Pita Breads

After my partner and I made these last weekend, he used some of them for his lunches. He has now declared that he never wants to buy buns for sandwiches again; pitas are just so good! Besides pita pocket sandwiches, these are delicious with shakshuka or with hummus. We're going to experiment with replacing some of the white flour with whole wheat, but here's the basic recipe.

INGREDIENTS

2 1/4 tsp yeast (one package)
1/2 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit)
1 tsp sugar
About 3 cups white flour
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 cup lukewarm water

DIRECTIONS

In a measuring cup, dissolve the yeast in the water. Add the sugar, stir to dissolve, and then let stand until frothy and doubled in volume, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Combine 2 cups of the flour and the salt in a large bowl. Make a small depression in the middle of the flour and pour the yeast water into the depression. Slowly add 1 cup of lukewarm water, and stir with wooden spoon or rubber spatula until elastic. Add more flour, 1/4 cup at a time, if the dough is too wet.

Place dough on floured surface and knead for 10 to 15 minutes, adding more flour to surface as needed, until the dough is no longer sticky and is smooth and elastic. Form the dough into a smooth ball.

Coat a large bowl with olive oil and place the dough in the bowl, turning and rotating the dough so all of it is lightly coated in the oil. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and allow to sit in a warm place until it has doubled in size, about 3 hours.

Divide the dough into 10 to 12 equal-sized pieces and form each piece into a ball. Place the balls on a floured surface, cover with the towel, and let sit for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, put your oven rack at the lowest setting and preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Put your baking sheet in the oven to preheat too.

Roll each ball of dough out with a rolling pin into circles about 5 to 6 inches across and 1/4 inch thick.

Adding the pitas two at a time to the preheated oven, bake 4 minutes until the bread puffs up (forming the pita's pocket). Turn them over and bake for another 2 minutes, then remove them from the baking sheet to a cooling rack. Add the next two pitas and repeat the procedure.

Once cool, store in a plastic bag at room temperature or in freezer bags in the freezer.