Homemade Pita

Saturday Seekers had a day long Women’s Retreat.  It was a wonderful gathering and I was delighted to make lunch for the event.

I made Asian Cabbage Salad, an Edamame Dip and a Creamy Green Pea Dip.  To go with it all I tried my hand at making Whole Wheat Pita.

Making the pita was similar to the naan I tried earlier this week.  I made little mini-pitas so that everyone could have a couple.  I was really pleased with how these turned out!  I used more whole wheat flour than the recipe called for and my house was cold, so it took the dough close to two hours to double in size.  Other than the time, these are really quite easy to make!

Homemade Pita

Makes 60 mini-pita

Adapted from Budget Bytes

• 3 1/2 cups warm water
• 4 1/2 tsp yeast
• 4 1/2 tsp sugar
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (more as needed)
• 3 tsp salt

Combine warm water, yeast, and sugar; stir to dissolve and let sit for about 5 minutes until a foam develops on top.  Add olive oil.

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour and salt.  Pour in the liquids and stir.  Continue to add 1 cup of flour at a time until you can no longer stir dough with the spoon.  Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky, but is soft and pliable.  Knead the dough for at least 3 minutes.

Lightly grease a large bowl with olive oil and place the dough in it.  Allow dough to rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 500°F.

Once the dough has risen, punch it down and turn it out onto a floured surface and shape into a long log.  Cut pieces off the log and roll them out (they should be very thin).  Keep rolled out dough under a damp clothe so it doesn’t dry out.  When the oven is ready, place rolled out dough onto a wire rack and place the rack in the middle of the oven.  Turn on your oven light and keep an eye on the pita.  When they have puffed up, about 3-4 minutes for mini-pita, they’re done.

Remove puffed pita from the oven, move pita to a plate and cover with a damp towel.  The steam will soften the pita.

Allow the pita to cool completely.  Store pita in an air tight container in the refrigerator.