Pita Bread

I don't think I can say it often enough, but I love bread. I mean I really LOVE bread, all kinds too, especially if they are fresh out of the oven. I have been on this journey of making as much as I can from scratch and I have attempted many different types to satisfy my love of a good bread. Some have turned out better than others and I still need more practice to make things like hot dog and hamburger buns. For some reason, pita bread gave me some trouble the first time I tried to make it so I kept buying it from the store. Then a Greek restaurant opened up not too far from the house, and I loved eating their fresh pita bread. That spurred me to try again to make my own and I am so happy I did.

The amazing smell of bread baking always starts with the yeast proofing in a bowl.

I love getting to this stage too, my dough is getting ready to rise, I can still smell the yeast with the combination of flour and I know goodness will be happening soon!

After rising pita bread is formed into a long "snake"

then, cut into equal size pieces. I usually cut mine into 12 pieces, If you want larger pitas to make a wrap, you can cut the dough into 8 pieces. Any less and then the pitas almost get too big to work with. 

Each section is rolled into a ball and then flattened into a disk.

I bake on stoneware most all of the time and always when I am making pita bread. When baked, these puff up and turn golden and are so delicious and tender. 

And once again, I forgot to take a picture of my finished pitas! But here is a picture of a lunch a packed with my pita bread.

Here is my favorite bread book. Pretty much everything is in here and it has 500 bread recipes...I haven't made them all yet!