Shawarma on Pita

GiGi’s Kitchen Adult Purposeful Programs Week 10- Shawarma on Pita

Notes to Parents/Caregivers- Week 10: 1. Today we have a LOT to do. If you feel like it will be too stressful, you can skip making the pitas and just buy a package of pita bread at the store. 2. The recipe calls for the chicken to be marinated overnight. While marinating will definitely make the chicken more tender and flavorful, you can still make the recipe without having marinated overnight. 3. I have also included an optional recipe for pickled vegetables. They are absolutely delicious. These need to be made prior to the start of the lesson if you want to make them. Feel free to substitute other pickles. Bread and Butter pickles are the closest to the flavor of the homemade ones. 4. Please print out the handout and have it ready. I will be reviewing the rules each week at the start of class, and we will take some time to talk about this week’s topic. 5. As always: a. Please set out all ingredients and equipment before class starts. There is nothing more frustrating than finding that you are a couple steps behind because you were searching your cabinets for something, and it isn’t fair to hold up the whole class. b. Please plan to be your participant’s “sous-chef”. In other words, you may be asked to prep some things, or run and find something in your kitchen. You may also be asked to have some things pre-prepped for a given lesson- please make sure you read the instructions for each week.

GiGi’s Kitchen Rules 1. Put long hair up in ponytails. 2. Wash your hands: a. First thing before touching any food b. If you cough or sneeze into your hand c. After touching raw meat (before you touch anything else) d. After you touch anything greasy 3. Use knives safely a. Make sure your fingers are safe i. Push down on the top of the knife 1. Hold food with claws not squids! 2. Try to make a flat surface on your food as soon as possible 4. Keep pot handles on the stove facing away from the front. 5. Always use potholders when touching pots and pans!

Pita Bread Recipe https://www.iheartnaptime.net/pita-bread/ Ingredients • 1 cup warm water , 110°F • 2 teaspoons active dry yeast , 1 packet • 2 teaspoons granulated sugar • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour , more as needed • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt • 2 Tablespoons olive oil Instructions 1. Combine the warm water, active dry yeast and sugar in a large bowl. Mix in 1/2 cup flour and let sit for 10 minutes, or until it has puffed up. 2. Mix in the olive oil and salt. Then stir in the remaining flour. Once it becomes to hard to stir, start to knead with your hands. You may also use an electric mixer with a dough hook. Knead for 3-5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball and lightly cover with oil. Place in a bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Allow to rise for 1 hour in a warm place, or until doubled in size. 3. Punch down the dough and divide the dough into eight pieces. Shape each piece into a ball and then cover with a damp paper towel for 10-15 minutes. 4. Roll out one piece of dough at a time on a lightly floured surface. Roll into a circle about 1/8" thick. Cooking in oven: • Place a pizza stone or cast iron skillet on the 2nd to bottom rack. Preheat oven to 475°F. • Once the oven is hot, add 1-2 rolled out circles onto the pan. • Close the oven and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until it has puffed up with large bubbles. • Flip and cook an additional minute. Cooking on stove: 1. Brush about 1/2 teaspoon oil onto a large cast iron skillet. Heat over medium heat. 2. Place rolled out dough onto the pan once it's hot and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes. 3. Once it has puffed up with large bubbles, flip to the other side and cook an additional minute. 4. Remove to a plate and cover with a towel. Notes • Cooking in the oven will result in a more airy crispy pita bread. • Cooking in the oven will result in a thicker chewier texture. • Can knead by hand or use an electric mixer with a dough hook. • Best served warm and fresh. Will keep for 1-2 days in an airtight container at room temp. • To freeze: Place in a zip top freezer bag with a piece of parchment in between each piece. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Simply reheat in a damp towel.

Lebanese Shawarma Pickle

• 1 large carrot, peeled and cut into ¼” sticks • 1 large beetroot, peeled and cut into ¼” sticks • 1 large cucumber, peeled, deseeded and cut into ¼” sticks • 1 Daikon Radish, peeled and cut into ¼” sticks • 1 jalapeno, deseeded and cut into very thin slivers Brine • 1 cup water • 1 ½ cups vinegar • ¾ cup sugar • 2 Tablespoons salt • 1 teaspoon mustard seeds • 1 teaspoon fennel seeds

Boil veggies except chili and cucumber in the brine 2-4 minutes until the veggies just bend but are still crunchy. Add cucumber and chilis, cool then bottle and store in the fridge.

