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I want to make flatbreads like in the following video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbZ123IwD9w

I use the same ingredients (water, flour, yeast, salt) and make a 70% hydrated dough. I let it rest for like 7-8 hours and gently stretch it into the final shape trying not to press out the bubbles. Then I bake them in my Uuni Pro at about 400°C.

However, I have two problems:

  1. Mostly the bread puffs up like a baloon. I want it to hold its shape, just like in the video.

  2. The bread gets very chewy, especially when it gets cold.

How can I achieve a wonderful fluffy and soft bread just like in the video?

Ilay Can
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    Welcome to SA! Those breads are called "pide". Are you putting the finger dents in them, like in the video? Part of the purpose of those dents is to prevent puffing up. – FuzzyChef Jun 09 '19 at 03:30
  • Hello and thank you for your response. I am putting the finger dents. I dont know if I am doing it right, but I push them gently so that the dough is not getting holes. However the dough puffs up. – Ilay Can Jun 09 '19 at 11:02
  • Yeah, try denting it more aggressively. If you just make soft, gentle dents, it won't prevent puffing. – FuzzyChef Jun 09 '19 at 18:04
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    My other question is: what kind of flour are you using? If the breads are too chewy, I suspect that you're using a very high protein flour. – FuzzyChef Jun 09 '19 at 18:05
  • Exactly. I am using Tipo 00 flour. First I tried it with Type 405 flour here in Germany, which I think is known as all purpose flour. Honestly I couldnt notice a much difference between both flours. I am kneading the dough very well (about 15 min) with a food processor. Could it help to knead it less -> less gluten development? – Ilay Can Jun 09 '19 at 18:11
  • Possibly? Lemme go through my turkish cookbooks and see if they have any advice. Also, given how hot the Uuni is, you may also be overcooking it. – FuzzyChef Jun 09 '19 at 18:13
  • That would be very kind of you. Thanks. Could you also tell me the name of that book. – Ilay Can Jun 09 '19 at 18:28
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    What makes you think the bread should be soft and fluffy? Pide is somewhat chewy when hot and ranges from chewy to stiff (depending on how baked it was) when cool. I always warm pide up when eating it leftover. Look at that video when the bread was cut- it took some force and several cuts to get it cut- sure it didn't take long but it wasn't soft and fluffy. – Sobachatina Jun 11 '19 at 15:54

1 Answers1

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So, I've checked some books (see below), and according to them you have two issues: (1) your finger dents aren't deep enough (puffing up), and (2) your oven is too hot.

All three of the recipes I found for pide bake it at 220C. Cooking it at 400C is likely what is causing it's more pizza-like texture. The oven in the video appears to be hotter than that, given that it's wood-fired, but we don't really have a temperature, and all three recipes I found baked it at 220C for between 13 and 25 minutes. Even if you don't drop all the way down to 220C, you might want to try lowering the heat in the oven, and taking the bread out sooner.

The pide recipes I consulted were:

  1. "Pide" from The Complete Book of Turkish Cooking by Ghillie Basan;
  2. "Pide" from Savory Baking from the Medditeranean by Anissa Helou;
  3. "Tirnak Pidesi" from Istanbul & Beyond by Robyn Eckhardt.

Of the three, the last recipe is probably the closest to the one from the video. The first two recipes use yogurt and/or olive oil in the dough, which would tend to make it more tender. I don't recommend trying that in your Uuni, though, since olive oil doughs tend to catch fire at 400C.

Eckhardt's recipe, though, is just flour, water, salt, and yeast, plus an egg wash like the bakery. She even has instructions on a "stretched" version, like the video. She recommends "bread flour", which probably means high-protein flour. Her ratio is 4 1/4 cups flour to 1 7/8 cups water (American measurements), and she kneads it for 8-10 minutes, and rises it for 2 hours. She lets the dough rest for 15 minutes before denting and stretching, which if you haven't been doing it, might help with the texture.

Hope that helps; see if you can find a copy of the book.

FuzzyChef
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