pane pita e hummus / pita bread and hummus

The 2010 February Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Michele of Veggie Num Nums. Michele chose to challenge everyone to make mezze based on various recipes from Claudia Roden, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dugid.

A mezze plate (also called meze) can contain many different foods. The mandatory part of the challenge included pita bread and hummus, and that is what I made. You can find the recipes for all the elements of the challenge here. [As an aside, the word mezze in Italian means half (adjective, female plural). For example, mezze penne is a kind of pasta, a shorter version of penne (literally, half penne).]

One of the reasons I love being a Daring Baker & Daring Cook is that it often happens that the challenge is a recipe I have been meaning to make for some time. Procrastination comes to a halt in the name of the monthly challenge. This month it was pita bread's turn to move from the "to-do" list over to the "done" list.

Michele allowed us to use a mix of flours, so I made pita bread with some whole-wheat flour (about 1/4 of the total), besides regular wheat flour. I halved the recipe, starting with 295 g of water (1 ad 1/4 cups) and 300 g of flour, then adding more flour until the dough had the right consistency. I baked the flatbreads on my baking stone and some puffed up nicely, while others didn't, not sure why. The breads that did not puff up were nonetheless good.

I had not made hummus for a while, so I was happy to renew my acquaintance with this famous spread. I soaked and cooked half a cup of chickpeas (ceci), using the recipe in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison. The flavorful cooking liquid left behind after I drained the chickpeas ended up in a really nice pumpkin soup I made the day after. 

I roasted a red bell pepper (peperone rosso), removed the skin and added it to the chickpeas. I also roasted four cloves of garlic (quattro spicchi d'aglio), because I prefer the more delicate flavor of roasted garlic to that of raw garlic and squeezed some fresh lemon juice. I also used some ground cumin (cumino) as flavoring (together with  sea salt and freshly ground black pepper). I toast cumin seeds in a dry skillet until fragrant, then grind them in my mortar to get a nice, fresh flavor. Finally, I used olive oil instead of tahini, because the couple of times I have bought tahini in the past I ended up having to discard it, which made me feel bad. I don't use tahini in other dishes and don't make hummus often enough to finish a jar. However, my hummus had a sesame component: I toasted some sesame seeds (semi di sesamo) and sprinkled them on the surface.

Although I did not have a traditional mezze plate, I served my pita bread and hummus together with my roasted red beet spread, my homemade cream cheese and small pieces of two of my hard cheeses (edam and kefalotyri, the latter made with a mix of cow and goat milk). I also served small patties made with thyme-flavored chenna and baked crab cakes (made with fresh crab — more on this in an upcoming post, hopefully).

Preparing pita bread made me think of a traditional Sardinian flatbread that I ate many years ago when I visited the island and never forgot: pane carasau. In browsing around the web trying to find a nice reference to share with you, I found a few videos, the first featuring Anthony Bourdain.

Did you see how the bread puff up beautifully in the oven? The video shows how each flatbread is cut in half horizontally while still warm, but it doesn't show the second baking, when all the pieces are put back in the oven to crisp up. I have eaten pane carasau with pecorino ("true pecorino"), as shown in the video. I have also watched another short video, and also a longer one, divided into two parts (one and two). The latter is in Italian, but I think the images speak by themselves. In it, you can see how the pane carasau is baked the second time, and also the sort of presses used to keep it flat.

Now that I've made pita bread, maybe I will try my hand at pane carasau, though I don't have a wood-fired brick oven. I will start by looking for a recipe and then we'll see what happens. (To be continued.)

In the meantime, you will find a lot of photographs to admire, when you browse the creations of my fellow Daring Cooks. A special thank to Michele for a very nice challenge.

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Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post: 

pane pita e hummus

or launch the pane pita e hummus  audio file [mp3].

 

Comments

[Lori Lynn @ Taste With The Eyes]

Hi Simona - very impressive! I have baking (any) bread on my list of things to learn.
Love the Tony video. Doesn't that look so satisfying, sitting in that kitchen with some bread, wine, cheese, and sausage? Chatting about food!

LL

[Wic]

adore your mezze. it looks delicious
I too love pane carasau. happy me I know people that know people...

[lenny]

Sai che anche dalle mie parti si prepara la pita? Io però non mi sono mai cimentata in quest'impresa che considero oltre le mie capacità :))

[Alex]

Grazie a te ho scoperto i video di Bourdain sulla Sardegna e me li sto guardando uno ad uno. Incredibile la preparazione del pane carasau.
L'hummus è uno dei mei "dip" preferiti.

