Keeping baking tradition alive

Mentor man frequently makes dishes from his native Palestine in pitas he bakes

Mentor man shares recipe learned from his mother in his native Palestine for versatile pita bread.

Making bread has become a thing since folks have been housebound with coronavirus-prevention protocols. Even now that restaurants have opened, some are continuing their habits born in the pandemic.

Jiries Atrash, who has lived in Mentor since 1993, brings the dishes learned from his mother when he was a boy in Palestine to his table here. Versatile pita bread is one of them, and he makes it several times a week.

“I learned how to make it when I was a very young boy but didn’t make it for myself until I grew up and moved away from home,” he said. “I’ve been making it ever since.”

An internet search reveals pita bread has its origins as flatbread and that the simple flour, salt, and oil recipe is at least a thousand years old.

It remains a staple for many cultures in the Middle East with regional differences. Flatbreads were made in ancient Egypt, where raised breads were discovered when a mixture of grain and water was left in a warm place, releasing the naturally occurring yeast to puff up the dough.

Before a process for making yeast was developed, bakers often would set aside a piece of unbaked dough from each batch.

By the time the next batch was made, the reserved dough had soured, or fermented, by airborne yeasts.

It was then mixed with fresh dough to make it rise. In 1665, an enterprising baker added brewer’s yeast to his reserved dough.

Atrash uses all-purpose flour and instant yeast for his pita bread creations, making it by measuring with a coffee cup and kitchen spoon. For today’s recipe, his wife, Maureen, used traditional measuring cups and spoons so we could share his creation.

The couple keeps pita breads frozen in their refrigerator, and he makes the bread several times a week to use as a basis for pizza, spinach pie and other dishes.

Both dough and finished pitas keep well frozen.

The breads puff up with hot air as they bake, leaving a pocket inside for stuffing.

“It’s a sturdy, substantial bread that’s perfect for sandwiches and is good toasted,” he said.

“Because of the oil in the recipe, it only takes a few minutes to thaw. I also like to use the dough as a crust for pizza or roll it out thinner and roll spinach and onion into it.”

COURTESY OF MAUREEN MEEHAN Jiries Atrash rolls out balls of risen dough to make pita bread, which he learned as a boy in his native Palestine.