Homemade Cypriot pitta – Σπιτιάσιμες Κυπριακές πίττες

Cypriot pitta pockets from scratch

Homemade Cypriot pitta, a baking success achieved with a fellow Cypriot living in Australia. George Efthymiou is a self-taught baker and has a number of years of experience making these and many more Cypriot delicacies. I was extremely happy I got to spend some time with him and his family, learning how to make the Cypriot pitta.

Cypriot VS the Greek pitta

The Cypriot pitta is different to the Greek pitta in a number of ways:

1. The Cypriot pitta is stuffed with the food and not rolled.
2. It is oval in shape and not round like the Greek pitta.
3. Lastly the Cypriot pitta is baked, whereas the Greek pitta is usually grilled on a skillet or pan.

To make the Cypriot pitta from scratch, I thought that firstly it would be a very technical process and secondly that it would take very long to make. But i was totally wrong! It took less than two hours before we were all sitting on the table enjoying the pitta and the rest of the wonderful spread prepared.

It always amazed me to see the pitta puff up the way it does and wondered how difficult it would be to reproduce. So that was my first question to George, “How do you make the pitta puff up that way?” And the answer was not so much about the way the dough is rolled, but instead the ingredients used and the cooking process.

Basic ingredients

While trying to perfect the Cypriot pitta, George has used different combinations of flours but also brands. The list of ingredients below is what he is confident will always bring him the best results. The recipe calls for milk to help make the pitta fluffier, however during the fasting period George says he omits the milk and substitutes it with water.

The wholemeal flour adds more texture and flavour to the pitta, rather than using just white. Lastly the white flour used is specifically the brand of “Weston’s Special White flour”. Special white flour is a fine type of flour suitable for bread and pizza dough. He used other brands of this type of flour but he is the happiest with this one.

Baking the pitta

The key to creating the pocket in the pitta is to bake it at a very high heat for a short period of time. Since the dough is rolled out like an oval sheet, it is exposed to the high heat on the bottom and top evenly. That allows for the hot steam in the middle to raise the bread. The pitta pocket flattens once it cools down but it leaves a gap for us to fill up.

The high heat on this particular day was achieved with the woodfire oven or as we call it in Cyprus, “το φουρνί”. Nonetheless you can still make these at your home by preheating your kitchen oven to the highest temperature. For most of them the temperature may reach up to 250°C.

Making the pittes at home

I made the pittes from scratch on my own and here are some updated tips and changes. Firstly I used the Olympian Special white flour as I couldn’t find the Weston brand. It worked out perfectly as well. For the yeast I used the Lowan brand, 5 tsp of dried yeast equaled to 3 sachets as per the original recipe.

The original recipe required 5 cups of water for the amount of flour used. However when I did that at home the dough was still very dry and I realized it was perhaps of the different cup size. I used the standard measuring cups and in doing so I had to add ¾ cup more tap water. So a total of 5 ¾ cups of water and ½ cup milk was used with 2.5kg of flour (special white and wholemeal).

Baking the pittes in my kitchen oven

To cook them I preheated my kitchen oven at the highest possible temperature (250°C). I could only fit 3 pittes on each lined tray so the cooking process took a bit longer. After 2-3min once they rose I turned each of them over for a further 2min or until the pitta was no longer soft. The tray that was on the top level cooked faster than the bottom one so i had to keep swapping the trays around.

To enjoy the pittes on the same day I allowed them to bake until they were brown in colour. However as this recipe makes a lot of pittes I knew I was going to freeze some. Hence I left some to bake just enough until they slightly rose but did not brown fully. That way when I will defreeze them to bake again, they will be able to continue cooking without burning.

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Homemade Cypriot pitta – Σπιτιάσιμες Κυπριακές πίττες

Prep Time

45 mins

Cook Time

30 mins

Resting time

20 mins

Total Time

1 hr 15 mins

 

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Servings: 50 pieces

Author: Eleni Georges

Ingredients

• 2 cups hot water, boiled using the kettle or pot
• 3 cups cold water, from the tap
• 1 tbs sugar
• 1 tbs salt
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 3 Tandaco dry yeast sachets, 7g per sachet
• ½ cup milk
• 500 g plain wholemeal flour
• 2 kg Weston’s Special White flour
• 500 g Weston’s Special White flour, for dusting

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, mix the cold and hot water, sugar, salt, olive oil, yeast and milk. Then slowly add the wholemeal and white flour, while constantly mixing and kneading with your hands. You may need to add a bit more flour than stated as the dough should not be wet at all.

2. Keep kneading until the flour is well incorporated, a smooth appearance is achieved and the dough bounces back when punched with your fist.
3. Cover the bowl with a towel and place it in a warm room to rest for 20min. The dough should nearly double in size after that time (see notes).

4. Sprinkle your work bench with the extra flour so that it is well dusted. Cut a piece of the dough and shape with your hands to form a long log. Use the knife and cut the dough in pieces roughly 90-100g each.

5. Use your hands to shape the piece of dough into a very rough oval shape then roll it out using the rolling pin. To roll out the dough you do so in 3 steps – twice lengthwise and then once widthwise. That’s it!
6. Roll out the dough along the length, then flip it over so that the other side is covered with flour as well, and roll it out again along its length. Then lastly roll out the dough along the width until you get an oval shape. The pitta should be about 3-4mm thick.

7. Make all the pittas and lay them on trays lined with towels or baking paper. This recipe makes up to 50 individual pittas (see notes). By the time you finish with all the dough it will give them some time to rest before cooking. Rolling out all the dough took approximately 30min to do.

8. While rolling the last of the dough, preheat the kitchen oven to the highest temperature possible (approximately 250°C). Place the pittas on baking trays to cook. They will only need a few minutes, just enough time for them to puff up and brown without drying out too much.
9. Fill the pitta with whatever you like and enjoy warm! Recommended fillings would have to include tzatziki with souvlaki and salad or simply grilled halloumi with salad is great also!

Recipe Notes

George turnt the heater on in the room (at 30°C) so that it was warm enough to help the dough rise. Choose a room in your house that is warm but if you feel that it is still cold, then add blankets on top of the covered bowl as well.

 

The recipe makes a lot of pittas so unless you consume them within a few days you may also freeze them in freezer bags for up to 3 months.