Homemade pita bread

So I've been in one of those ruts with meals lately--just tired of eating the same old things we always eat. And Jeff has been craving good bread. He's been on Spring Break the last few days, so yesterday afternoon he decided to try his hand at making pita bread. (Have I ever said I love having a husband who likes to cook?!!!) He found a couple of recipes--here and here--and went to work. Turns out, it really wasn't much work, but, like most bread recipes, you have to plan ahead a bit so you give the dough time to rise. That's the hard part for me--planning ahead. Jeff used the ingredients from the first recipe, but the cooking temperature from the second recipe, i.e., hotter oven. Pre-heating the baking sheet or pizza stone (recommended) is a must. Jeff mixed the dough up in about 20 minutes, let it rise for 2-3 hours, then baked them in time for dinner. Yum! They turned out so good--fluffy and delicious! They weren't quite as good as the pita bread I remember from my semester in the Holy Land, but they were SO much better than store-bought that we will never buy wimpy pita bread at the store again. The biggest problem was, the recipe only made ten pitas, which was barely enough for our family of six for dinner. Jeff is upstairs right now making a double batch for us for tonight.

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AFTER

















Of course, once the pita bread was underway, we had to find something to fill it with. Now I know they are good plain, but we wanted to make a meal with them. And I know you can fill them with just about any salad or sandwich makings, but I got online and did a search for "pita filling," to see if I could come up with something different. Here is the recipe for "Greek salad pita pockets" that we ended up trying. We are not vegetarians, but this all-veggie salad was great and, with the pitas, it filled us up, even without any meat. Only drawback is that it calls for crumbled feta cheese, which is not cheap. I ran to the store and found a "value pack"--$4.59 for 12 ounces. We doubled the salad recipe, which used only about a third of the cheese. Jeff and I almost finished off the salad in one meal, so it would have to be tripled or quadrupled for more eaters. The kids made pizza pockets out of their pitas--they, of course, don't do salads or veggies. :-( The rest of the meal ingredients were really inexpensive, unless you choose to buy hummus (for the salad) at the grocery store ($3.99 for 6 oz.). I opted for looking up a recipe for hummus, buying canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans) for 99 cents a can, and making my own. It was even easier than the pitas and the salad! I combined two recipes so I'll just tell you what I did here, instead of linking to them.

Hummus

1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Serve with pita bread, pita chips, tortilla chips, or veggies.

The first three ingredients are the base, then the seasonings can be added or left out as you like. (We like garlic and vinegar!) Some recipes call for tahini, which is a paste made of sesame seeds. I like tahini, but I didn't want to go looking for it or pay for it, and it isn't necessary anyway.

Anyway, it was a fresh, yummy, healthy meal, AND it was something different, so I thought I'd share. Can't wait to make it with fresh veggies from our garden this summer!