pita/naan question
Scott
in cast iron skillets versus ovens? My oven is a bit flakey, so I prefer
to depend upon it as little as possible--I'll save it for loaves.
Roy Basan
> For those who have made pita and/or naan, have you compared making them
> in cast iron skillets versus ovens? My oven is a bit flakey, so I prefer
> to depend upon it as little as possible--I'll save it for loaves.
Flat breads(Pita) require rather hot temperatures and is desirable to
be baked fast,so that a pocket can be formed through sudden expansion
of vaporized moisture(steam).If not it will usually come out
blind(no pocket formed).
I think you are right Scott,I ‘ve seen in remote areas in
developing countries, people baking flat bread in their iron
skillets,over burning coals;so its satisfactory to bake this bread in
that way.But you have to turn it for proper bake.
Still for the real pita ,breads it requires strong top and bottom
heat for rapid expansion(ballooning to basketball /soccer ball
appearance).,which is done in a minute or two.Then it deflates into
disc shaped bread.
Conventional ovens cannot produce the intense heat(vicinity of 700-850
F) to bake it properly as the authentic type.In commercial flat breads
bakeries,a specific oven is made for this purpose.
Scott
rba...@hotmail.com (Roy Basan) wrote:
> Flat breads(Pita) require rather hot temperatures and is desirable to
> be baked fast,so that a pocket can be formed through sudden expansion
> of vaporized moisture(steam).If not it will usually come out
> blind(no pocket formed).
> I think you are right Scott,I ‘ve seen in remote areas in
> developing countries, people baking flat bread in their iron
> skillets,over burning coals;so its satisfactory to bake this bread in
> that way.But you have to turn it for proper bake.
> Still for the real pita ,breads it requires strong top and bottom
> heat for rapid expansion(ballooning to basketball /soccer ball
> appearance).,which is done in a minute or two.Then it deflates into
> disc shaped bread.
> Conventional ovens cannot produce the intense heat(vicinity of 700-850
> F) to bake it properly as the authentic type.In commercial flat breads
> bakeries,a specific oven is made for this purpose.
Hi, Roy.
I've made two naan recipes now--pretty successfully, I think. From my
recollection, naan is supposed to have bubbles, but not actual pockets
like a pita does. In that sense, my naan were properly formed--and
pretty tasty, too. The baking time in my cast iron skillet* is notably
less than called for in the original recipes--perhaps two or three
minutes for the first side, a bit less for the second. The bread *seems*
properly cooked (not doughy).
My oven certainly can't get hot enough--it doesn't seem to be able to
break 475 on a good day. I take it then that I can make naan but not
pita, at least if I want the pocket. Now pita is a pretty old style--how
did they make it hundreds of years ago? Did wood fired ovens get that
hot?
* can you properly call it baking if it's in a skillet on a stove?
Roy Basan
Baking this pocket bread really requires extreme heat conditions.I
have visited several bakeries in the Middle east producing this
particular bread;which they call it khubz,khabuz,etc.,The formula is
quite simple basically flour ,salt yeast, water although other bakers
add small amount of fat and sugar .The dough consistency is rather
stiff,and machine cut and rolled into discs and travel by conveyor to
the tunnel oven.I have seen also small bakeries baking it manually
Loading rapidly pieces of dough with a long peel and rapidly turning
and removing deflated flat bread .The oven is fired by gas and even
fuel oil.Generally the oven is like a shallow cavern, similar to a
brick oven.In the left side is a gas burners that is burning hot,and
in the right side is a floor made of refractory brick where he place
the dough and bake it for a total bake time of 1 and 1/2 minute.By
looking at the oven design,which looks very old, coal and wood can be
used to fire it and still able to reach desired temperatures so as to
obtain proper bake for pocket breads.Therefore they were able to bake
this bread since the old times.
