Pita Bread

Wow!  I didn’t feel totally confident about these at first, but guess what?  They’re fantastic!  It’s always so difficult to go back to store-bought items once you’ve made them from scratch and these pitas are no exception.  

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS

• Start by whisking together 95F warm water with instant yeast, and granulated sugar. Let bloom for 7 minutes.

• In a large bowl, mix together all-purpose flour and fine sea salt.

• Before mixing the yeast mixture with the flour mixture, whisk in olive oil with the yeast mixture. Pour into the flour mixture and mix by hand until a dough forms. 

• Turn dough out onto a work surface and knead using the slap and fold method for 1-3 minutes until smooth but unable to tear. 

• Spray a medium bowl with cooking spray, roll dough into a tight ball placed into the bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hour or until doubled. 

• Place a pizza stone into an oven set it to its max temperature (475F - 500F). This should take just over an hour while the dough rises. 

• Punch dough down. Add to a lightly floured work surface and cut into six equal pieces. 

• Form the pieces into balls and place in a lightly floured container, cover, and let rest for 30 minutes.

• To shape and bake, take a dough ball and lightly flour on a work surface. Roll it out to a 6-inch disc and transfer it to a small piece of parchment. Repeat with the remaining dough balls.

• Place pita discs on a pizza peel and carefully slide them onto the heated pizza stone. Bake for 2-3 minutes.

• Once puffed and golden, transfer to a towel and cover to keep warm.