Chicken Shawarma Sandwich with Garlic Sauce Servings: 6 sandwiches; Calories: 390 kcal Author: Lisa Leake https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/chicken-shawarma-sandwich-garlic-sauce/

Ingredients • 1 pound chicken tenders (can sub • 1 teaspoon paprika boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs) • 1 teaspoon cumin • 1 lemon, juiced • ½ teaspoon salt • 6 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed • ½ teaspoon black pepper • 2 tablespoon olive oil, + extra for cooking • ¼ teaspoon oregano

For the Garlic Sauce: • 1 head garlic, peeled and crushed • ¼ teaspoon salt • ¼ cup olive oil • ½ cup plain yogurt • ½ lemon, juiced

For Assembly: • 6 whole-wheat pitas • butter or olive oil (for toasting the pitas) • thinly sliced pickles (bread and butter pickles are closest to homemade ones) Instructions 1. Cut the chicken into thin strips. Put the chicken in a zip-top bag and set aside. Combine lemon juice, garlic, oil, paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, and oregano. Pour over the chicken and massage to coat, seal, and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours. 2. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add a teaspoon or two of the olive oil to the pan and, using tongs, remove the chicken from the marinade and add to the hot pan. Cook in batches until golden brown and cooked all the way through (no longer pink in the middle), about 4 to 5 minutes per side. 3. Garlic Sauce: Puree the garlic, oil, lemon, and salt until smooth. Mix in yogurt to help thicken the sauce. For assembly 1. Heat a little butter or olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Toast the pitas until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes per side. 2. Spoon a generous helping of garlic sauce down the middle of each pita, top with a pickle slice, and add chicken. Pull up both sides and wrap parchment paper around, twisting the excess on the bottom, to keep the sandwich in place and serve warm.

3 Main Types of Leavening

Agents and How They Work Written by Danilo Alfaro, Updated 05/01/19 https://www.thespruceeats.com/main-types-of-leavening- agents-and-how-they-work-4125705

In baking, leavening is the air that causes breads, cakes and other baked goodies to rise when they go in the oven. That air (or gas, really) is produced in different ways, depending on what type of leavening agent you use. This in turn varies according to what you're baking. But the simplest way to think of it is that the leavening agent produces the gas, and the gas causes the dough or batter to rise. There are three main types of leavening agents: biological, chemical and steam. How Leavening Agents Cause Doughs to Rise Dough is made of wheat flour, which contains a pair of proteins called gliadin and glutenin. When you add water and start to mix it, the gliadin and glutenin combine to form a new protein called gluten. Gluten molecules arrange themselves into chains that can be quite long and elastic. This elasticity is why you can take a piece of bread dough and stretch it between your fingers. The more you knead it, the stretchier it gets. Next the gas produced by the leavening agent forms thousands of little bubbles in the dough, which causes it to inflate. Imagine thousands of little balloons being blown up with air. Dough is stretchy, just like balloons. If it weren't, rather than blowing up a balloon, it would be like blowing into a glass of water with a straw. The bubbles would immediately burst and the gas would escape. Due to the dough's elasticity, the bubbles expand without bursting, so the gas remains trapped in the bubbles long enough for the third part of the reaction to take place. Lastly, the heat of the oven cooks the dough, causing it to set while those little bubbles are in their inflated state. So, once the gas finally escapes, those air pockets hold their shape instead of deflating. The size of those air pockets determines the texture of your baked good. Small air pockets produce a smooth texture, like with a cake. Larger ones produce a coarser texture, like with a crusty bread. Yeast: A Biological Leavening Agent Yeast is composed of single-celled organisms (a type of fungus) that undergo an existence far removed from anything you or I would recognize as "life," yet they perform a vital function. Yeast is responsible for the process of fermentation, without which there would be no such things as beer, wine or bread.

