Steve found a recipe on epicurious and (I'm just now realizing) I did most of the work. ^_^
In a medium bowl, I whisked together:
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons yeast
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 and 1/4 cups warm water (not too hot or you will kill the yeast)
and then let it sit for five minutes. Meanwhile, Steve was off measuring and combining:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons ground flax seed
After the five minutes elapsed, we mixed 1/2 cup of the dry stuff into the wet stuff, covered the bowl with a clean towel, and let the yeast work its magic for 45 minutes. Then, we slowly mixed more and more of the flour mixture into the wet stuff, along with:
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
We used some good teamwork skills since Steve mixed while I added flour. Awwww. Once all the flour was in, then I ditched Steve and let him mix it all into a nice dough. So much for teamwork. Just kidding. I came back and kneaded the dough on a clean floured countertop until my baby arms became tired (8-10 minutes). Then, we put maybe a teaspoon EVOO in a bowl to lube up its surface, slid the dough around in there to oil it up too, covered the bowl with a towel and let it rise for an hour.
Actually, we let it rise for a lot longer because we went out for lunch. But whatever. We returned, I punched the down down, I snipped the dough into 8 pieces (just keep cutting 'em in half til there are eight equal-sized pieces), and we rolled each piece into a ball. With a lightly floured rolling pin, I rolled the little balls out on my floured countertop until they were about six or seven inches in diameter. This is a good chance to show off your lefse-rolling skills, if you have them lying around collecting dust. After rolling each, we stacked the little pita on a plate and cover it with a clean towel. Next, Steve put the oven rack near the bottom of the oven (we used the second-to-lowest slot). Then, we took a break for half an hour while the pitas had their final uprising (pita rebellion) and while the oven heated up to 500 degrees...or to whatever temperature our oven could muster up.
Finally, Steve get tongs and an egg timer ready. He threw a few pitas into the oven, shut the oven door, and set the egg timer for two minutes. When he re-opened the door, the pitas had miraculously puffed up and look beautiful and delicious! Steve flipped the pitas with the tongs, closed the door, and let them bake for another minute. Then, we repeated until they were all cooked while we also nommed the warm pita bread. SO GOOD! irresistible. I think I ate two whole pitas (plural of pita should be pitae) in the few minutes that we were cooking them. MMMM!! After they cooled a bit, we put them into a plastic bag that had held the store-bought pita we ate this week. Pretty convenient since they fit perfectly.
The previous paragraph is where the recipe officially ends. However, what I didn't mention is that we tried cooking a couple rounds in our cast iron pan. The result (OMG Pita Pan Bread!!) actually tasted really good and had a bit of a nice crunch to it. Still, we wanted legit pita in addition to the illegitimate pita, so we ended up cooking most of the rounds in the oven.
Oh, and I took some pictures, but Steve wasn't wearing a shirt and he said I couldn't post them. If you know Steve, this shirtless thing won't surprise you, though his modesty might. Usually he likes to walk around flexing his muscles. (not really)
I feel like the smartest. Pita Pan Bread. Yesssss.