Pita Patter

Having tried the oil included recipe for Pita bread yesterday I was hungry (pardon the pun) to try an oil free version, something I was more familiar with from my childhood days. Along with the rich smokey smell of rotisserie chickens on the side of the road and the sticky sweetness of mishmish leather, I remember hummus and arabic bread - khubz (pita)الخبز العربي.

So I went trawling the internet for recipes for pita - it's a bit like baklava and the arguments for it being arabic or turkish.......pita, is it middle eastern or mediterranean.....? (Is that where the olive oil difference is most visible?). To be honest, I don't think it really matters, a number of countries have their take on the flatbreads and we are all the more culinarily richer for it :)

So here I find myself, adapting the middle eastern recipe from Saad Fayed and producing some tasty reminders of my childhood in the form of Pita/Arabic Bread.

Oh.....this is it..............fresh bread in a basket...............just fantastic. I might make myself a little hummus to go with it tonight but right now, straight out of the oven, unadulterated and as they are is blissful :)

My Pita Recipe
1 1/2 Cups Plain flour or a mixture of plain and wholemeal
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp honey
1 tsp dried active yeast (such as Edmonds)
3/4 Cup warm water

Sieve the flour and salt into a mixing bowl
In another bowl pour in the warm water, sprinkle over the yeast and stir in the honey - put to one side and leave for approx. 10-15minutes until nice and frothy.
Make a well in the flour and pour in the yeast mixture.
Stir in to mix and then combine with your hands.
Move to a lightly floured surface and knead for approx. 7 minutes or until the dough feels more smooth and silky, not sticky and begins to bounce back or resist you poking it's surface.
Form a ball with the dough.
Put into a bowl sprayed with oil, make sure all of the dough is lightly covered in oil too.
Cover and leave to one side for about 2 hours or until it has doubled in size.
Press out the ball on a lightly floured surface(knock back).
Divide into golf ball size spheres and lay to one side, cover again and leave to rest for about 20 minutes.
When rested, take each piece and on a lightly floured surfaceroll out with a pin to approx 1/4 inch depth pieces.
I don't worry too much about shape as these are snack size for small hands and the variability in shapes makes for a more interesting presentation.
If the dough is not stretchy when rolling out, leave them to rest further.

In a preheated oven (highest temperature it will go say 200-250 degrees Celsius) - using a baking stone if you have one or a good baking sheet - place pieces ,well spaced out (you may have to do in batches) and cook in the oven for about 4 minutes before flipping over and doing for another approx. 2 minutes.

This bread can be frozen and stored but in my opinion should be fresh each time you eat it (so make every day you want some).......