Maniot Pulled Pitas (Recipe By Kicking Back The Pebbles Blog)
Hello Tuesday! I hope you are well reader and you are enjoying the beginning of the week.
Today I am sharing a beautiful Maniot recipe! You know how proud I am of Mani; a place my father was born in. My grandparents come from Mani and both proud Maniates who tried their best to make a living for their three boys in the village. They later fled to Athens for a better way of living and more opportunity.
My friend Athina, owner of Kicking Back The Pebbles Blog is sharing a very TASTY Maniati bread recipe. We hope you enjoy.
Click on the link here to go directly to her page for the recipe. What I really love about Athina’s site is that she has everything available in Greek or English. Check her blog out for travel, recipes, D.I.Y. projects, and more.
Maniot Pulled Pita Recipe
By Kicking Back The Pebbles Blog
INGREDIENTS:
- 21-25 oz all-purpose flour (600-700 g)
- 1 sachet active dry yeast (they’re usually around 0.28 oz/8 g each, suitable for one pound of flour)
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ cup olive oil (60 ml)
- 1 cup lukewarm water (250 ml)
- ¼ cup feta cheese crumbled (80 g)
- vegetable oil for frying
INSTRUCTIONS:
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Sift flour, dry yeast, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
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Add olive oil and lukewarm water and mix until everything is well combined. Knead into a smooth, slightly sticky dough. (While kneading, you may find that the dough requires more flour than 1.3 pounds. Keep adding 1-2 tablespoons at a time until you achieve the desired smoothness.)
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Brush a clean bowl with olive oil, place the dough in and cover with a kitchen towel. Let it rest until it rises. Make sure the room (or the place you leave it next to) is warm. It should take about 20-35 minutes to rise depending on room temperature.
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After the dough has risen, slather your hands with some olive oil to punch it down. Sprinkle with the crumbled feta and fold it all in. Divide dough into equal parts and roll into small balls (think of a plum in terms of size).
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Pour vegetable oil of choice into a 10″-12″ frying pan or wok to a depth of ¾”. Heat oil to 375 °F. If you’re not using an electric frying pan, you can either use a candy thermometer to take the temperature of the oil, or you can guesstimate by seeing if a single piece of dough (fry alone first) fries nicely in the time specified.
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Pull and stretch each little dough ball just like you would do to pizza dough. Give them an oval shape. (You can do this on any flour-coated or nonstick surface, but since they’re pretty small in size, I usually shape them in my hands.)
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Carefully lower each dough “disk” into the pan. A maximum of 2-3 pieces per batch are advisable. Let them cook for 60 seconds (they will slightly puff and become light brown around the edges), then flip them over and cook until light brown on the other side, about 60 seconds; you don’t want to cook these too dark.
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Remove from the pan and set them in a paper-towel-lined baking sheet. Place in a 200 °F oven to keep warm while you make the remaining pitas.
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Serve warm with toppings of your choice.
NOTES:
**You can find more beautiful posts by Athina here.
Kali Orexi!!
