Making Pita Bread, oh and gyros out of leftover smoked lamb.

If you read my previous blog you know I make lamb for most spring events, Mother's Day, Easter etc. The best part is, the leftover lamb I've smoked off. This is the time to make smoked lamb gyros. A gyro is a mixture of ground lamb and beef made into a log cooked on a rotisserie. It is served on a warm pita with tsatziki. Tsatziki is a garlic, lemon , herb, cucumber and yogurt sauce.

Being home this year I decided to make my own pitas. Ok the store bought ones were hard as a rock. Pita bread is relatively easy to make. They cook off in minutes once you get to the cooking stage. Set up takes some time but is mostly unattended. The best part is, fresh pitas taste incredible.

Whenever I make bread I like to give the yeast a chance to develop flavor. That comes naturally if you use a sourdough starter. When you use packages yeast? Not so much. That is why I like to make a sponge first. A sponge is a way of replicating what a starter has naturally.

Sponge

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup water

1/2 teaspoon yeast

We start by grabbing a lidded container and mixing a cup of all purpose flour with a cup of water and 1/2 teaspoon of active dry yeast. Yes, this is less than one of those little packets. I keep the remainder the packet in a zip top bag. Place this in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day about 30 minutes before you plan to mix the rest of the dough sit the sponge container on the counter. We want this mixture to come up to temperature a bit. We need to wake things up!

Bread

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup oat flour (you could use another cup of AP flour)

1 tablespoon Honey

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

Now is time to get out your stand mixer. If you don't have one, this can be done by hand. Place the sponge and the remainder of the ingredients into the work bowl and using the hook attachment mix until they come together and you no longer see any dry ingredients.

Turn off the mixer and leave the dough to sit for 10 minutes. This step is called autolyse. It is used for a few reasons. It will allow the flour to completely hydrate and to help form gluten.

Now turn the mixer back on and left the dough knead for 10 minutes. Pay attention during this step. You want the dough to be tacky but not completely stuck to the bowl and hook. If that happens add a little more flour a tablespoon or so at a time until the dough releases from the bowl and stops climbing the hook.

After 10 minutes of kneading, it is time to check your dough. Tear off a bit and stretch it in your fingers, You want to see how thin you can stretch it before it tears. if you get to the point where you can see light through the dough you are ready to start proofing. If not, knead the dough a few more minutes.

In the video I transferred the dough to a glass bowl with a little olive oil and wrapped in plastic film. Did I need to transfer to a new bowl? Nah, that was done for show! Just hand knead the dough a bit to form a tight skin and put it back in the mixer's bowl with a tablespoon of olive oil. No sense dirtying another bowl if you don't have to.

Place the bowl in a warm area and let it rise until it has doubled. This should take an hour and a half to two hours.

Let's make our tzatziki.

Tzatziki

16 ounces Greek plain yogurt

1/2 English cucumber

1 ounce fresh mint (substitute dill or oregano or use a combination of the 3)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 cloves garlic

salt and pepper to taste

I like using English cucumbers for this. I like the flavor and you do not have to peel them. Regular or pickling cucumbers need to peeled the skin is too tough and waxy. Seed the cucumber and finely dice. Chop up the garlic and herbs and place all the ingredient into a bowl. Stir to combine. Lid this up and refrigerate.

This will be good for about a week or so. After a day or so the flavor will peak. Yes, this could be made the day before.

Slice your lamb into thin strips. Reserve for later. Maybe slice some tomatoes and onions. Shred some lettuce and crumble up some feta.

Ok, back to the pitas.

Once doubled, turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Use your fingers or knuckles to poke down the dough. This will redistribute the air to form a more consistent structure to the dough. Now we portion out the dough. I like using a scale. My target weight wad 3.5 to 4 ounces. This will be a little larger than a golf ball. When you have them weighed out (you should get 8 to 10) roll them up into little balls. Let these rest a bit while you set up your equipment.

First, turn on your oven to 400f and place a sheet pan or cooking sheet on a rack close to the middle of the box. Next you need a dish lined with either a tea towel or a couple of cloth napkins. You want something lint free. You will also need a rolling pin and a pancake turner.

Roll the dough balls out one at a time... Duh. Rolling them all out at the same time would be difficult unless you were an octopus. You want something that is close to round that is about 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch thick. 2 to 4 mm for you metrically minded people. Take the flattened dough and place it on the pan in the oven for 2 minutes. Flip the dough over and cook for another 2 minutes. You should see nice little brown areas on the dough. Pull the dough out and wrap in the cloth. repeat. These can be stacked. They turn out better if they are stacked. You want the heat from the dough to produce steam that will soften the outer skin of the bread. Repeat until all the loaves are done.

Finally we are close to eating.

Sauté the lamb just to warm through. You can season with some fresh oregano and a squeeze of lemon juice is optional but very nice.

Finally we build our gyro. I like to use foil squares. You can buy those or just cut them off the roll. Place a pita close to one corner and smear on some tsatziki. Add some lamb and top with feta, onion, lettuce and tomato. Wrap it up in the foil.

Now eat yours before you call your family and have to make theirs. Oh, store left over pitas in a zip top bag. They will be good for a couple of days.

Don't have and leftover lamb? Substitute grilled chicken. Steak would be good too. How about salmon? All of these would be delicious! Hey, what about grilled shrimp. Kabobs of any kind would be great. Grilled Halloumi would be awesome!

~T