Whole Wheat Pita Bread

For years I was interested in baking but was afraid to break into the realm of using yeast. I would make things with baking powder but I avoided regular breads with yeast. Once I made the plunge I found that it really wasn't that bad. In fact it is one of my favorite things to do. I love to make pita bread. This has, by far, been the most requested of all my recipes. My favorite thing to do with these is dip them in hummus or make a Mediterranean pizza (which I'll post more about later). We usually store most of them in the refrigerator since they have no preservatives they can go bad somewhat quickly. 


Now a word of warning: This recipe is very organic in the sense that it changes every time I make it and I never measure anything. I usually end up with about 3 or 4 gallon size ziplocks full of pita bread. 
1. Put 3 or 4 cups of warm water in a mixing bowl, a pinch of salt, a pinch of sugar (for the yeast) and about 1-3 Tbs of oil. I've also used applesauce in place of the oil and it works pretty well.

2. Add about 1 table spoon yeast and let it activate for about ten minutes or until it foams up. 

3. Turn on the mixer and begin adding whole wheat flour. (NOTE: If you use fresh ground whole wheat flour you don't need any extra gluten. If you have store bought flour you may want to add a bit of gluten.) Mix until the consistency is about that of a thick batter. This is your sponge.


4. Cover the sponge with a towel and set in a warm place to raise. Let it raise for about 15-20 minutes


5. Return to mixer and slowly add flour. Continue to knead in mixer or by hand until you get a smooth dough mixture. If it's really sticky then there is not enough flour. (TIP: kneading bread by hand is a good workout but don't drip sweat into the dough!)

6. cover dough mixture and let raise in a warm room or in the oven at a low temperature until the dough is about double in size. 

7. knead some more after the dough has risen. Pull small handfuls of dough and roll out into the size that you want. You will want to let the pita raise some more before you put it in the oven. The more you let them raise the more of a pocket will form.

8. Once they have risen a little bit more then put them in the oven on an cookie sheet with just a pinch of flour on the sheet to keep from sticking. Cook them at 350 for four minutes then flip them and cook four more minutes. They may puff up with air in the oven. That means that they have a good pocket formed. Let them cool before storing. (TIP: If you pack them too tightly for storage the pockets will smash together a little bit and fuse while cooling.)

9. Enjoy...