Wednesday, January 18, 2012

easy pita bread recipe

Another food product that I love but have refused to buy because of issues with ingredient abuse is pita bread.  Love love it, but haven't had it for a while.  Determined to discover the perfect combination of better than store bought ingredients, I believe I have come upon the perfect recipe.  Here it is, enjoy.  Oh, it is not difficult to make these, just a little time consuming, as is anything worth doing right. 

The recipe I found calls for 3 c. all purpose flour and granulated white sugar;  of course I changed those ingredients
INGREDIENTS: (again, I use organics, but do what you want)
2 tablsp. active dry yeast, not rapid rise
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup spelt flour
2 teasp sweet herb (truvia or stevia) raw sugar or organic evaporated cane juice (which I have been using lately and it is great)
1 cup lukewarm water

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees)  Add sugar and dissolve.  Let sit for 10-15 minutes until yeast blooms and water is frothy.

Combine flours and salt in large bowl.  Make small depression in middle of mixture and pour yeast water into depression.  Slowly add 1 cup of warm water, stirring with wooden spoon until elastic.  Place dough on floured surface and knead 10-15 minutes, yeah, that's right 10-15  minutes.  It is a work out and definitely a must to work the dough.  Dough should become smooth and elastic, not sticky.  Use the trick I learned  of pushing your finger into the dough, just into the surface, and the depression should bounce back. 

Coat large bowl with oil and place dough into it. Turn dough upside down so it is well coated.  I used grapeseed oil, but you can use olive or as a last resort if you have nothing else, vegetable (ugh) (Note:   I stopped using vegetable and canola oils because most of brands are hydrogenated)
Cover bowl and allow to sit in warm place for 3 hours minimum.

Once doubled, pinch 10-12 pieces of  dough  (I used ice cream scoop for uniformity).  Roll into small  balls and place on floured surface.  Cover and let sit for 10 minutes.  Preheat oven 500 F and make sure rack is at very bottom of oven.  Put cookie sheet into oven, un-greased, (I used non-stick pan), so it is preheated as well.
Roll out each ball of dough with rolling pin and place on heated cookie sheet (about 4 minutes)  It should puff up.  Push it down and flip heat for another 2 minutes.

Remove and place on cooling  rack.  Add another rolled dough to oven, I did two at a time.  Can store for up to a week in pantry and a month in freezer.  THESE ARE AWESOME!!!!!  I cut them in half for storage.

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