Easy Pita bread

[andiesenji]

Easy Pita bread

This recipe does not require a starter, it is quick and easy to prepare and the taste is far superior to the commercial varieties.

Once you find out how easy it is to make them you won't go back to the commercial ones.

Here is my recipe:

Pita Bread

2-1/2 cups unbleached bread flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons rapid-rise or "instant" yeast

2 tablespoons oil, olive or canola or grape seed.

1-1/4 cups water room temp.

Measure the flour (unsifted) into a large bowl.

add the salt, yeast and oil.

Make a "well" in the center of the flour and pour in the water.

Using your hands, bring the flour into the water and continue mixing until a ball of dough is formed.

Turn out onto a floured board and knead for about 15 minutes.

(If you have a mixer that has a dough hook you can place all ingredients into the mixing bowl, blend until ingredients form a ball then continue mixing for about 10 minutes with the mixer set on lowest speed.)

The dough should feel silky and soft but not flabby, when a thumb is pressed into the dough it should fill in quickly.

Spray the inside of a large Zip-lok bag with Pam or similar oil spray.

Place the dough ball into the bag and seal.

Set aside to rise until it has doubled in size.

At normal room temp this should be about an hour to an hour and a half.

Turn the dough out onto the floured board, knead 3 or 4 times then stretch into a fat cylinder.

Cut in half, then cut the halves in half, and so on, so that you end up with 8 pieces of dough.

Roll the pieces into balls and press flat into a disk.

Spray a sheet of plastic wrap with oil, place disks on it then cover with another sheet of plastic wrap. Set aside to rest for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile preheat oven to 475 degrees, F.

Using a rolling pin, flatten the disks on a lightly floured board and roll into about a 6-inch circle.

They should be about 1/4 inch thick or slightly less.

If you have a baking stone you can bake the pita directly on it, mist the stone with water before placing the pita on the hot stone then mist the pita.

Otherwise, place the pita on a lightly oiled baking sheet and place on center shelf in oven.

Mist the pita and close the oven door.

Watch closely. In about 3-4 minutes the pita will have blown up like a baloon and are done. They should not brown, but might show a little color around the edges.

Immediately remove them from the oven and transfer to a rack to cool.

Depending on the size of your oven you should be able to bake 3 or 4 at a time.

You have to leave room above the pita for them to expand.

To reheat, fold into a kitchen towel and heat in microwave for 30 seconds.

( RG1792 )