[Susan]

Your mezze spread sounds heavenly, Simona. I like how you've toasted the cumin before grinding, completely different flavor and fragrance. The pita you show puffed nicely, too. Homemade bread is such a treat. Thanks for sharing the pane carasau videos. Wonderful.

[Audax Artifex]

Great videos and I love the dips you made. I like how you made hummus with sesame seeds and extra olive oil. Love how your pita bread balloon up. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.

[Medical Consultation]

it was my first time to saw that kind of food.. looks so delicious...

[Paz]

Very cool to be able to make the pita bread AND the hummus. Yum, yum, yum!

Paz

[Simona Carini]

Hi Lori Lynn, I hope you get to try soon. Pita bread may be a good intro bread. I wish I could go back to Sardinia for a visit. I have many food memories from my trip, many years ago.

Hi Wic, happy you indeed, if the knowing results in obtaining some pane carasau.

Ciao Lenny. No, non sapevo che la pita si preparasse anche dalle tue parti. Sono sicura che se provassi avresti degli ottimi risultati.

Ciao Alex. Anche a me piace guardarmi i video di Bourdain su YouTube. L'hummus secondo me crea un po' di dipendenza: e' difficile smettere di mangiarlo.

Ciao Susan. I started toasting the cumin since I made the roasted red beet and the difference is such that I have done it ever since. I love making bread at home: it's an adventure upon which I don't get tired of embarking. Glad you liked the video!

Hi Audax. Thanks for stopping by and for your kind words.

Yum, yum, yum is appropriate here, Paz: the two things are so perfect together!

[Michele]

Thank you so much for participating in the mezze challenge this month. Your food looks so delicious and your pita are perfect! I love the video and want to make the Sardinian bread now.

[FreeMsPointsGuy]

this looks so good. yummm

[Foodycat]

Such lovely puffy pita! Amazing.

[Merisi]

What a wonderful and informative post, Simona!
I admire you for taking the time to write all your observations down, sharing your experience so completely.

Regarding Tahini, I have had the same problem, buying a tub and then having to discard it (and not even being sure if it may have still been edible, just didn't want the risk of poisoning my family). Since it could potentially be a very healthy component of one's diet, I felt bad about not using it more. Taking to research some on the web, I hope, one day!

Carta da Musica! Evokes such dear memories of sharing meals with friends who had just returned from Sardinia with a fresh supply of carta da musica and cheeses. The last time I encountered it was, of all places, a restaurant in Ravenna! I found it to my utter surprise in their bread basket and asked about it. The waiter was so pleased about my interest and that I had recognized that it was something special, he gave me a whole stack to take home! He regularly visits his village back in Sardegna and always carries a big supply from a local bakery.

You mentioned that you do not have a brick oven: Have you ever tried to use one of those baking stones? I used to have one from Crate and Barrel, with a rough surface. I preheated my American oven, up to 550°F, for about 45 minutes, with the stone in it on the rack on the lowest level, keeping underneath an old aluminum pie dish, which I filled with a cup of hot water the moment I had set the pizza or focaccia on parchment paper directly on the hot stone (really an unglazed big sort of tile). I made pizza with the crust so thin and crispy and fragrant, he rivaled the real pizza oven one. Unfortunately, my oven here does not deliver such high temperatures and I have stopped making pizza out of frustration. Missing the high heat, they are forgettable.

[Merisi]

Sheer serendipity:
I went to the New York Times Food Section after visiting here (for once, I did not go to the farmers' market, having still enough vegetables) and what did I see, Tahini used in a Tahini sauce, here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/dining/17amuserex.html?ref=dining
(would be interesting to know whether they want you to use Middle Eastern or Asian Tahini).
Cheers! :-9

[Simona Carini]

Thanks to you, Michele, for such a nice choice.

When the pita puffs up, it is quite satisfying, Foodycat.

Ciao Merisi, I can imagine how pleased the waiter was at your knowledge of the bread. The only problem is that once you start eating it, it is difficult to stop. I have a pizza stone, which I used to bake the pita bread and next time I will raise the temperature. I am actually not sure what is the maximum temperature that my oven can reach: I need to check the documentation. Pizza definitely needs high temperatures. I have to say my oven does pretty well with pizza. Thanks for the pointer to the Tahini sauce: it is an interesting recipe.

[acecard]

Its good to read about your mezze.I like that you made pita bread..I will also try for it.
I also want to say that I did not have a traditional mezze plate so I will just go for it.Thanks for showing this video.