Homemade Pitta Bread. And Pitta Pizza.

We had lamb on the braai on Easter Sunday and as usual I got completely carried away on the amount of food we needed.  Lamb is not the nicest leftover but in the spirit of 'waste not want not' I thought I'd attempt to use it up by a Moroccan inspired feast.

The first step was to find a pitta bread recipe - cue the 'The Fabulous Baker Brothers' on the Channel 4 website http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/tv-show-recipes/the-fabulous-baker-brothers-recipes.  Their recipe is a complete breeze and ready in just under 40 minutes (including proving):

Ingredients

1 tsp dried yeast
300 ml tepid water (I was taught that in yeast cookery any liquid should be blood temperature, meaning that when you touch it you can't actually feel it)
560 g strong white bread flour
pinch of salt
2 good glugs of olive oil

Method

1. Heat the oven to 240C, or even hotter if possible, and place a couple of baking trays in the oven to heat up.
2. Mix the dried yeast into the water and set aside.
3. Put the flour and salt in a bowl, make a well in the centre and add the yeasty water and oil.  Knead until smooth and firm - I got mucky straight away and used my hands from the start.  Typical.
4. Leave the dough in the bowl, covered with oiled cling film until doubled in size (approx 30 mins).
5. Once risen, divide the dough into 8 pieces for standard size pittas, or for more dinky ones try making 16.
6. Roll the dough into balls and then roll out each ball on both sides to make the classic pitta bread shape.
7. Place the pitta breads on the hot tray and place into the oven until they blister up, about 2-4 minutes.  I had to do this in a couple of shifts, hence the need for 2 baking trays.

They were so delicious served with slices of the leftover lamb and some homemade pesto, hummus and yoghurt tahini dip (I'll post the recipes soon!).

But typically I had just shifted the leftovers-problem - eight pittas was a bit excessive for two.

So the following day I decided to turn the pittas into a pizza (just change the t's into a z's)...

Find some left over pitta breads

And your favourite pizza toppings - e.g. pesto, mozzarella, anchovies, tomatoes; or tomato pasta sauce, capers, marinated artichokes, sundried tomatoes and and ham...

The world is your oyster, channel thoughts of Domino pizza and go wild, or just chuck anything that is threatening to fall the wrong side of its best before date.  The main point to think about is make a base from something sloppy like pesto, tomato sauce, a white sauce, even bbq sauce could work, then add any cheese (or a mix) and some veggies (tomatoes, artichokes, spinach), and/or meat (ham, slices of left over steak) and some seasoning like chilli flakes, capers, and always salt and pepper.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to high.
2. Assemble your pitta pizza.
3. Place on a baking tray in the oven until heated through and the cheese has started to melt.
4. Eat with your fingers.

How easy is that?  Quicker than any delivery boy, cheaper than any BOGOF offer and so much more delicious.

Mmmmmm.