Once upon a time there was... Pita Pockets

To recap our Monday adventure, Cornelius and I decided to make a big complicated meal, so we have made Chicken and Apricot Phyllo Pie, these pitas, and a sauce. We have made pitas many times before, but we wanted to try out a new recipe. These pitas are more sophistocated than our other pitas because these ones have pockets! This recipe is from Breadbaking.About.com.

Things you will need: baking stone (or upsidedown cookie sheet)

ingredients

3.5 c bread flour + some more

1.5 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1 packet dry, active yeast
1 c warm water
2 Tbsp olive oil

instructions

1. preheat oven to 500 with baking stone.

2. combine yeast, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. add water. stir. add oil.

Cal's Note: yes, this is weird (see below). we werent really sure what to think about the lack of yeast rising time either. perhaps there is some sort of kitchen science reason why this particular recipe combines ingredients in this way. perhaps not. if you know, please tell us.

3. add 1 c flour and mix with wooden spoon. add more flour, a 1/2 c at a time, until it is too difficult to stir with the spoon anymore.

Cal's note: again, this is weird. hopefully you have some bread making experience, otherwise this will be a frustrating recipe for you.

4. put dough on floured surface, knead, adding more flour as neccessary until you have a nice soft dough. about 5 min.

5. divide dough into 8 equal sized balls. cover and let rise 20 min.

Cal's note: ours certainly didnt rise much in 20 min.

6. flatten each ball with your hand, then roll out a little, to make the balls flat and about 5 inches in diameter.

7. Cook each pita on the stone for 8 min. Remove from heat.

Well they sure look nice. We really appreciate the nice puffiness of these pita pockets, although only about 1/2 of them puffed nicely. They are also a little dry for our taste. However, they are about what we were going for to match our meal, and they would be very nice for a gyro or a souvlaki pita sandwich. We'll have to make our famous pitas for you soon.

Until then,

Moo.