There are african natives that still bake flat bread over and between
heated stones ,although the bread is not pita type.Some old time arab
bakers related to me that their ancestors by using two shallow iron
plates,they can bake pocket bread between it.They say they place wood
fire underneath,and hot ash ,and even coals on top of the metal
cover.Then a rolled dough sheet is baked inside;Although I have not
seen it,but it seems possible.
I have seen hand made pita bread analogue,and is made from a softer
dough and still able to produce a distinct pocket as seen in some
types of Egyptian balady bread.
Baking bread by an open skillet or similar utensils(some like a smooth
iron disk);and is that way how some Indian bread is done,and its
still done today,like the chappatti,paratha,etc.,
However if we will look at this way , it is like preparing
pancakes,and does not fit the terminology of what baking really is.
llizard
>Scott <Heim...@spamless.invalid> wrote in message news:<Heimdall-EDA641...@news2.srv.hcvlny.cv.net>...
>> In article <95b037df.02012...@posting.google.com>,
>> rba...@hotmail.com (Roy Basan) wrote:
>>
>> > Flat breads(Pita) require rather hot temperatures and is desirable to
>> > be baked fast,so that a pocket can be formed through sudden expansion
>> > of vaporized moisture(steam).If not it will usually come out
>> > blind(no pocket formed).
[snip]
>> > Conventional ovens cannot produce the intense heat(vicinity of 700-850
>> > F) to bake it properly as the authentic type.In commercial flat breads
>> > bakeries,a specific oven is made for this purpose.
>>
>> Hi, Roy.
>> I've made two naan recipes now--pretty successfully, I think. From my
>> recollection, naan is supposed to have bubbles, but not actual pockets
>> like a pita does. In that sense, my naan were properly formed--and
>> pretty tasty, too. The baking time in my cast iron skillet* is notably
>> less than called for in the original recipes--perhaps two or three
>> minutes for the first side, a bit less for the second. The bread *seems*
>> properly cooked (not doughy).
>>
>> My oven certainly can't get hot enough--it doesn't seem to be able to
>> break 475 on a good day. I take it then that I can make naan but not
>> pita, at least if I want the pocket. Now pita is a pretty old style--how
>> did they make it hundreds of years ago? Did wood fired ovens get that
>> hot?
>>
>> * can you properly call it baking if it's in a skillet on a stove?
>
>Baking this pocket bread really requires extreme heat conditions.I
>have visited several bakeries in the Middle east producing this
>particular bread;which they call it khubz,khabuz,etc.,The formula is
>quite simple basically flour ,salt yeast, water although other bakers
>add small amount of fat and sugar .The dough consistency is rather
>stiff,and machine cut and rolled into discs and travel by conveyor to
>the tunnel oven.I have seen also small bakeries baking it manually
[snip]
>However if we will look at this way , it is like preparing
>pancakes,and does not fit the terminology of what baking really is.
Having successfully made very good naan using a conventional oven, I
wonder if perhaps one CAN make pita as well. For naan, I used a baking
stone in conventional oven set to its highest temperature (500F) - I
preheated for half an hour. I do not have an accurate oven thermometer
but when the naan dough was placed on the stone, the exclamation was
"Holy Cow! That stone is hot!" The naan were every bit as good as the
naan we have had from restaurants that have tandoors.
I have not yet looked for a pita recipe but will report back when I
try it out....
-llizard
--
llizard aka ejm llizard@idirec+.ca
http://llizard.crosswinds.net/recipes/flatbread.html#naan
Scott
llizard <lli...@NOPOLLUTIONwildmail.com> wrote:
> Having successfully made very good naan using a conventional oven, I
> wonder if perhaps one CAN make pita as well. For naan, I used a baking
> stone in conventional oven set to its highest temperature (500F) - I
> preheated for half an hour. I do not have an accurate oven thermometer
> but when the naan dough was placed on the stone, the exclamation was
> "Holy Cow! That stone is hot!" The naan were every bit as good as the
> naan we have had from restaurants that have tandoors.
I haven't gone the oven route yet, but I've been quite happy using a
cast iron skillet on the stove.