Syrian Bread Recipes

PITA BREAD (SYRIAN)

Steps:

• 1. Activate The Yeast: In a small bowl mix the yeast and sugar. Add 1/2 cup of warm water and gently stir. Let it sit for 10 or 15 minutes. It should be all foamy.
• 2. Mix The Dough: In a large bowl put salt and 3 cups of the flour. Mix thoroughly and form a well in the middle. slowly mix in the 1/2 cup of yeast and 1 cup of warm water until fully incorporated. It will be a wet dough. Don't worry about it. This is the difference between this and regular bread.
• 3. The Rise: In another large bowl put 1 to 2 tbs. of oil. Coat the sides of the bowl so the dough won't stick. Put the dough in the bowl and fully coat the dough to keep it from forming a crust while it rises. Cover the bowl with a heavy towel and place it in a warm, draft free spot for 2 or 3 hours. It should be about doubled in size when it's ready for kneading.
• 4. Oven: Preheat the oven to 475 deg. Place a large cookie sheet in the oven to heat up. If you have a pizza stone that works great. Just make sure it is heated up fully. It will take longer than the time to just preheat the oven.
• 5. Kneading The Dough: Put some of the 1 cup of flour on a flat surface and place the risen dough on it. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Add more flour as needed until the dough is no longer sticky and comes together well.
• 6. Forming: After the kneading cut and form into small balls. They should make about an 8 inch circle when rolled out. Let them rest for 10 minutes. After they have rested, roll them out into 6 to 8 inch rounds about 1/4 inch thick
• 7. Baking: Place the rounds on the cookie sheet or stone and bake for about 2 or 3 minutes per side. DON'T walk away. They bake very fast. As soon as they puff up and have a light brown color it's time to flip them or take them out. You don't want to over bake them or they will come out crisp instead of soft. Do the first one by itself to check the times. Every oven is different. When you take them out let them cool for just 2 or 3 minutes and put them in a bag to keep them nice and soft. The puffing in the oven should form the "pocket" in the pita but it doesn't always. Don't worry about it. They still taste great.

SYRIAN MANOUSHI BREAD

Steps:

• Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the yeast and salt.
• Dissolve the sugar in the warm water and dribble it into the dry ingredients until they absorb enough to make a sticky dough, how much water is required will entirely depend upon your flour.
• Mix in the olive oil and use your hands - or the dough hook on your electric mixer - to knead the dough until it is smooth and silky. It will take about 10 minutes.
• Lightly oil the ball of dough and put it into a bowl.
• Cover and leave in a warm place to rise for 2 hours, by which time it should have at least doubled in size.
• Knock the air out of the dough, then tip it out onto a floured work surface. Cut the dough into12 portions, then lightly flour each one and put them on a tray, covered, for another 10 minutes.
• When ready to cook, roll each portion out to a 15 cm (6 in) circle and cover with the topping of your choice.
• Bake in a hot oven (450 -500f) until done to your liking.

QUICK AND EASY SYRIAN-LEBANESE-POCKET-PITA BREAD!

Steps:

• Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a large sturdy bowl (hard plastic or stainless steel). Form a little well in the center.
• Heat the water in a microwave safe dish for one minute.
• Pour the water into the flour well and mix the ingredients with a spatula as far you can. Place a dish of cool water in a bowl next to you as you begin to knead by hand.
• Knead the dough in the bowl by hand for at least 5-10 minutes, dipping your fingertips into the bowl of water as you knead. This will help create a smooth, elastic finish. You know your dough is ready when the surface is smooth and doesn't have pock-marks. The dough will feel slightly sticky as you knead it, but should not stick to your hands.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut with a knife (or separate by hand) into equal sized pieces - 8 for larger rounds or 20 for small pitettes. Roll each piece into a smooth ball and lay on clean dish cloth or floured cutting board or surface, keeping them covered with another cloth.
• Once all of the balls are rolled and resting, cover them with a clean cloth and lightly pat the cloth with water on your finger tips to keep them moist, or spray lightly with a water mister. Let the balls rest for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes rest, preheat oven to 450 degrees with a baking stone or pizza pan on bottom rack inserted.
• As the oven preheats, roll each ball on a lightly floured surface into a flat round, no thicker than 1/4". The thinner the round, the better your pocket. Turn them over to roll them, trying to keep the round as best you can. If the dough sticks to the rolling pin, dip your finger tips in a little flour and coat the surface of the round as you roll. Make sure the edges are rolled out equally and not thicker than the center. Lay each round on the cloth or floured surface to rest again as the oven preheats. Keep them in the order your rolled them.
• Once the oven is ready, bake each round (or several at a time depending on size) on your baking stone, being careful to place them BOTTOM SIDE UP for 90 seconds to 2 minutes. The rounds should start to bubble on top and will "poof" up with the pocket. Once the pocket is formed, remove them from the oven and place onto clean surface to cool. The bottoms will be just starting to brown as you remove them from the oven.
• Once completely cooled, they can be stored in a freezer bag and frozen until ready to use - they will thaw quickly on the counter.

SYRIAN BREAD

Steps:

• Mix 2 cup flour and the yeast in a large mixing bowl.
• Mix remaining ingredients and heat until warm (115 degrees) stirring constantly.
• Add to flour/yeast mixture.
• Beat at low 1/2 minute (scrape sides of bowl).
• Beat on high 3 minutes.
• By hand, stir in enough remaining flour to make moderate stiff dough.
• Knead on floured surface until smooth.
• Place in greased bowl; turn once.
• Cover and let rise until double (40-45 minutes) Punch down; cover and let rest 10 minutes.
• Form into balls 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
• Place on ungreased baking sheets; roll each to 4 inch circle.
• Bake at 400 degrees till puffed, 7 to 9 minutes.
• Cool on cloth covered surface.

SYRIAN BREAD

Steps:

• Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough cycle; press Start.
• Preheat oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).
• Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into eight equal pieces and form into rounds. Cover the rounds with a damp cloth and let rest.
• Roll dough into thin flat circles, about 8 inches in diameter. Cook two at a time on preheated baking sheets or a baking stone until puffed up and golden brown, about 5 minutes. Repeat for remaining loaves.