Pita Bread

So here was the true success in pitaland.  Somehow Deb's recipes always come out just right.  When directions are carefully followed, these are light and fluffy, puff beautifully, and store well in a plastic bag in the fridge (and hopefully the freezer too, with wax paper in between--we'll see)!  I was scared because of the hardness of the previous pita recipe I made, so I stuck with white flour only here, and although they were good I missed that wheat flavor so I'd sub in some wheat flour next time.  It's also nice that there's no kneading required after the first round, which I did in the mixer anyways, so it's a lot easier and less time-consuming.  Heat them up in a hot oven for less than a minute, and keep a warm plate ready to put them on.

Notes: Used about 2.5 tsp dry active yeast as a sub for instant, worked great.  Did this in the stand mixer, with KA flour you only need 14 oz, plus I added more as I went along so it wasn't too sticky.  But don't overdo it, the second batch where I restrained myself on the flour so the dough was scarily sticky was much puffier.  Knead for 10 minutes on speed 2.  Rising in the fridge for between 8 and 12 hours worked just fine, and didn't overpuff.

Pita-shaping technique: this is important.  Do small ones, I made 12 with this recipe and that was a good amount, otherwise it's difficult to get them thin enough without being too big to transfer to the baking sheet easily and effectively.  Dust each hunk with flour, shape into a ball, then on a floured surface with floured hands push down into a disk, rotating so it doesn't stick.  Let sit for 20 min under oiled plastic, then roll out on a floured surface with floured pin, rotating so it doesn't stick, until it's very thin, perhaps 1/8".  Let sit for 10 min.  Gently lift pita onto a cutting board.  I'm not sure what she's on about with the moisture level and spritzing, my spastic experiments (sans true spritzing bottle, caveat) indicated that this was not a big factor.  I think just don't use too much flour when making the dough and you're good to go.

Oven temp and regulation: this is also important!  When I didn't follow these instructions my pita didn't puff.  They were good but not the pockety goodness I have come to know and love.  Heat oven to 475 early on, and keep baking sheet in there on the lowest rack while it's heating.  When ready to bake pita, quickly open the oven, pull out the baking sheet, flip two pita at a time onto the sheet from the cutting board, and close the oven.  It shouldn't take more than 5 seconds if you've got it down.  Bake for no more than 3 minutes, and don't open the oven door before that.  Quickly wrap warm pita in kitchen towel and then into paper bag.  Then LET THE OVEN REHEAT for AT LEAST 5 minutes between batches.

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