Pita Bread

I love pita bread! There is so much you can do with it. My kids’ favorite is “Pita Pizzas”. Just top them with pizza fixings and plop them in the oven. I love to stuff them with veggies and chicken.

The problem with store bought pitas is they are expensive, not as good for you as home made, and certainly not as yummy.

The problem with home made pitas is making them.

But if I can do it, so can you!

This might seem like too much work but it goes really fast and it is so worth it.

This is an easy recipe and my personal favorite. Pitas freeze well. Even with my huge family, we end up with enough to store in the freezer for future use. I like to warm them up in the toaster.

Here’s the recipe:

2 1/2 C very warm water

1 Tbl active dry yeast

1 Tbl salt

5 1/2 C whole wheat flour

In a large bowl, combine water and yeast. Let stand for 2 minutes. (I use my Bosch to make these but you can also do it by hand)

Stir in salt and 4 cups of flour.

Beat for 4 minutes.

Stir in 1 more cup of flour. Keep adding flour until you have enough to make a stiff dough. Knead for about 8 minutes and dough is elastic and smooth.

Place dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let double in size. Punch down dough. Then divide into 20 pieces.

Preheat the oven to 450, with cookie sheets inside.

One at a time, knead each piece slightly and form into balls. Press into a circle with your palms, then roll out into about 6 inch diameter circles.

Place about 4-5 pitas on the heated cookie sheet and cook for about 6 minutes or until the pita starts to get a little brown on edges. I keep two cookie sheets in the oven at a time. One with pitas cooking on it, the other to heat. Meanwhile, I keep rolling out more pitas.

Cool the pitas on the counter top. Once they are cool you can cut them in half and gently (be patient-it almost always works*) open the middle pocket. Store in an airtight container.

*Some of the pitas might not open into pockets, because they are too flat. You can usually tell by looking once you get the hang of making these. I always have about 2 or 3 that won’t open. No worries! Just set these aside and designate them as the pitas to use for pizzas.

2 Comments

1. Jessica
   Posted February 24, 2010 at 10:23 pm

   It’s not true, you know, that if you can do it, I can do it too. I can’t do half of what you do.

2. Jen
   Posted February 24, 2010 at 11:53 pm

   Psshhh…

   How about you do twice as much!

   We are both so awesome:)