PITA - and I don't mean Pain In The Ass.

 

I’ve been having a serious craving for a pita sandwich, and well, I don’t really have a place to get good pita bread.  On top of that, Seeley’s last post made me really want to try my hand at hummus, and what’s my favorite accompaniment to hummus?  You guessed it… pita bread.  Well, as I’ve learned with a lot of other things, when you can’t buy what you want, make it.  So I did. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 ½ - 2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 packet active dry yeast*

1 ¼ warm water

2 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon salt

I really like to use my stand mixer for making bread, but if you don’t have one, feel free to pull out the ol’ wooden spoon and elbow grease.  Either way, in your mixing bowl, put a teaspoon of sugar and about ½ cup of the warm water.  Sprinkle the yeast over the top.  *(if you’re using instant yeast you can skip this step and just throw everything into the bowl together)

 

Stir it in and give it a good five minutes or so.  If you’re yeast is healthy, you should start to see bubbles.  This means your yeast is working.

 

Add the rest of the water and the remaining ingredients to the bowl, minus ½ cup of the all purpose flour.  (so just 1 cup of each flour at this point)

 

Mix on medium low speed until it comes together into a messy dough. 

 

Switch to your dough hook and sprinkle the reserved ½ cup of flour over the top. 

Knead on medium speed for 5 – 7 minutes (if you’re kneading by hand, it’ll be about 10 minutes).  If, after a minute or two, the dough is still really sticky and hasn’t cleaned the sides of the bowl, add the remaining flour a tablespoon or two at a time until the dough cleans itself off the sides of the bowl. 

 

While it’s kneading, butter the sides and bottom of a bowl or container at least twice the size of the dough.  With floured hands, remove the dough from the mixing bowl and shape it into a ball-ish shape.  Place it into the bowl and turn it to get butter on the bottom side, then flip it over. 

 

This helps to keep it from drying out while it rises.  Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel and leave it for about an hour.  When you come back, it should have nearly doubled in size.  Flour your surface, dump out the dough, and sprinkle it with more flour.  Deflate it with your knuckles. 

 

Flatten the dough and fold it into a packet/envelope like shape.  This makes it easy to divide the dough into mostly equal pieces without having to weigh them. 

 

My dough cutting tool of choice is a pizza wheel, but you could use a knife.  Cut the dough in half.

Cut the halves in half.  Cut the quarters in half. 

 

Take a piece of dough and flatten into a disk.

Fold the sides together, turn it a quarter turn and fold the opposite sides together.                                                                                                                     

Turn and fold.  Turn and fold. 

 

When they’re all pinched together, put your hand over the ball of dough like a loose cage and move it in little circles.  This will tighten everything up. 

 

Set the finished balls of dough aside and keep them covered with a damp towel. 

I doubled the recipe so that I would have leftovers, because they freeze beautifully, and this is where you would do that.  Any you don’t want to bake immediately, place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and place them in the freezer.  When they’re frozen (like 3 hours) drop them into freezer bags and freeze them until you want to use them.  When you’re ready, just thaw, and continue on from here. 

 

First we need to prep the oven.  Place a sheet pan upside down on the bottom rack, and remove any other racks.  Then heat your oven to 450°.

 

On a well floured surface, take one ball of dough and flatten it with your palm.  Then roll it with a rolling pin, turning a quarter turn between each pass to keep it from sticking.  It should be no more than ¼ inch thick.  Cover, once again with a damp towel until you’re ready to put them into the oven.

 

When the oven is hot, throw the disks of dough onto the sheet pan. 

 

Within a minute or two, something magical will happen and they’ll do this:

 

After about 5 minutes they should start to brown slightly.  Using a metal spatula, carefully remove them from the oven and place them on a cooling rack or plate. 

 

***Be very careful!  They are filled with extremely hot steam!

As they cool they’ll start to deflate.  You might have to help them along once they’ve cooled down if they’re still a little puffy.  Wrap in a kitchen towel to keep them soft, or serve them while they’re still warm.  Cut them into wedges and serve with hummus or as a side to chili or soup.  Or open them up and fill them with your favorite sandwich ingredients.  I like smoked turkey, shredded sharp cheddar, avocado and tons of sprouts. 

 

What’s your favorite thing to do with a pita?            

Leg humpingly good.

I first had hummus about 20 years ago when I'd dropped out of highschool for a year to work for Greenpeace. I was fundraising door to door, not riding Zodiacs out to whaling boats, so no, not exciting at all. But there was this great little Lebanese deli around the corner from the office and I could get a huge platter full of falafels, hummus and pita for less than 5 bucks.

Hummus is really just a bean dip. It's Mediterranean in origin, part of both Greek and various middle eastern cuisines, vegetarian (vegan even), and works as a dip for bread and veggies, or as a spread in a sandwich.

I loved the stuff. But I had no idea how to make it. And after I moved away from home I had to make do with a mix from the local whole foods store. Or from some other deli, but the texture was off, and the seasoning lacked. Nothing was as good as Cedars. I figured out the ingredients, and made it a few times myself, but it was never quite right. Something was always missing.

Until...

Him.

He promised it was tasty. He assured me it would be the best hummus I'd ever had. He said once I'd tasted it, no other hummus would ever satisfy.

I literally humped his leg the first time he put it in my mouth.

Holy crap. It's the best hummus I've ever had. Leg humpingly good hummus.

And he told me I can show it all to you.

;)

What you need:

1 19 oz tin of chick peas

3 cloves garlic

¼ c fresh, chopped parsley

½ tsp dried, ground cumin

½ tsp dried, ground coriander

¼ tsp cayenne

½ tsp salt

¼ c tahini**

3 tbsp lemon juice

½ c olive oil

**Usually found in the import or health food section of a grocery store, or at a Mediterranean or Middle Eastern market.

What you gotta do:

Drop the garlic into the food processor and give it a whirl for a few seconds to chop it up a bit. You could do this with a knife but you've already got the processor out so you may as well use it.

Drain the chick peas, don't bother rinsing them, and cover the garlic with them. Then add the parsley, cumin, coriander, cayenne and salt.

Top with tahini and lemon juice.

Start your engines! Whiz it until it's still a bit chunky. You'll know the texture is right because you'll have a dire need to add liquid to it. 

Scrape down the sides, and put the lid back on. Through the chute in the top, drizzle in the oil as the processor does it's thing. Basically, it's making an emulsion. The oil need to be whipped really fast into the lemon juice, and the tahini and speed are helping do that.

At this point you get to decide what kind of texture you want. The longer you run it, the smoother and creamier it will be.

Hummus is a regular part of a Mediterranean and Middle Eastern finger food meal called Mezze. It's usually served with tzaziki, stuffed grape leaves, meatballs, cheese, pickled veggies and pita breads. Any or all of these on a table makes a great meal or snack. (I really need servingware.)

It also works great as a veggie dip at parties, or, as an instant food to have in the fridge for when you get home from school or work starving.

Hm... There's an empty plate in that picture... what would you want on your Mezze platter to go with the Leg Humpingly Good Hummus?