Friday, January 7, 2011

Great Day! We Made Homemade Pita Bread.




My husband had the flu over New Years. Well... he said, "its just a head cold", but it was the flu and he's still not completely over it. Needless to say, I stayed in the kitchen trying all sorts of recipes that I always find and never get to. I have made homemade pita bread before, but sometimes they puff up and sometimes they don't. When I read about how soft these pitas are, I knew I had to try them! Boy am I so glad I did! They are absolutely perfect. And, the plus, they are another bread machine recipe so half the work was done for me. My daughter helped out making these pitas. She rolled them out for me. They were easy and very delicious! I made a mixture of chicken, peppers, and onions to put in our pitas because I didn't have any lunch meat. We both were eating with our eyes rolled back in our heads! LOL. I even opened one up and put a little grape jelly in there. Now, that was a little piece of paradise! I highly recommend these pitas. Don't be scared off by the sound of "making homemade pita." They are easy! This is a fairly small recipe, and they keep well for making sandwiches throughout the week.


Here's the recipe:


Homemade (BM) Pita Bread


1 1/8 cups warm water (Remember, hot but no hurt! Like hot bath water!)
1 Tablespoon oil (I used olive oil.)
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast


Place all of the ingredients in the pan of your bread machine according to your bread machines instructions. Select the dough setting. Once the cycle is complete, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface so that you can handle the dough without it sticking to you. Gently roll and stretch the dough into a 12-15 inch section. With a sharp knife, divide the dough into 8 pieces. I divided in half, divided each piece in half, and divided each of those pieces in half - for 8 even sections. Roll each piece into a smooth ball. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6 or 7 inch circle. Set aside on a lightly floured surface. (I used my cooling racks). Let rise/rest (they don't rise much at least 30 minutes or until they are slightly puffy. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Place 2 or 3 pitas on a wire cooling rack. Place rack directly on the oven rack. Bake pitas 5 minutes or until puffed and tops are just beginning to brown. Remove from oven and immediately place pitas in a sealed brown paper bag or cover them with a tea-towel until soft. (The steam keeps them soft.) Continue process until all pitas have been cooked. Once pitas have softened, you may cut them in halves or just the tops.


The pitas can be stored in a storage bag and refrigerated for several days or in the freezer for 1 to 2 months.