I was reminded by Misk’s great pitta post this morning of just how much I love the perfect pitta recipe from Dan Lepard which is one of the Short and Tweet challenges this week and can be found in Short and Sweet, Dan’s new book.
Turn your oven to max and bake these soon!
About Re-blogging
I am just experimenting with the reblog button here.
You need to click on one of the photos above to go to the old post and if you commented then you can read your old comments too (horrors! I am often surprised when I find my old comments on people’s posts having no memory of writing them hee hee)
I am not convinced it adds much to the blogging process to reblog my own posts, so I probably won’t do it again but it was interesting (for me) to see how it works. I think the idea is that you do it to other people’s posts, so you showcase someone else’s work on your own blog. I am not sure that my friends would like me to do that? Do you who read this blog want to know what else I have read and found interesting in this way? Surely it is nicer just to put a link in a relevant post. Or write an enthusiastic widget ? This whole pinning and reblogging thing is a bit over the top, I am looking at something called Storify too, I am not sure about any of it. Anyone else got any views on this to share?
I notice it leaves out the quotation marks round the quote from Dan Lepard and it doesn’t put in the link that I embedded in the original post. Both these things are elements that should be present and I am not that impressed.
I’ll write a new post later today about something else!
Zeb Bakes 
I adore falafel, but haven’t had a lot of luck with the pita bread recipe. I must concentrate a bit more next time I make it! :)
I remember you saying you had fantastic pita that you could buy locally so no need really for you to bake these along with all the other fantabulous baking you do :)
I don’t know quite what the secret is apart from mixing the flours. Maybe experiment with the proportions of flour in the recipe, if your flour is a bit stronger than ours and they are too ‘pingy’ when you roll them that might be why? Other thing it could be is to do with rolling the dough firmly and several times back and forth, plus the really hot oven – that seems to help create the weakness in the centre of the piece so it puffs up. I am just speculating here…..
I love falafel but I’ve only ever bought it. It’s probably time for me to make my own!
They are notorious for falling apart. From what I’ve read (and been told) the important thing is to grind soaked but uncooked chickpeas, if you do it with pre cooked ones it doesn’t work. I can’t say one way or the other as I haven’t tried making them from scratch as yet. If I ever do, and have success I’ll let you know :)
Thank you for the link back, and I’m glad that enjoyed reading that post.
I tried falafel for the first time about 2 months ago. Bought them at Waitrose, premade, just warm them up in the oven or microwave. Perhaps that’s where we went wrong, not making them as you did. P’s expression after biting into one was priceless.
I’ve tried those ones, I agree they’re not very nice, falafel can be very dry and boring to say the least. I also don’t think they freeze well at all. This packety one was pretty good as a compromise and of course the pita is really the whole point of the exercise ;) We have made falafel a couple of times since I wrote the original post. There is a splendid maker of falafel in Bristol called Jacob’s Falafel who sells them at the Farmers’ `Markets, I asked him what the secret was and he said the thing about using soaked but uncooked chickpeas too.. One day I will give it ago, but there are so many other things to make in the meantime ! Hope P sails through his tests !
I shall ask some neighbours if we have a good falafel parlour in our area. We have lots of kebab shops (something I’ve never tasted – shame on me). Is that a place where I’m apt to find falafel?
More tests tomorrow: eyes. They photograph the back of the eyes with a special machine at the hospital. We won’t know any of results for a few weeks though.
I have had very good felafel in Brussels, in England maybe look for Lebanese or Turkish restaurants. I am sure you can get seriously good felafel at Ottologenhi or look for where there are clusters of good quality Middle Eastern food places. Some very nice restaurants in West London in Bayswater and I know there are many in North London. In Bristol there is the Felafel King, which I haven’t tried and Sands the Lebanese and a tiny felafel parlour off Park Street. You might find in a kebab shop, but they do vary a lot and they need a good tahini sauce to partner them, a sloosh of chilli too. I haven’t eaten take away kebabs for many years now.
little tip if you buy from a falafel palour , freeze & when you want them heat in a micro. I count my self very very lucky as I have a falafel maker king at home ,
Yes you do! We are still waiting for the felafel king to divulge his secrets to the world tom xx
the falafel looked crispy and delicious and I may have to make some today because of you. thank you!
Thanks Haley ! I was admiring your goats cheese and honey icecream last night and wondering if I could make a frozen dessert with home made youghurt cheese. Your riotta video was charming too :)
Why thank you!
I would like to commission you to undertake a Felafel project because I would like to make good ones too..I use the packed you mentioned and they are so much better than anything I have ever made from scratch which have been horrible in so many different ways that it is hard to remember them all………….I am prepared to test a couple of recipes !!!
Morning Lynne! Maybe I should tweet and ask. I will soak some chickpeas and see what we can do, but I have never had that much success with scratch making them either. :)