Pita, Pita, pumpkin eatah

When one lives in New York City she tends to lose sight of reality and begins to take all kinds of things 'city life' for granted. Take for instance that no further than a stone's throw from my former apartment I could find any sort of ethnic food a person could hope for. Multiple restaurants for each ethnicity, at that! I recall being awed the first year I lived in Brooklyn and I hastily took advantage of expanding the horizon of my taste buds. Thai from the little place around the corner tonight, a saunter down the block to the burrito place tomorrow, and who knows what's in store for the weekend?! Indian? Spanish? Italian?!

The problem lies in returning to small town America. No longer am I able to wander out my front door and walk aimlessly down the street until I spy the cuisine that strikes my fancy. Sure, there are a few ethnic destinations to be had here, but they are few and far between and not a stone's throw from my door.

My dad and I both have a weakness for ethnic food so a few nights ago as I pondered what would be interesting to eat it didn't take much persuasion before I took matters into my own hands. I had spied a recipe for an Israeli dish in which eggs are gently poached in a slightly spicy tomato sauce and thought this the perfect answer to my dilemna. However I wasn't as thrilled with the dish as I had hoped, thus it will not be appearing here any time soon. However, I did have great success making my first ever batch of pita bread, which is what I'm here to talk about today.

After reading several stories of failed 'pita puffing', I was a little wary of what I was getting myself into. Not that flatbread would be bad with said Israeli dish, it would just be a shame if there were no pocket into which I could poke my tomato and eggs if I so wished.

I prowled the internet for successful sounding recipes and decided on one posted to Epicurious that was flecked with whole wheat and supported with many cook's comments of success. The only trick to this recipe is that it requires a bit of forethought so that you have plenty of time for making a sponge, mixing, and proofing the dough. The great idea for this meal didn't hit me until late afternoon, so we ended up enjoying our pita by starlight, but really where's the fault in that? In fact, I can attest that pita bread can be enjoyed any time of day, particularly at breakfast toasted, split, and filled with peanut butter and banana. Throw in a cup of Earl Grey tea and you've got the breakfast of champions!

This recipe makes 8 good sized pitas, so unless you are feeding a crowd plan on freezing some of them for a later date. They will quickly begin to sport some unbecoming white fuzz and perhaps a green spot or two if left on the counter for more than a couple of days.

Whole Wheat Pita Bread

Gourmet May 2003

Yield: Makes 8 (6-inch) pita loaves

1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)

1 teaspoon honey

1 1/4 cups warm water (105–115°F)

2 cups bread flour or high-gluten flour, plus additional for kneading

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

 

Cornmeal for sprinkling baking sheets*

Stir together yeast, honey, and 1/2 cup warm water in a large bowl, then let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, discard and start over with new yeast.)

While yeast mixture stands, stir together flours in another bowl. Whisk 1/2 cup flour mixture into yeast mixture until smooth, then cover with plastic wrap and let stand in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk and bubbly, about 45 minutes. Stir in oil, salt, remaining 3/4 cup warm water, and remaining 2 1/2 cups flour mixture until a dough forms.

Turn out dough onto a floured surface and knead, working in just enough additional flour to keep dough from sticking, until dough is smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes**. Form dough into a ball and put in an oiled large bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise in draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Punch down dough and cut into 8 pieces. Form each piece into a ball. Flatten 1 ball, then roll out into a 6 1/2- to 7-inch round on floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Transfer round to 1 of 2 baking sheets lightly sprinkled with cornmeal. Make 7 more rounds in same manner, arranging them on baking sheets. Loosely cover pitas with 2 clean kitchen towels (not terry cloth) and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes.

Set oven rack in lower third of oven and remove other racks. Preheat oven to 500°F.

Transfer 4 pitas, 1 at a time, directly onto oven rack***. Bake until just puffed and pale golden, about 2 minutes. Turn over with tongs and bake 1 minute more. Cool pitas on a cooling rack 2 minutes, then stack and wrap loosely in a kitchen towel to keep pitas warm. Bake remaining 4 pitas in same manner. Serve warm.

Pitas can be baked 1 week ahead and cooled completely, then frozen, wrapped well in foil in a sealed plastic bag. Thaw before reheating, wrapped in foil, 10 to 12 minutes in a 350°F oven.

* I used the cornmeal as prescribed, but found by the time I was baking the last of my pitas the stray cornmeal on my  baking sheet had charred, leaving the pita embedded with little black specks. Next time I think I will try dusting the sheet trays on which the pita rest with flour instead.

**I kneaded my dough in the Kitchenaid instead of by hand. I found it necessary to add a few handfuls of flour after mixing for a minute or two to gain the right consistancy. You want the dough to be soft and moist, but it should also be pulled away from the bowl, reaching out from the dough hook to smack the bowl on occasion.

***I placed a stoneware baking sheet on the rack and preheated it with the oven. I borrowed this tip from Deb and found it worked well. Much better I imagine than placing a piece of floppy dough straight on the rack. If you don't have a pizza stone or other stoneware baker, I imagine a metal sheet tray would work just fine.