pita bread

Making pita bread is easy, and it's something my family always demands to have on hand. Try it! 

Pita recipe

Equipment: 2 large bowls, one oiled, clean wet dishcloth, clean dry dishcloth, rolling pin, measuring cups and spoons, large wooden spoon or rubber spatula, cookie sheet/pizza stone/salt block


-makes 16 whole pitas. I like doing these in bulk, as they do freeze well.


Ingredients:

• 6 cups all purpose flour (can substitute whole wheat flour)
• 2-1/2 to 3 cups room temp. water
• 1/3 cup. olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. honey (can substitute sugar)
• 1 Tbsp. salt
• 4 1/2 tsp. dry yeast
• sesame seeds, if desired

Directions:

• activate yeast with one cup lukewarm water and honey or sugar.
• combine flour and salt in a bowl. Add activated yeast and oil. Stir in remainder of water bit by bit as needed until it forms a good firm dough consistency, not too sticky.
• knead 10 minutes on floured board.
• let rise in oiled bowl, covered with plastic wrap or tight fitting lid for 90 minutes, or until doubled in size.
• place upturned cookie sheet on bottom rack of oven (or, if you've got one, a pizza stone or a salt block. I've used the salt block with great results.) and pre-heat both oven and sheet to 425 degrees.
• Once dough is doubled, punch down and divide into 16 roughly equal pieces. Roll into small balls, cover with clean kitchen towel and let rise once more, about 20 minutes.
• roll out each ball to 1/8 to 1/4 in. thick on floured board. If adding sesame seeds, roll dough balls on top of scattered seeds or lay seeds on board and roll out over them.
• bake a few at a time, takes just a minute or two.

-these puff up really nicely, perfect for pita sandwiches!

XO, Debbie