Pita Bread

 

In the mood for some Greek tonight and need some pitas?  This recipe is for you.  It takes some time from start to finish because of the rise time, but it is well worth the wait.  This recipe is a spent grain version of basic pita recipe. 

Pita Bread (yields:  10-12 pitas)
1/4 oz. of active dry yeast
1/2 c. warm water
1 tsp. white sugar

2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. spent grain flour
1 1/4 tsp. salt

1 c. warm water


In a small bowl, mix yeast and 1/2 cup of warm water.  Add sugar and stir till sugar is dissolved.  Set aside for 5-10 minutes or until yeast water is frothy.

In a large bowl, combine flours and salt.  Make a well in center and add the yeast water.  Add the remaining cup of warm water as well.  Mix with a wooden spoon till well combined and elastic. 

If you like doing things by hand, knead on a flour surface for 15-20 minutes or dough is smooth and elastic.  I'm going to skip this part and make use of my stand mixer. 

Transfer the dough to the stand mixer bowl.  Make sure your mixer is attached with the dough hook.  Mix on low speed.  Every minute or so, check the dough.  You probably need to add some more flour to it (the hand method is working additional flour into the dough).  Keep doing this till the dough no longer sticks on the bottom of the bowl, BUT do this in increments of a few tablespoons or so - checking every minute or so on the dough.  For this particular batch, I ended up adding 6 heaping tablespoons of flour and took about 10 minutes of kneading in the stand mixer.

Coat a clean large bowl with oil.  Add the dough ball, turning once to coat.  Cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place for a few hours, or until doubled in size.  For me, this only took a little over one hour.

 

Once dough has doubled, roll out into a log.  Divide dough into 10-12 equal pieces.  Shape each piece into a ball and let rest for about 10 minutes.  Move oven rack to lowest position.  Heat oven to 500F.

On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball out into a circle approximately 6" in diameter.  Place on a baking sheet.  Bake in heated oven for 4 minutes or until puffy; turn pitas over using a spatula and bake for another 2 minutes.  Remove from oven and transfer baked pitas to a plate to cool for 1 minute.  Repeat process with remaining unbaked pitas.  After pitas have cooled for a minute or so, transfer them to a plastic storage bag.  Pitas can be stored in the bag for about a week at room temperature; or use in the freezer for up to a month.

Enjoy!