Pita Bread II, from Kris

Pita bread:

380 grams bread flour
1 cup warm (about 115 degree) water
2 tsp yeast
2 tsp sea salt
3 TBSP olive oil
1 tsp sugar

Mix water, sugar and yeast in heated mixing bowl and allow yeast 7 - 10 minutes to activate. Once yeast is activated, add remaining ingredients and mix with wooden spoon until it comes together as a mass. Using dough hook with electric mixer, knead dough for 10 minutes on speed 2, adding any additional water or flour in first 2 minutes. After kneading, turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Knead by hand an additional 1 or 2 minutes - avoid incorporating much additional flour at this point. Roll into tight dough ball and place into lightly greased bowl, turning to coat all sides of dough ball with oil (alternately, 'paint' small amount of oil onto top surface of dough ball). Cover with plastic wrap and allow to double in size in warm, dry place. Once dough is doubled in size, punch down to remove trapped air bubbles. Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead for 1 or 2 minutes. Pull dough apart into 8 or 10 balls of dough. Set aside and cover with dry tea towel. Allow balls of dough to rise for 20 - 30 minutes. In the meantime, heat over to 450 degrees with a cookie sheet upside down on middle rack (this will become the hot cooking surface). After the dough balls have rested, roll them *just before you bake them* I can fit 4 pitas onto my cookie sheet, so I only roll 4 at a time - keeping the others covered until I am ready to use them. Roll to about 1/8 inch thickness or so. Too thin and they won't puff, too thick and they won't puff... Try not to make the pitas too big - maybe 4 or 5 inches across is all. This is the trial and error part! Roll 2 - 4 pitas, depending on what your cookie sheet will fit. Spray the inside of your oven, including the cookie sheet with water before you put the pitas on it. Water should skip and dance off the cookie sheet as soon as it is sprayed. Put pitas on hot cookie sheet and bake for 3 - 5 minutes until puffed and done. I usually don't turn my pitas over, and I prefer not to have them be too brown (they get crunchy that way. So, I usually go for 3 minutes, maybe 4. Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool....

Pita Bread, from Stacy

3 cups warm water
3 tablespoons dry yeast
3 tablespoons coarse salt
6 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Let rise for two hours then refrigerate over night (covered loosely). Then, basically pull off some pieces, shape them how you want them using lots of flour, and bake on a stone. The thinner the bread, the hotter the oven (and thicker bread needs a broiler pan of water on the shelf beneath). The pitas were supposed to be baked at like 500F, which had me freaking out and on edge to begin with.

Pita Bread, from Kris

My friend (who grew up in Israel) is trying to teach me how to make her mom's pita bread. So far, I've done it twice and have had good and bad pita both times... I'm not giving up though! Here's the recipe:

1 lb flour
1 cup water water
1 TBSP sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 package active dry yeast

Activate yeast in water water (115 degrees) with 1 TBSP sugar. Allow to sit for 10 minutes. In bowl, combine flour and salt, then add yeast water and bring together into dough ball. (If dough is too dry, add more *warm* water 1 teaspoon at a time). The dough should not be sticky, but not too dry either.... Knead dough ball (I haven't figured out how long to knead the dough... I keep trying different things. I don't really understand why dough gets kneaded...). After kneading, put into bowl that has been lightly oiled with olive oil. Spray the top of the doughball with a little olive oil, cover and place in warm area to rise for at least an hour.

After dough has risen, preheat oven to 500 degrees. pull dough off of main ball and form into slightly bigger than golfball balls and put aside (keeping covered so they don't dry out). After all the dough is in golfball sized pieces, roll each one flat (if too thin, they will not puff and be like large crackers, but if too puffy they won't cook on the inside and will burn on the outside). Try to roll to 1/4 inch (that is what I strive for!). They end up being about 3 - 4 inches in diameter. Put into oven and cook for a couple of minutes until done (about 5 minutes or so). They should be puffy and golden brown, but not crunchy. Cool on wire rack.

I think I will try to make more tonight. I keep changing the amount of time I knead and the thickness of the pita. They do turn out very yummy. My kids love them warm with butter. I love them warm with grilled chicken and tzatziki.

Edit from Kris: I will add 1 TBSP of olive oil to the loaf, plus I will allow the dough, in golfball state, to sit for 8 - 10 minutes covered with a slightly damp towel before I try to roll them out. I also am going to put the cookie sheet in the oven and leave it there to get hot. I was reading that if the surface that the pita is cooked on is hot in the oven, the pita puff better...