How to make perfect pitta, and two fillings to stuff into them: seven-spice chicken skewers and tabbouleh fritters with a quick chilli sauce
What you choose to stuff your pitta with is totally your own business, but I beg you to consider having the correct ensemble of elements to hand: something bulky, something saucy, something crisp, something tart … and lots and lots of flavour!
A perfectly balanced pitta sandwich is as close to sublime as you’ll get from a bunch of unassuming ingredients. So, today I give you the ultimate pitta, with just the right kind of fillings to stuff it with.
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These pittas are notably light and airy, so they’ll absorb sauces and juices like sponges. Fill them with the seven-spice chicken or tabbouleh fritters , or whenever you’ve got a great filling in need of a bready home. Get ahead by making the dough the night before and leaving it to prove in the fridge overnight; bring it up to room temperature before you work with it again.
Put the water in a small bowl, sprinkle over the yeast and sugar, and leave for five to six minutes, until it reacts and turns foamy.
Put both flours and the salt in a stand mixer with the dough hook attached and mix on low speed to combine. Add the yeast mixture and oil, turn the speed to medium-high and knead for seven minutes, until the dough is smooth, elastic and a bit sticky. Transfer to an oiled bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave in a warm place to rise for one to two hours, until doubled in size. (Or prove overnight in the fridge.)
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Divide the dough into six pieces weighing roughly 100g each. Lightly flour a clean work surface with flour and mould each piece into a ball. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rest for another 20 minutes.
Heat the oven to its highest setting and put in a large tray to heat up. Cut out a couple pieces of baking paper roughly the same size as the tray and sprinkle with flour. Working two at a time, use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll out the balls into roughly 12cm-diameter rounds on the paper. Transfer the paper and bread rounds to the heated tray and bake for four to five minutes, until lightly golden and puffy. Transfer to a clean plate or bowl and cover with a tea towel to keep warm while you repeat with the rest of the dough.
Lebanese seven-spice is a blend that’s used liberally in the Middle East, especially in meat marinades. Serve this chicken with store-bought or homemade pitta (see previous recipe), a simple crisp salad, the tahini sauce and some pickles to make the ultimate pitta sandwich.
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Put all the chicken ingredients (except the reserved lemon half) in a large bowl with a teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper, and mix to combine. Cover with a plate and marinate for at least half an hour (or refrigerate overnight, if you want to get ahead).
Make the sauce by whisking all the ingredients with a quarter-teaspoon of salt and 70ml water, until you have a smooth, pourable sauce. It will thicken as it sits.
Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan)/ 425F/gas 7 and put a well-greased griddle pan on a high flame. Skewer the marinated chicken on to four roughly 23cm-long metal skewers (or soaked wooden skewers). Once the griddle is very hot, grill the chicken two skewers at a time (or as many as will fit comfortably) for eight to 10 minutes in total, turning regularly, until well-charred all over.
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Transfer the skewers to an oven tray lined with greaseproof paper and bake for 20 minutes, or until cooked through. Squeeze over the reserved lemon half and serve warm with pittas, salad, pickles and the sauce.
These herby fritters can be served just as they are with a squeeze of lemon, or with the quick chilli sauce. A third and more filling option would be to stuff them into fresh pitta, drizzle with the tahini sauce from the previous recipe and a spoonful of the chilli sauce, and finish with a few slices of tomato or cucumber. The sauce keeps in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to a week, so double the quantities, if you fancy.
Put the bulgur in a small saucepan for which you have a tight-fitting lid, and add 75ml water and a quarter-teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, cover, turn off the heat and leave to sit and steam gently for 10 minutes. Fluff up the bulgur with a fork, then set aside to cool slightly.
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Meanwhile, make the sauce. Put the oil in a small frying pan on a medium-high heat and, once hot, add the garlic and onion. Fry, stirring occasionally, for five minutes, until softened and lightly coloured. Add the tomato paste, cook, stirring often, for a minute longer, then add the chillies, turn off the heat and leave to cool for five minutes. Tip the mix into a food processor, pulse until finely chopped, then add the tomatoes, vinegar and half a teaspoon of salt, and blitz smooth.
Blanch the spinach in boiling water for 20 seconds, or until just wilted, then drain. Refresh in cold water, then drain again and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. You’ll end up with about 90g.
Put the cooled bulgur, spinach, herbs, onion, garlic, spices, lemon zest, a tablespoon of oil, three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper in a food processor, and pulse a couple of times, until finely chopped. Add the eggs and pulse a few times more, until combined. Transfer the batter to a bowl or jug (it will be pourable).
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Put the remaining four tablespoons of oil in a large saute pan on a medium-high heat and, once hot, drop (or pour) three to four large spoonfuls of the batter into the pan and gently shape them into patties roughly 8cm in diameter x 2cm thick. Fry for two to three minutes on each side, until crisp and cooked through, then transfer to a tray lined with absorbent paper while you cook the rest of the batter.These barely leavened breads, known to us by their Israeli name, but common throughout the Arab world, are some of the most ancient in existence. Although flat in appearance, they are designed to puff up during baking and then sink, creating a hollow interior that makes a handy repository for fillings. Quick to make, and easy to eat, it’s little wonder they’re popular, in various forms, from southern Europe to north Africa, not only for stuffing, but also as utensils for dipping or scooping food, and bulking out soups and salads.
Sealed in long-life packaging, pitta can be picked up at most supermarkets for mere pennies – so why bother to make your own? Because, unless you’re lucky enough to be able to find them freshly baked, shop-bought pitta is a very poor relation, just like pizza bases, or indeed hummus. The real thing is soft and chewy, rather than tough, with a fluffy interior perfect for soaking up sauces – they’re well worth the pretty minimal effort.
Most pitta recipes call for white flour, and generally of the high-protein, strong variety, although Yvonne Ruperti on the US-based Serious Eats website uses plain flour, both white and wholemeal, explaining that “using 20% wholewheat flour [makes] the dough much more flavourful and nutty than one made with just all-purpose flour, while also not compromising its structure”.
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Pitta is a bread that depends on gluten development for its distinctive form; without it, the dough will not be strong enough to puff up in the oven, yielding a simple flatbread, rather than one with a pocket. (Pitta breads get their characteristic form from a combination of heat and moisture. When the thin round of dough goes into the oven, the heat sets the top and bottom while turning the liquid in the dough into steam, which is then trapped between these layers of cooked dough, causing the bread to expand. Although it will rapidly collapse when removed from the heat, the pocket inside remains intact.)
Most of Ruperti’s breads do rise (and fall), but I find the dough requires more initial kneading, and that the results lack the chewiness of some of the others. Belatedly, I realise that the American “all-purpose” flour she refers to tends to be harder than our own, so the difference between strong and plain flour over there will be less marked. In any case, British readers are best advised to splash out on bread flour.
The flavour and slightly nubbly texture that the wholemeal flour gives the breads is popular with testers, although as Ruperti notes, this doesn’t produce gluten as easily as its white counterpart, so it’s best used in moderation. Strong wholemeal is ideal, but in such small amounts, plain will also do if that’s what you have to hand. If you prefer a smoother, paler pitta, replace the wholewheat with more white flour.
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