Pita Breads

From the book Cooking for the Week by Diane Morgan, Dan Taggart, and Kathleen Taggart

Introduction

Using commercially made pitas is fine, but your own pita breads are no particular trick to make and are a real crowd-pleaser. They freeze well as long as other foods are not piled on top of them in the freezer.

Ingredients

Steps

1. Put the water in a 2-cup glass measure or small bowl. Add the sugar and yeast, stirring just to mix. Let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the salt and olive oil and stir well.
2. To make the dough in a food processor, put the flour in the workbowl fitted with the dough blade. Stir the yeast mixture and, with the machine running, pour it through the feed tube as quickly as the flour will absorb it without making a sloshing sound. Allow a ball of dough to form and rotate for 60 seconds, adding flour 1 tablespoon at a time if the dough seems too sticky for the machine.
3. To make the dough by hand, place the yeast mixture in a large bowl. Gradually stir in the flour until a ball of slightly sticky dough forms. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Flatten the dough, fold it over on itself once, and knead by pressing down on the dough a few times using your knuckles or the base of your palm. Continue to knead for about 5 minutes, flouring the surface and dough only as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
4. Put the dough in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes, or until the dough is about doubled in size. (The dough may be refrigerated for several days at this point by placing it in a gallon-size plastic bag, squeezing the air out, and securing a twist tie at the top of the bag so the dough has room to expand; bring to room temperature before forming and baking.)
5. To bake, preheat the oven to 450°F. Position an oven rack at the center of the oven. Sprinkle 2 heavy or doubled baking sheets with cornmeal or line them with parchment paper.
6. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Using your hands, roll the dough into an even rope shape about 12 inches long. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball and let rest for 5 minutes covered with a kitchen towel. Using a rolling pin, roll out each piece of dough into a circle about 6 inches in diameter and about ¼ inch thick. Place circles on each prepared pan. Let rest for 5 minutes. Place one pan in the oven and bake for about 4 minutes, or until the pitas have puffed up and browned just slightly. Remove the pan and bake the second pan of pitas.
7. Set aside 4 pitas to cool and serve the others, or stack the pitas to be served and wrap them in a kitchen towel to keep them warm.
8. Place the cooled reserved pitas in a gallon-size lock-top plastic bag and store in the freezer where they won’t be damaged. Reheat on a baking sheet in a preheated 325°F oven for 20 minutes.

Notes

• 1 cup whole-wheat flour may be substituted for 1 cup all-purpose flour; the dough will be slightly stickier.

This content is from the book Cooking for the Week by Diane Morgan, Dan Taggart, and Kathleen Taggart.