Pita Bread pockets

In Israel we eat on many casual occasions Pita with Hummus together (see previous recipe). We even used to eat Pita Breads as kids, as a snack at birthday parties - usually the Pita Bread will be cut to halves or even quarters, filled with Hummus and served. Yumm!

To celebrate the long weekend here in New Zealand last week, I made this amazing Pitta Bread recipe and served it fresh out of the oven with a variety of salads for everyone to pick and choose from ;)
The smell of freshly baked bread filled the house as our guests walked in and the tastes, flavours and different filling textures added a whole new layer to the aroma.

Pita Bread

Makes 5-6 Pita Bread pockets

Ingredients:
3 Cups Bread flour or All Purpose flour
½ tsp Instant yeast
½ tsp salt
1 Cup warm water

How to:
Best to make the dough a few hours ahead of time.
Mix the flour and salt in a bowl, then add the yeast, and add the water slowly while stirring with a plastic or wooden spoon until everything is combined into a ball. You might need more or less water than the 1 cup. Once the dough comes together, transfer it to a floured surface and knead for a good ten minutes until it is soft and elastic. Roll the dough into a log and cut it into five or six equal parts (cut into fewer pieces if you want bigger loaves). Roll each piece into a ball and put them all on a floured baking sheet. Cover with a damp towel and let them rise in a warm place for about an hour or until almost double in size.

Preheat your oven to 500F / 270C. If you have a baking stone, place it in the oven to pre-heat thoroughly. Flatten each dough ball and with a rolling pin form it into 1/8 inch (3mm) thick round about 6 inches (15cm) in diameter. After rolling all the dough, cover and let them rest on a floured surface for 15-30 minutes. If you have a baking stone then bake them on the stone by sliding the dough rounds onto the stone and baking till they puff up like balloons (about 2-3 minutes). Leave them in the oven no more than one minute after they puff up even though they might not have much color on them. This will insure that the bread will be soft and pliable once cooled. If you do not have a baking stone in your oven, place the rounds on a baking sheet (making sure they are not touching) and bake in the oven until they puff up.

As soon as you remove the baked bread from the oven, place in a container, flatten gently and then cover with a damp towel. Keep stacking the flattened baked bread on top of each other and covering them. Store the baked bread in a well sealed plastic bag. Never let the baked bread cool uncovered or it will harden.

Serving suggestion:
Serve with Hummus, fine chooped vege salad, Falafel, lighly browned Chiken breast pieces or anything else you like. Eat lots until full.

Yom Kippur - The holiest day of the year

It's funny, I just started a blog about Israeli food and started with the Jewish new year which is the perfect day to start. If you start a blog or anything new, why not in the first day of the year, right?
So, Rosh Hasha (Jewish new year) been and gone and now Yom Kippur rolls around and its a day of fasting.... 25 hours (!) of no food or drinks (no, not even water, and no cheating while brushing your teeth too ;)... initially I thought, nice, that's exactly what I needed for a food blog...
But, after thinking about it and talking to a good friend I realized this day is much more than just a no food kind of day. This day is about stopping from doing the things we do on a daily basis and cleansing our body. Its a great day to think things over and make it clear for ourselves in who we are and what we are here for. A great day to say: I'm sorry, to friends, family and anyone you might have done wrong too (or think you have).
Yom Kippur in Israel, is a day where everything stops. No TV, no radio, no traffic (no private cars or public transport), no restaurants are open, no schools, no one rings anyone, no one txts anyone, not even a tweet. Now, don't panic and take a big breath and think how great will it be...
Back to basics. Cleansing from the inside out and from the outside in and everyone around you doing the same. Cool, eh?

And as this is a blog about great Israeli food... what a better way to start cleansing than with a Chicken soup - which we traditionally have to stock up with fluid (followed by an enormous meal - which is so typically Israeli / Jewish) just before the fasting day begins.

Here is a great recipes for Chicken Soup dumplings (I trust you'll know how to make a Chicken Soup....)

Chicken Soup dumplings filled with Liver and Chicken

Ingredients:

250g Plain Flour

1 ts Salt

2 Eggs

1/4 cup of water

Filling:

200g Minced meat

200g Chicken liver

50g Goose breast

1 tbs Oil

2 Onions (Chopped)

4 tbs of chopped Parsley

Salt

Pepper

1 Whisked Egg for glazing

How to:

1. Make the dough; mix the salt and the flour together, add the eggs and make a crumble. Add the water and mix to soft dough. wrap in cling film and put in the fridge.

2. Make the filling; heat up some oil in the pan, add the onions until caramelized, add the meat and brown it together. Add the Parsley, salt and paper to taste.

3. Roll the dough, as thin as you can (use a pasta machine if you have one)

4. Brush the rolled dough with the whisked egg and cut the dough to big squares at about 7cm x 7cm. In the middle of each square put a spoon of the meat mix and close to a triangle shape. Stick two of the triangle corners together (making a dough ring shape from it - like tortellini)

5. Boil water with salt in a pot and drop the dumplings in until they float. Scoop them out and serve with a Chicken soup. (or you can serve them as they are with fried onions)

Source: http://food.walla.co.il/?w=//1733728