Thursday, August 11, 2011

Olga's Pita Bread - BLTs and Snackers

Have you ever eaten at an Olga's Kitchen?  It might be a Michigan chain, I'm not sure.  But they have the BEST pita bread EVER!  When we were younger, my mom would take us there for a quick dinner in between dance classes.  I would get either the three cheese Olga with tomatoes and onion, or the BLT Olga.  I really just wanted anything that came with the Olga bread.
 I came across a reference to Olga bread in the meal-plan of one of the blogs I follow.  I knew I had to look up a recipe!  With bacon and lettuce on hand and fresh tomatoes from the garden, dinner was planned.


The recipe below makes 16 pitas, but I cut it in half for the two of us (made 8 medium sized pitas).  I used about half of the pita bread to make Olga's snackers - Just cut the pita into trianges, spray with some olive oil, sprinkle with spices of your choosing and bake at 375F for about 5 minutes (maybe less) - that aren't supposed to be crisp, just baked a little more.

I thought this bread was really good and tasted a lot like the Olga bread I remember.  And its really pretty easy to make.  I'm already planning to make this again soon!  But first, I need to find a recipe for their cheesy snacker dip...

Imitation Olga Bread
source: buddhabelly on Food.com

1 cup milk
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup margarine
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 pkg.)
1/4 cup warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
4 cups flour, divided
1 egg

DIRECTIONS:
1. Scald milk, remove to large bowl.  Add honey, margarine and salt to milk, stir until margarine is melted.  Set aside to cool until lukewarm.
2. Combine yeast, warm water and sugar, stir until sugar is dissolved.  Set aside.
3. Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour to lukewarm milk mixture and beat well.  (I used the dough hook on my Kitchenaid for this.)  Mix in egg and yeast mixture.  Add remaining flour, a little at a time, until sticky dough is formed.
4.  Turn out on a floured surface, knead about two minutes.  Dough will be sticky, but don’t add more flour. (I had to add just a little more flour, it was really sticky! They still turned out fine!)
5.  Place dough in oiled bowl, turning once to oil whole surface of dough.  Cover with plastic wrap and let stand in warm place until doubled in bulk. (I left mine for about 90 minutes.) 
6.  Punch down dough; divide into 16 equal pieces.  Roll each piece to a thin rough circle about 8-1o inches in diameter (mine were a little smaller; don't worry too much about a perfect circle, she shape is distorted a little when you transfer to the pan). 
7. Heat a large dry skillet over medium-high heat; do not use any oil.  Bake 15-20 seconds, flip and bake about 15 seconds on other side, until mottled brown spots appear.  Cool and store in a plastic bag. 

BLTs
For the BLTS, I just spread a little mayo on the Olga, and topped with 3 pieces of bacon, some tomato slices, and lettuce.  Very easy!

Snackers
For the snackers, I cut 3-4 pitas into triangles and placed them in a bowl.  Spray with olive oil cooking spray, and sprinkle on spices (chili powder, paprika, garlic salt, sesame seeds; but whatever you enjoy would work fine).  I didn't measure anything, but just add enough to suit your tastes.  Then place them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake in a 375F oven for a few minutes.  Yummy snack or side!

7 comments:

  1. This was the next recipe I was going to try! I'm excited to see someone else thought it worked out. thanks!

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  2. Knock Off Swiss Almond Cheese Spread
    Finely grated Swiss cheese
    1 package of softened cream cheese
    2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
    Slivered roasted almonds

    Cream all together. Melt in the microwave. Add almonds. Refrigerate before serving with snackers.

    Recipe from http://nlkamper.blogspot.com/2010/05/hot-nights-dinner.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. Last time I was in Olga's I asked what the cheese spread was. The girl brought out the box that it came in. It is just Merkts Swiss Almond Cheese spread that you can get in most grocery stores. The seasoning for the Snackers is just Salad Supreme seasoning.

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  4. Does anyone have a recipe for olga sauce?

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  5. Its just cucumber dressing I would think thats what I use

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  6. I was told by a waitress once that the Olga Sauce is just plain yogurt and sour cream. We tried it and it didn't taste right. Next time I will try greek yogurt.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mayo and sour cream or plain yogurt

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