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Naan Pitta Breads
All the flavours of a naan bread with the convenient pocket of a pitta bread. Perfect for barbecues, picnics and packed lunches.
Active Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 6 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 6 minutes
Proving Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Servings: 8 pittas
INGREDIENTS
- 250 g strong white bread flour - + a little extra to knead
- 3 tbsp natural yogurt
- 120 ml milk - I use skimmed but any is fine
- 2 tbsp rapeseed oil - or olive oil or softened butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp fast action dried yeast
- 1 tbsp nigella seeds
INSTRUCTIONS
- Put the flour into a large bowl. Add the salt (1 tsp) on one side of the bowl and yeast (1 tsp) on the other side. Add the nigella seeds (1 tbsp).
- Put the rapeseed oil (2 tbsp), natural yogurt (3 tbsp) and milk (120ml) into a jug. Mix together the dry ingredients and add about ¾ of the wet ingredients. Mix everything together. You want to get a rough dough where there are no loose bits of flour but the dough isn't too sticky. Add some more of the remaining wet ingredients if needed to help bring everything together.
- Knead the dough until it's smooth and stretchy (about 8 minutes in a mixer with a dough hook on a low speed or 10-15 minutes by hand).
- Put the dough into a bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave to prove until it has doubled in size (this will take about 1½ hours - the size is more important than the time).
- Once the dough has proved knock the air out (by kneading it a couple of times) and split it into 8. Roll out each ball into an oval (pitta bread) shape about 5mm thick and place into a baking tray. If you find the dough a bit sticky, sprinkle over a little extra flour to make it easier to work with. Cover the tray(s) loosely with cling film and leave to prove for 15 minutes.
- While the dough is proving, pre-heat your oven to 240ºC/220ºC fan.
- Remove the cling film and bake the breads for about 5-6 minutes. You're best going a bit "bake-off" with these and watch them through the oven door. Once they've puffed up leave them for another minute and them remove them from the oven.
- Serve warm or cold.
NOTES
Keeping the salt and yeast separate in the bowl for as long as possible ensures that the salt doesn't kill the yeast before it has a chance to work.
Make sure you roll your dough nice and thin (about 5mm). If the dough is too thick the pocket in the centre won't form properly. Don't panic if this happens, you'll still have delicious bread to enjoy it just won't be quite so good for stuffing.
Don't over-prove your bread. I have accidentally done this in the past and again the pocket will not form properly.
To get even more flavour into your dough, leave it in the fridge for the first prove rather than out on the side. It will take about 8-12 hours.
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Serving: 1pitta | Calories: 157kcal | Carbohydrates: 23.2g | Protein: 5.2g | Fat: 4.7g | Saturated Fat: 0.6g | Sodium: 320mg | Fiber: 1.2g | Sugar: 1.6g
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.