How fermentation works is yeast eats sugar and they produce carbon dioxide (CO2) gas and

alcohol. The alcohol is a boon for winemakers and brewers, and the CO2 comes in handy for

bakers. CO2 also produces the bubbles in beer. There are a few types of baker's yeasts: • Active dry yeast is what most recipes call for. It's a dry, granular yeast sold in packets or jars. Before working with it, active dry yeast must be activated, or "proofed," by dissolving it in warm water. The ideal temperature is 105 F. Cooler than that and the yeast won't fully activate; too much hotter and you'll kill the yeast before it can do anything. • Instant dry yeast is also a granular yeast sold in packets or jars. Unlike active dry yeast, however, instant dry can be mixed directly in with your flour, no proofing required. Moreover, you only need to use 1/3 to 1/2 as much instant dry yeast as compared with active dry. • Fresh yeast is found mainly in commercial bake shops. It comes in one-pound bricks and can be added directly to the dough or dissolved in water first. Note that dissolving it is only to help disperse it more fully; it doesn't need to proof. You can convert fresh yeast to active dry or instant dry by multiplying by 0.5 and 0.35, respectively. As a general rule, it's best to use whatever type of yeast a given recipe calls for. There are too many variables that can come into play when you start converting. In most cases, yeast doughs rise once, get punched down and then rise again. Finally, they

go into the oven, where the heat rouses the yeast to one last great expulsion of CO2 before they reach 140 F and die. Unlike the next two leavening agents, yeast contributes flavor as well. Indeed, adding more yeast to a recipe won't cause the bread to rise more, but it will produce a more intense yeast flavor. Baking Soda and Baking Powder: Chemical Leavening Agents Baking soda (sometimes called sodium bicarbonate or bicarbonate of soda) is a white powder that comes in a box, and it has a pH level of 8 to 9, which means it is a base. When combined with an acidic ingredient, it will produce a chemical reaction that causes the

release of CO2. Unlike the reaction of yeast, which occurs slowly over a long period of time, baking soda acts quickly, which is why the breads and muffins it produces are called quick breads. Some examples of acidic ingredients that will activate baking soda are buttermilk, lemon juice, yogurt, sour cream, molasses or honey. In its dry state, baking soda is inert but once activated, it reacts immediately. Baking powder is a product consisting of baking soda plus some other acidic component, also in powder form. As long as it stays dry, it's inactive. Once moistened, the chemical reaction begins. It's less immediate than a straight baking soda reaction, however. Unlike baking soda, baking powder is double-acting, which means it begins working when mixed and then gives off another burst of gas when heated. That's why some quick bread batters, like pancakes, can be held for a while without them losing their potency.

Copyright © 2020 GiGi’s Playhouse, Inc. All rights reserved. GiGi’s Kitchen Adult Purposeful Programs Week 10- Shawarma on Pita One thing that can't be said enough, however, is that you cannot substitute baking soda for baking powder or vice-versa, as it won't work. Baking Soda vs Baking Powder: What's the Difference? Steam: A Vaporous Leavening Agent

Unlike the leavening agents above — all of which produce CO2 gas — steam is simply water vapor, produced when the water in your dough reaches 212 F and vaporizes. Boring old steam may seem anticlimactic when compared with the exotic and mysterious processes described above, but steam is a powerful force. When water becomes steam, its volume increases by some 1,500 times. The force with which this expansion takes place is increased by higher temperatures. Puff pastry and choux pastry are two examples of pastry that use only steam as their leavening agent, yet when prepared properly are superbly airy and flaky. The key is to ensure that the dough captures the steam. With puff pastry, this is done by incorporating butter into the dough and then rolling it into book folds. This technique produces hundreds of layers, which puff out into separate flaky layers as a result of the steam produced by the liquid in the dough and the water in the butter. Choux pastry, which is used for making cream puffs, eclairs and beignets, uses a different technique. By cooking the dough once on the stovetop, the glutens are partially denatured, which reduces the dough's elasticity. Meanwhile, the starch in the flour is gelatinized, which helps give it structure. Thus when it's baked, the steam inflates the pastry but rather than snapping back, it holds its shape and the air pockets in the center of the pastry remain intact.