I am not the worlds greatest baker.

Don’t ask about my sour dough…

..and I am yet to find a way to make perfect tinned loaves every time, but, I am slowly working on it…

however, this dough has yet to fail me.

I found it last year in my son’s copy of Delia Smiths’ ‘Complete how to cook book’

This dough recipe is taken from her pitta bread recipe of which this works for every time like magic!

Then, during lockdown online learning, my son Yeshe had a cookery class and they were making bread rolls with a similar recipe so here we are! Now I can use this dough for bread rolls, pitta bread, and I would go so far as to say large loaves and pizza bases too (although I haven’t tried it for the latter two as yet).

So here is the recipe:

Makes 12 Pitta breads / makes 6 bread rolls / possibly more small dough balls

1 lb 2oz / 500g / 3 cups + 3 tbsp of strong white flour

2 teaspoons easy blend yeast

1 oz / 25 g butter at room temperature plus a little extra for greasing

11 fl oz / 310 ml water

1.5 teaspoons salt

you will also need a baking tray lightly greased

Method

To make the dough

By Hand

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and rub in the butter using your fingertips until well incorporated.

2. Slowly add the water and using a metal spoon or your finger tips slowly mix into the flour until it comes together.

3. Tip out onto a lightly floured worksurface and kneed until smooth and elastic

4. Cover the dough with a cloth / plate or wrap and leave to double in size. Or in the fridge if you cannot get back to the next part in a couple of hours.

In a Food processor

1. Add dry ingredients to the food processor bowl and the main blade and pulse to combine.

2. Add the butter and pulse a few times to incorporate

3. With the motor running trickle the water into the butter and flour mix until a dough comes together.

4. Allow the motor to run for a couple of minutes so that the dough becomes smooth and elastic

5. Cover the dough with a cloth / plate or wrap and leave to double in size. Or in the fridge if you cannot get back to the next part in a couple of hours.

In a bread maker

Tip all the ingredients into your machine in the order stated in the manual, and set the machine to the dough only setting.

To make pitta bread:

Pre heat the oven to 425 F / 220 C (fan 200 C) / Gas mark 7

1. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal portions.

2. Roll out three of them into oval shapes measuring roughly 4 x 8 inches (10 x 20 cm), and cover the remaining dough with a clean tea cloth.

3. Dust the tops lightly with flour and place them on the baking tray.

4. Now pop them in the oven on a high shelf and bake them for 8-10 mins until golden and puffy.

5. Meanwhile prepare the next three portions and when the first ones are ready, wrap them in another tea towel (if they are allowed to cool without this they will get too crisp and a pitta should be soft not crunchy).

6. Now continue cooking and wrapping the rest of the pittas until they are all done.

These are amazing served fresh but can be used later (or freezed) and warmed through when ready to serve (or cold if used for sandwiches) !

To make bread rolls

Preheat the oven to 200 C/ fan 180 C / 392F / Gas Mark 6

1. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and divide into 6 equal portions.

2. Roll each section by hand into a ball and if you can, gently ‘fold’ all the edges underneath to make the tops nice and taut, and pinch and squeeze the gatherings underneath together.

3. Place on the lightly greased baking tray taut side up (if you have done this part)

4. Repeat with all the portions of dough

5. Try to leave a good 2-3 inches of space around each roll for expansion when baking, but if you are short on space, either bake in batches or they can join in the oven and it’s then fun to tear each roll away after baking!

6. Allow the rolls to rest and expand a little before popping into the oven although they will expand in the oven as well.

7. Bake for 10-12 minutes checking after 10 minutes until they are golden on top and hollow when tapped underneath.

8. Allow to rest and cool for at least 10 minutes before serving!

These are delicious served straight from the oven with soup and butter or can be reheated later; served cold for use as sandwiches or frozen. Enjoy!!!

You can see more of my recipes in our food diaries section by clicking on the link below