Soft Wrap Bread

I made homemade pitas several months ago, but never got around to posting them. They were alright, but were more like pita pocket bread, which is not what I had intended. Then I saw this wrap bread on Skinny Bovine's Kitchen (which she got from My Kitchen Cafe). She made it to go with the chicken gyros. This is the recipe I will stick with it from now on - it is so much better for gyros in my opinion. The original recipe comes from King Arthur Flour and was made to replicate Taco Bell gorditas, but I think it would be great for any kind of sandwich.

The first time I made these, I thought I did something wrong. The dough was very dry and didn't rise much. Luckily I stuck with it and finished them, and they turned out fantastic! After this, I found the original recipe on the King Arthur blog, which has step-by-step pictures. It's so helpful for this recipe since it's not your typical yeast dough. Once you get to the step where you roll the dough out, it is very easy to work with - no fighting back!

This last time making these I froze half of the dough balls (after the rise times, so through step 7 below). I will give an update once I've thawed and used them to confirm it's good, but I read an article on Cook's Illustrated online where they tested freezing dough - they say it's best to let it rise and then freeze and it doesn't affect flavor (rather than freezing before rising which may kill or affect the growth of the yeast). If you are making gyros or any kind of sandwich that requires a pita, try these out!!!

My gyros here definitely don't look as good as they did before (I decided to bake the chicken so I could use my meat thermometer - big mistake! Just doesn't get the same color and texture as when you use the broiler.)

Soft Wrap Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, divided

1 1/4 cups boiling water

1/4 cup potato flour (or flakes or buds)*

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon instant yeast

*If you use flakes/buds, I might recommend processing them in the food processor so they are more the consistency of flour. The first time I made these I did not do this, and I found it difficult to incorporate them into the dough.

Directions:

1. Place 2 cups flour in a large mixing bowl and stir in the boiling water. Stir until smooth. Cover the bowl and set the mixture aside for 30 minutes.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the potato flour with the remaining 1 cup flour and the salt, oil, and yeast.

3. Whisk until crumbly. Add to the cooled flour/water mixture.

4. Stir together. It will seem dry at first but the dough will eventually pick up the flour/potato mixture. Scrape the bowl as necessary to facilitate this process.

5. Knead by hand, mixer, or bread machine for several minutes. The dough will remain soft and somewhat sticky, and finally become smooth.

6. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl or container. Cover and let rise for 1 hour (it will not rise as much as a typical dough because of the small amount of yeast).

7. Divide the dough into 8 equal piece (using a digital kitchen scale will make this much easier). Roll each piece into a ball, and cover them. Let the dough balls rest for 15 to 30 minutes.

8. Using your hands, flatten each ball into a circle measuring about 5 inches in diameter. Using a rolling pin, roll the circles to about 7" to 8" in diameter.

9. Heat a skillet over medium heat (no oil necessary). Place the bread into the skillet one at a time (or two at a time if you have a double burner pan). Cook until brown underneath, about 1 minute. The bread will puff up a bit. Turn over, and cook until the other side is brown, about 1 minute. If any air bubbles develop, prick them to release the air. The bread will flatten under the pressure of a spatula.

10. As the bread comes off the skillet, stack them on top of one another to keep them soft and moist. When cool, store in a plastic bag (if there's any left!)

Source: Adapted from King Arthur Flour, seen on Skinny Bovine's Kitchen and My Kitchen Cafe