Pita

• Ingredients:

• • 1 1/8 cups warm water
  • 3 cups flour (whole-wheat or all-purpose or mix depending on preference)
  • gluten (1 tsp for each all purpose flour cup, and 1.5 tsp for each whole-wheat flour cup)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp veg. oil
  • 1 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp dry yeast

• Directions:

• • Mix water yeast and sugar, until dissolved then add the rest, adding extra flour if needed to knead the dough. Dough should be somewhat sticky, but not too much. Knead for about 10 minutes, then roll in ( a little) oil, put in a clean bowl and cover to rise (double in size, about 1 1/2 hour).
  • On a clean and floured surface: punch down and roll into a 12 inch (30 cm) rope. Cut into 8-12 equal pieces and roll into balls. 8 makes largish pitas and 12 makes smaller ones. When you roll them into balls try to have as little folds on the surface of the balls as possible.
  • With a rolling pin flatten the balls into round forms, about 4 mm thick. Cover with damp towel and wait for second rise (about 15-30 minutes). Be sure to have pita resting on a floured surface so it will not stick. If the pita sticks, the skin may break when picked up and it will not puff!
  • Heat oven to 500F/260C and use a wire cake rack. You can put several pitas at a time. Wait 3-4 minutes, and remove puffed ballons of your making, let cool wrapped in towel. In general they should puff and then wait a little before removing, too much--you'll get a dry pita, too little--you'll get dough in the middle.

Good luck!

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