hey everyone, ok..i was dating a bosnian girl..nicest girl ever!!..but anyways...her mom used to cook, and omg was it ever good..i am looking for any help that would help me try to attemp to make pita...the cheese one!! its like a spiral of shell and its got cheese inside..please any help would be greatly appreciated..thanks in advance
Uhhhh, I wouldn't like to discourage you - but if she made an original Bosnian pie, then the doughleaves were probably home-made. That's the first thing I had to learn when I decided to catch my Bosnian boyfriend forever (who is my husband for years now). Seems like a unacheavable mastership (that's what I thought first time I saw my mother-in-law making them), but after a couple of tries, you can learn it. At least, it looks spectacular, and whenever I am preparing Bosnian cheese pie (pita od sira, sirnica, srednjača - and you can make it with or without eggs, the point is in a good white cheese), I like to do it in front of my astonished guests. Like a magician.
If you are ready to try, you will need an old tablecloth, flour, water, salt and oil only. Prepare some lukewarm water - let's say, 3/4 liter - add just a small pinch of salt and mix it with flour using the wooden mixing-spoon (flat laddle). I can't tell you precise amounts because it depends on the flour quality, but when you get something like very soft dough, stop adding flour and go on with mixing. It should be something between mixing and beating, and you will do it until you get thin membrane-like bubbles. (Ten minutes or even less when you are experienced.) Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and leave it for a while - 10 minutes or so. Next step: start adding just small amounts of flour, so that you can start kneading. When you manage to form more or less compact mass and to knead it well (but it must stay soft, take care), put the dough onto your working surface and knead it just a bit more. Oil a tray and put the dough on it, then flatten it with your hands - it should be 2 cm thick and of a rounded shape - grease its upper surface as well with your oiled hand, cover it with an old kitchen towel and leave it for 20 minutes at least. Sprinkle some flour over the spreaded tablecloth (the rougher its surface is, the better), put your "bannock" carefully on it, push your hands under it and start spreading. You shouldn't pull, you just "tickle" it from the center outwards, and you will see how it is turning to a delicate thin sheet. In the end it should be transparent, and as large as a large kitchen table. Edges will always stay thick; some people cut them off, and some like to leave them. I use to run with the knife all round the doughleaf. You have to sprinkle it with oil, to put the filling (keep on mind that you will get 6-8 rolls, so you will put filling in "stripes", leaving some space between). The final magic: You just pull up the hem of the tablecloths, and the doughleaf starts rolling itself. When the first "stripe" of filling is rolled-in, you just make a cut. Also, cut the roll in two, and then you make two spiral pitas. Put them into an oiled baking sheet; repeat the process untill you roll up all the dough. This way you should have 12-16 "snails".
One more secret: you will bake it in a middle temperature (around 200 C), but before it's finished (20 minutes after you put it into the oven), you will put 1/2 liter of water with some salt and a spoon of oil to boil. Spill it all over the pita. Put it back into the oven and bake it for 10 more minutes on 220 C, until it gets a golden-brown specks.
I know it sounds complicated... but when you get used, it's something you can do in no time... and impress anyone!
