White Pita Bread

I used to be scared of baking pita. I was worried it won't puff.
When I made my Bhatura, only one puffed up nicely. Very discouraging.

One day, I invited my brother over for dinner, and I asked him what did he want me to cook? He wanted Middle Eastern fare, served with Pita Bread. Aduuuiiii!!!! Where can I get Middle Eastern Style Pita that is thin and fluffy? I'm not in KL.

He asked me if I can make pita bread, I said no!

Bhatura - AFF Indian Subcontinent #6

Bhatura or Bhatoora is a deep fried flat bread leavened with baking soda, originating from North India.

It is similar to Poori, something that we are more common with. Poori is made with whole wheat flour or atta flour, whereas bhatura is generally made with plain flour.

Kiymale Pide @ Turkish Minced Meat Pita

Pita as known by many  is as round flat bread with a pocket inside.

But in Turkey, the local pita known as 'pide', is a pizza like food with toppings.One can use Turkish wind dried beef, Turkish sausages, chicken, minced beef or lamb, cheese, potatoes and many other ingredients.

Artisan Foccacia Wannabe, a yummy failed attempt

I was intrigued when I saw these videos on how to make the best foccacia, the type that is very holey with thin membranes. But then again, it needs poolish, which is a starter, something I don't have, nor do I have the patience to make a sourdough or a starter with natural yogurt.

So, I just tried to use the recipe substituting with yeast, ahahaha, and the results are definately different. And I also didn't do the bread from dawn to dusk which was what the chef did. I split the process into half. After the first kneading, threw the dough into the fridge for a 12 hour fermentation. And continued the folding process the next day.

I call this a failed attempt, but I'll have the recipe here for my own reference. The written instructions here are pretty confusing, if you intend to read it at a glance.

Artisan Focaccia Wannabe

420gm flour
350gm water
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
½ Tbsp yeast
Some extra virgin olive oil for oiling the dough, about 2-3 Tablespoons

1. Put flour, salt, sugar and instant yeast into a large mixing bowl and mix. Make a well in the centre.
2. Pour water into the well and bring the flour in using a spoon. Make sure all the flour is incorporated with the water.
3. Use a firm spatula and make 100 folds with the dough (I did 150 to be assured ;p)
4. With spatula, from the edge of the dough, lift dough slightly up and pour in some olive oil. Repeat so that the dough is well oiled all over.
5. Cover with a big plastic bag and leave to proof for 1 hour or until it looked doubled. (I just put into my cold oven)
6. After it has doubled, place bowl of dough onto your working table and oil your hands.
7. Bring hands under the upper part of dough(12 o clock), bring 1/3 of the upper dough up and fold it towards you.
8. Bring hands to the lower part of dough(6 o clock), bring 1/3 of the dough up and fold it away from you.
9. Turn bowl 90 degrees and repeat step 7 and 8.
10. Oil hands again and repeat step 7,8 and 9. Do these steps three times in total (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, see the video below). Lift
11. Cover and put dough into fridge and chill overnight (8-10 hours).
12. The next day, take dough out from the fridge and let it warm up until it’s pliable.
13. Oil your hands and Repeat step 7,8 and 9 three times. Let it proof for another hour and oil hands and fold dough 3 times again.
14. Generously oil a 10X10 baking pan (or 9X13) and place the dough onto pan.
15. Press dough down with fingers, making dimples everywhere.
16. Finely chop some fresh rosemary and sprinkle over dimpled dough.Lightly sprinkle some salt over dough. Let the dough rise for another 30 minutes.
17. Meanwhile, preheat the oven at 200/220C.
18. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Watch this video to see how I “knead the dough” and how I oiled the dough. I learnt it from this site.

It may be failed, in terms of the result that I should get. But my holes are still big but not thin. It's crunchy and super yummy on the sides, but the center ones are just so so.

I filled the foccacia with sauteed portobellos and it was yum! Mike asked me to make more of this bread next time, but haha, and that was before he tasted the middle pieces. My oven has always been bad with large surface breads, the center is always wet on the bottom, cooked but wet. So, if the whole bread was like the sides, then it'll be super deliciously yum.

Vegetarian Stuffed Crust Pizza 素食比萨

I was given a large oval aubergine/eggplant/brinjal on my trip to the Camerons the week before. My vegetarian colleague had earlier asked me whether I know how to make pizza, and, it had been ages since I last made pizza. So, I’ll make pizza with this aubergine.

Vegetarian Stuffed Crust Pizza Recipe (for two 12 inch pizzas)
Crust (for 2 12 inch pizzas)

Ingredients:
3 ¼ cups High Protein Flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup water
1 ½ tsp yeast
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Dissolve yeast in water. Mix flour with salt. Pour in yeast mixture and olive oil. Knead until dough is no longer sticky. Leave to proof until double. Punch down and shape into pizza.
**
Well, I kept the dough overnight in the fridge after punching down (no shaping) because I wanted the pizza for lunch instead, and I’ll be waking up late.

Toppings (for 2 12 inch pizzas)

500 gm mozzarella cheese (some grated, some cut into strips)
1 cup tomato pasta sauce
1 red onion, sliced
1 green capsicum, sliced
1 yellow capsicum , sliced
1 big red tomato, sliced
1 big aubergine, sliced and pan fried with a bit of olive oil.
½ cup button mushrooms, sliced
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Assembly.
1. Roll out dough, pulling the edges until it’s bigger than the pan.
2. Arrange mozzarella strips on the edges and wrap them up by folding in the edges. Place shaped dough into an oiled pan.

3. Spread 1 Tbsp olive oil onto dough surface evenly.

4. Spread 4 tbsp of pasta sauce onto dough.

5. Arrange toppings starting with the heaviest, aubergine, tomato, onions, capsicum and mushrooms.

6. Sprinkle salt and pepper over pizza. Bake in a preheated oven at 190C for 15 minutes or until the crust is slightly golden
7. Take out from oven and sprinkle on grated mozzarella. Bake for another 12 minutes or until the crust is golden and cheese all melted and golden.

8.Cut pizza while it’s still hot and enjoy the stringy cheese dripping from the sides of the pizza.

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I made 1 for lunch, and baked another the next morning to bring to work.

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Crust recipe and tips for baking adapted from annamariavolpi