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Pocket Arepas

Pocket Arepas

This pocket starts with a knife
Author:
Austin Welsh-Graham
| Source:
The Toasty Book of Bread
Categories: The Toasty Book of Bread Bread Form Main Material Leavening Cooking Method Regional Route Collection
Tags: Flatbread Maize No fermented rise Oven-baked Pan-cooked Pocket bread The Americas and Caribbean The Toasty Book of Bread
Ingredients
320 g Masarepa474 g Water (Warm, Initially.)5 g Fine salt28 g Neutral oil (In the dough.)15 g Neutral oil (For the pan.)
Description

An arepa can arrive beside breakfast or become breakfast itself. Its rounded edge suggests a plain little cake until you cut into the side and give it room for a filling. In another kitchen the round is thinner, served beside eggs rather than opened. The name makes a connection, while the hands and the meal give the bread its local shape.

Pocket arepas made with precooked arepa meal, browned in a pan and finished in the oven before filling. Makes 8 rounds, about 103 g dough each.

Recipe
Mixing and kneading
1
Mix meal, salt, water and dough oil. Cover for 10 minutes. Adjust to a soft, mouldable dough with a little water if crumbly.
Shaping and layering
1
Divide into eight. With damp hands form 10 cm rounds, about 1 cm thick.
Cooking
1
Heat an oiled pan over medium-low heat. Brown each face for about 5 minutes, working in batches.
2
Transfer to a tray in a 160 °C oven for 10–15 minutes. Open one to check that its centre is set without wet paste.
Cooling and serving
1
Cut a side pocket with a hinge and add your prepared filling. Serve hot.
Notes

About 50 minutes. Heavy frying pan, tray and oven. Use precooked arepa meal.