Pită de Pecica
Sourdough potato loaf
Pită de Pecica: large round sourdough and potato loaf from Arad county
The bakers of Pecica, a large village near Arad close to the Hungarian border, are famous across western Romania for their pită: a huge round loaf with a crackling, deeply browned crust and a moist, slightly tangy crumb that keeps for a week. The old recipe needs only flour, water, salt, boiled potato and a natural leaven kept alive from bake to bake, with a long slow rise and an even longer bake in a wood-fired oven. This home version makes one 1.6 kg loaf in an ordinary oven with a baking stone and steam. Where most people go wrong is underbaking such a big loaf, which leaves a gummy middle; check the inside temperature. Serve thick slices with soup, with fresh cheese and onions, or toasted with garlic. Chef's tip: feed your starter the night before so it is bubbly and at its peak when you mix.
- Total time
- 720 min
- Difficulty
- hard
- Serves
- 16
Ingredients
- 5 ½ oz active sourdough starterfed 6–8 hours before
- 9 oz floury potatoespeeled
- 2 ¼ lb strong white bread flourplus extra for dusting
- 2 ½ cups lukewarm wateruse the potato cooking water
- ¾ oz salt
- 2 tbsp wheat bran (optional)for dusting
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Fresh ingredients (1)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/11 doneStep 1: Feed the 5 ½ oz active sourdough starter 6–8 hours before you start, so it has doubled and is full of bubbles; a spoonful should float in water.
5 minStep 2: Boil the 9 oz floury potatoes for 20 minutes until very soft. Drain, keeping the water, mash until completely smooth and leave to cool to lukewarm.
30 minStep 3: Mix the 2 ¼ lb strong white bread flour with the 2 ½ cups lukewarm water (top up the potato water with tap water if needed) until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest for 45 minutes.
50 minStep 4: Add the starter, mashed potato and ¾ oz salt and squeeze and fold them through the dough for 5 minutes, then knead for 10 minutes until smooth and stretchy.
15 minStep 5: Cover and leave to rise at warm room temperature for 4 hours, giving the dough a set of stretch-and-folds every 45 minutes for the first 2 hours. It should grow by about half and feel airy.
240 minStep 6: Turn the dough onto a floured surface and shape it into a tight, large round. Put it seam side up in a big bowl or basket lined with a cloth well dusted with flour and the 2 tbsp wheat bran if using.
10 minStep 7: Cover and prove for 2–3 hours, until puffy and a floured fingertip leaves a dent that springs back slowly.
160 minStep 8: An hour before baking, heat the oven to 475°F (450°F fan) with a baking stone or heavy upturned tray on the middle shelf and an empty roasting tin on the bottom.
60 minStep 9: Turn the loaf onto baking paper, slash a cross in the top and slide it onto the stone. Pour a cup of boiling water into the roasting tin to make steam and shut the door quickly.
5 minStep 10: Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the water tin, lower the heat to 400°F (375°F fan) and bake for 60–70 minutes more, until the crust is deep chestnut brown, the base sounds hollow and the centre reads 96–208°F.
85 minStep 11: Cool on a rack for at least 2 hours before cutting.
5 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 270 kcal
- Protein
- 8 g
- Carbs
- 55 g
- Fat
- 1 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does pită de Pecica take?
- About 720 minutes in total: 630 minutes to prepare and 90 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 16 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- What can I use instead of floury potatoes?
- Sweet potato, same weight (sweeter, cooks a little faster).
- What can I use instead of strong white bread flour?
- Plain flour, same amount (the dough will be softer and rise a little less).
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
SalufPuffy flatbread
Saluf is the everyday bread of Yemenite Israelis, slapped onto a hot pan or taboon in Rosh HaAyin and Sha'arayim in Rehovot and eaten with marak temani, hilbe and zhug. It is soft and blistered, thicker than pita and with no pocket, made to tear and dunk. Home cooks often roll it too thin, which gives a cracker; it should be about 1 cm thick so it stays pillowy. Chef's tip: cook it under a lid on a very hot dry pan for the first minute, which traps steam and puffs it the way a taboon does.
Israeli
ChipaCheese bread rings
In Paraguay you hear 'chipa, chipa!' called by vendors with big baskets on buses and street corners, and every family bakes it for Holy Week, when chipa is the food of Good Friday. Cassava starch, a little cornmeal, butter, eggs and a lot of hard cheese are kneaded into a dough scented with aniseed, shaped into rings or small rolls and baked in a hot oven, traditionally a domed clay tatakua. It's chewy, crisp outside and best warm with cocido (toasted yerba tea). Chef's tip: the dough should feel soft and slightly greasy; add milk a spoon at a time, as too much makes the chipa spread flat.
Paraguayan
Akki rottiRice flour flatbread
Akki rotti is the breakfast of Bengaluru and the old Mysore country: rice flour mixed with grated vegetables, dill, coconut and green chilli, patted out thin by hand straight onto a cold pan, then cooked until speckled and crisp at the edges. Every home has its own mix; dill (sabbasige soppu) is the classic flavour, but cucumber, carrot or fenugreek all turn up. It is eaten hot off the pan with coconut chutney or a dab of ghee and spicy chutney powder, and it is naturally gluten-free. Chef's tip: work with two pans in turn, patting the next rotti onto a cooled pan while the first one cooks; patting onto a hot pan burns your fingers and gives an uneven rotti.
Indian