This is easily my favorite thing to make at home, and definitely the one I get the most compliments on. It is a HUGE money saver, and it definitely beats store bought in taste, and quality! It is best serverd right out of the oven, but it freezes really well, especially if you use a toaster or toaster oven to reheat it a bit. Best news, its EASY.
The dough can be made in the breadmaker or by hand.
2 Cups Bread Flour (or all purpose works well too)
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/4 teaspoon rapid rise or bread machine yeast
2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 cup warm water, depending. (You'll see what I mean as you get into the directions)
If you're doing it in the bread machine,
throw in all the dry ingredients, then 1 cup of warm water. Turn it on, add a bit more water bit by bit until it forms a nice ball. If it gets to sticky, add flour 1 tsp at a time. When your dough ball is looking good, close it and let it do its thing. Make sure its set on dough, not loaf.....otherwise you'll end up with a cooked loaf (done that before...more than once)
If you're doing it by hand,
Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add 1 cup of wam water, mix with a butter knife, spoon or your hand until it starts to form a ball. I usually add a bit more water so it easily comes together, but then its too wet so I end up adding a bit more flour to dry it. You want it to be a bit drier than your regular loaf dough. It shouldn't really need a floured coutertop for kneading, it shouldn't stick. Doesn't mean you can't flour your counter top, just means you don't have to. Knead it for 5-10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. Rub a bit of olive oil on the outisde to keep it from drying out, cover loosely with plastic wrap and a towel and leave to rise in a warm spot for an hour or until doubled in size.
Preheat your oven now....There are two ways to do this, depending on your oven.
We have a convection oven now (convection is terrible for pitas!) So I use the broil option, I put my rack in the middle and use an old cookie sheet. It broils at about 500 degrees. With this setting, It takes about 3 minutes per side(your oven may be different). Just keep an eye on it, and when they start to brown, flip them. The cookie sheet might also have to be rotated in the middle of broiling if one loaf is getting to darr, or no color at all.
Or, as with my old oven, which was a regular electric oven with the heating element on the bottom, you set it to 500 degrees and put the rack at its lowest setting. With this setting you will bake 4 minutes on one side, flip, then 2 minutes on the other side. (If you make a huge batch it may be down to 3 and 1 by end. (I set my timer for this method for each and every batch)
TO FORM THE PITAS
Pinch off balls about the size of kiwis or just a bit bigger. Roll them gently so they form nice round balls. Do all the balls at once, this way they have a chance to rise a bit again as you're doing them. I put them in rows, so I can begin rollind in the same order I pinched off. This way I work from the beginning to end.
Roll the balls into discs, until they are about 1/4 inch thick. Don't overwork the dough, a few turns with the rolling pin should do it. The dough will puff a bit again as it rests while you are rolling the other, do not go back and re-roll. You will knock all the puff out of it, and end up with very tough, flat, and not hollow pitas.
I use an old cookie sheet, it will get pretty black if you're constantly cooking it at 500 degrees. Put your pitas on the sheet, make sure you have room to flip them. Choose your method from above, and use that time guideline. Watch them puff right up! This seems silly to say, but be very VERY careful when flipping, removing or adding new pitas. The oven is EXTREMELY HOT! Put the finsihed loaves in a paper bag or a large bowl covered with a towel. This holds the steam in a bit and allows them to soften up. Enjoy them while they're still warm! If you want to freeze them, allow them to cool completely and store in a ziploc bag in the freezer.
Good luck and I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!
yum!!!!
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