Whole Wheat Pita Bread!

Huzzah!  Two in a row!

So, yes, I love cooking.  I have to be honest though when I say that I love baking even more than cooking.  I have been doing a lot of baking experiments, all of which I hope to post on this blog soon.  I want to start tonight with the whole wheat pita I used as my side dish to the previous post (Curried Chickpea and Kale Soup).  

Again, I got the original recipe idea from epicurious.com and modified it slightly to fit my liking.  The link is at the bottom at this post.

There it is.  In all it's glory.  So let's talk pita, yeah?

Ingredients:

1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)

1 teaspoon honey

1 1/4 cups warm water (100°F)

2 cups whole wheat flour, plus additional for kneading

1 cup white flour

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

Cornmeal for sprinkling baking sheets

Alright, here we go:

Start by putting the water, honey and salt in a saucepan over the lowest heat possible.  Using a thermometer, heat until it's about 100 degrees.  
**Most recipes say that you can go as high as 115 degrees without killing your yeast, but I've never had luck going that high in temp**
Once heated, pour 1/2 the water mixture into a bowl with the yeast and let sit for about 5 minutes.  You will see the yeast begin to foam (it looks like it's growing).  If it doesn't do this, you need to start over with new yeast and water because you killed it.  I've done it a thousand times.

While you wait, mix the flours together in a bowl. 

After 5 minutes, whisk 1/2 cup of the flour mixture into the bowl, cover, and let double (45 minute wait here).  It will look wet and foamy.  I know, gross.

After 45 minutes, you get to add the rest of the flour and the oil in to form a dough!  It will be a fairly soft dough, meaning it will be sticky to the touch.  Then, dump (formal term is turn) the dough out onto a floured surface and begin to kneed the dough.  
**Use the heel of your hands and turn the dough frequently for good kneeding technique)
Kneed the dough for 8-10 minutes (I always go 10) so it is smooth and when you pull on it, it bounces back.  Now you get to put it into a greased bowl and let rise for an hour (double it's current volume).

What's next?!  The fun part.  After 1 hour, punch the dough down and dump onto a floured surface.  Divide the dough into 8 equal parts (I'm really bad at this part).  Have a sheet set aside with cornmeal sprinkled on it ready, and preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
**I have a brick stone that I put in my oven.  If you have one USE IT**

Roll each equal part into a ball.  Take one ball, flatten it, and roll it out until it's about 7" in diameter.  Do this with all 8 parts!

After you're done, set each pita on the sheet with cornmeal (so it doesn't stick), cover, and let rest for 30 minutes.

When 30 minutes is up, place pitas 2 at a time on the stone and cook for 2-3 minutes.
**If you aren't using a stone, place them directly on the rack of your oven**

How do you know when they're done?  You watch!  They will puff up and when they are fully puffed, they are fully done!

Cool, huh?

This makes (yields) 8 pitas that you can serve nice, fresh and warm with ANYTHING!  It's your life, do whatever you want with them!  Let me know your creative ways though!

Let us talk basic kneeds!







Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Whole-Wheat-Pita-Bread-108122#ixzz2PAVps78t