelf life, speeds up the mixing and proofing times, etc., etc.,

If you haven't tried making your bread using this method, you have to try!!! There are so many recipes online that you can find or simply just take a portion of the flour in your recipe, be it 1 cup or 2 cups, it doesn't really matter for a beginner. Add a bit of yeast and then water to hydrate it, then leave to ferment.

As long as that flour ferments for as little as an hour, (some bakers do it for less), to as high as 12 hours or overnight, you are good to go.

The biggest pitfall is gauging the amount of water to use on the dough stage. The dough stage is when you take that sponge or fermented flour and yeast and add that to the rest of your ingredients, mixing it is very tricky for beginners but the ideal consistency of the dough should be slightly on the sticky side.



A very high toaster oven will do the job for making small sized Pita breads.


Wait until it puffs up

Once the Pita puffs up, remove and stack them up.



If you want to make a Pizza using the same dough, dock the surface. Pitas do not get docking or else they won't puff.




For crustier flatbreads and focaccias, bake them on oiled heavy gauge baking sheets or pans, i use 400 to 450 F. Bake till golden brown and then immediately drizzle with your garlic and rosemary olive oil.




For commercial baking lessons, visit www.breadmakinglessons.com

or visit my facebook page and send me a message. Or text me at 09495705091.

November schedule is on 26 28 30. Enroll early and get a P1000.00 discount, free P4000.00 worth ebook and videos.







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3rd Class Flour, What's It All About

For starters i cannot make this Hard Monay if i did not bring any 3rd class flour or soft weak flour to New York. Once i ran out of 3rd class and tried Cake Flour, it turned bad, do not even think of using All Purpose, it will be soft but not chewy as this one made with yes, 3rd class indeed. So third class is hard to find here in the US if you will use that term. You have to say or look for soft wheat flour, that's it, not hard wheat flour, not cake or All purpose but something in between these two. It is easy to find in the Phil., just ask your local bakery suppliers and they know it is Tercera. Tercera is not for bread, bakers use it basically for cookies, cakes and other pastries, but we bakers know how to create bread recipes using part of this flour with the bread flour or hard wheat flour. It makes a softer version of any of your fave breads, with a cheaper price tag. Plus if i own a bakery, i get to use the third class for my cakes and cookies, lowering my food cos...
19 comments
Read more

Cutting Pandesal, Baston Style

So how do we really do the Baston style "singkit" cut? First start with a slightly stiff dough, if your dough does not have eggs or eggyolks, a hydration of around 55% is ideal. I have seen bakers use less water, but that will make your Pandesal too dry and dense after 1 day or so so try to keep it slightly on the soft side, but not too sticky. Why? If you use a sticky dough for the Baston style cut, the dough will spread and will have a flat look rather than a rounded shape we are all familiar with. In Tagalog, "lalapad" ang dough so medyo flat ung Pandesal. So after you mix the dough, divide it into 2 to 4 portions if you are mixing  kilogram. Experienced bakers divide their dough into 500 gram portions, i do mine the same way. Flatten the dough, focusing more on the length and not on the height. The height of the dough should be around 2 to 3 inches only. Next, fold the dough while pinching the edges making sure the dough surface ...
3 comments
Read more

Bake Malunggay Pandesal and Set Up A Bakery At Home

Two of my students for this month, Jenn Apares and Belle Nakpil. Having fun on our 3rd day of session making Monggo Breads. Jenn was able to bake these Malunggay Pandesal as part of their assignment and things to do at home in between our session. This is why there are always a 2 day gap in my class, to give the students time to practice what they've learned and then bring some dough and bread for me to look at. Belle forgot her breads at home so i am very satisfied with Jenn's first time with Pandesal. It needs at least 3% malunggay to be visible but the Pandesal is excellent. I am so happy for Jenn, she can now help her parents' bakery. Finally. This is only after our 2nd session, i admit i have to push my students but it was all worth the challenge. Plus, they had fun doing it!!! after chopping the fresh leaves, just pulse them into the finished dough, lightly kneading to incorporate the veggies. Now that obviously has Malunggay! My...
11 comments
Read more