Pita Bread

I am a huge fan of pita bread. One of my favorite lunches is taboule, hummus and avocado in a pita loaf. If I’m really hungry I’ll add lettuce and tomato and a little feta. Even when I was eating a 100% raw diet I would eat this sandwich. I simply substituted sprouted wheat pita bread and left out the feta. Bean sprouts are a good addition to this sandwich.

At the farmer’s market this morning I found some locally grown and milled wheat flour. I decided to use it for my pita bread. I used a formula I found on TheFreshLoaf.com. I should point out that I committed a minor sin here by using not only an unfamiliar ingredient, but an unfamiliar bread formula. I had no idea what to expect. I discovered the flour to be more moist than my usual grocery store flour, and perhaps not as finely ground. I should have used bread flour or AP flour for this formula, and used this unfamiliar flour to bake something I’m used to baking so that I could gauge the differences between this flour and my regular bread flour. Oh well- I’m always up for an adventure.

The formula called for:

•3 cups flour

•1 1/2 teaspoons salt

•1 Tablespoon sugar or honey

•1 packet yeast (or, if from bulk, 2 teaspoons yeast)

•1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water, roughly at room temperature

•2 tablespoons olive oil, vegetable oil, butter, or shortening

I used organic flour, sea salt, honey, active dry yeast, water and olive oil. The dough rose quite well and was exceedingly sticky. I added flour during kneading to no avail. I even added a 20 minute autolyse period not called for in the formula, but the dough never approached window pane quality. I plowed ahead anyway, dividing the dough into eight pieces after the first fermentation (90 minutes), and rolling them into balls. After the dough balls rested under a damp cloth for 20 minutes they were ready to be baked in a 400 degree oven, which I preheated while I flattened the dough into disks.

The directions called for using a rolling pin to roll the dough out to a thickness between 1/8” and 1/4”. Not having access to a rolling pin, I used my bench knife to flatten the first four disks, and used the handy ruler etched into the knife to gauge thickness.

While baking the first four pitas on the

preheated baking stone for three minutes, I never saw the pronounced puffiness I was expecting; the pitas looked rather heavy instead. The end result turned out to be too thick for my liking- more like a flat bread. And while I like flat breads, this wasn’t what I was trying for.

For the next batch, I used the bottom of a pie dish to flatten the remaining pita balls into thinner, larger disks. I

made sure not to over- or underbake them; I wanted them to be fully baked without becoming crisp.

I like the final shape and size of these larger pitas, but I’m still disappointed that these aren’t the light, airy pita pockets I was envisioning. I’ll have to practice more with this flour, and should also try the formula with the flours I am accustomed to.

And how did they taste? Well... the jury is out on that. They don’t taste bad per se, but seemed to lack some of the mild, natural sweetness that proper technique brings out of sourdough bread. I didn’t expect the pitas to have that sweetness, of course- this is a totally different formula and baking method, but when I miss that sweetness I tend to perceive a slight bitterness in its place. That perception goes away as my palate adapts to the new bread, so I’ll taste this again tomorrow to see what I think. The next time I bake this, I’m going to follow a suggestion I read to cook it on the stove. That should be fun!

Check out the recipe at TheFreshLoaf.com.

Sunday, June 14, 2009