Whole Wheat Pita Bread

This recipe for Pita Bread is delicious! Enjoy...

Whole-Wheat Pita Bread

Servings: Makes 8 (6-inch) pita loaves.

1 tsp. honey
1/4 C. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups warm water (105–115°F)
3 cups whole wheat flour (can use a mixture of milled flax, bran)
3 Tbsp. vital wheat Gluten
2 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
Could add thyme, or sesame to dough
Cornmeal for sprinkling baking sheet.

Here's what I do:

Put in the first 7 ingredients in bosch mixer in order. Note this is very important - and make sure your water is very warm (put it in the microwave for a bit). Add any additional flour if needed. Mix with mixer for about 6 mins.

Form dough into a ball and put in an oiled large bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise in draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Punch down dough and cut into 8 pieces. Form each piece into a ball. Flatten 1 ball, then roll out into a 6 1/2- to 7-inch round on floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Transfer round to 1 of 2 baking sheets lightly sprinkled with cornmeal. Make 7 more rounds in same manner, arranging them on baking sheets. Loosely cover pitas with 2 clean kitchen towels (not terry cloth) and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes.

Set oven rack in lower third of oven and remove other racks. Preheat oven to 500°F.

Transfer 4 pitas, 1 at a time, directly onto oven rack. Bake until just puffed and pale golden, about 2 minutes. Turn over with tongs and bake 1 minute more. Cool pitas on a cooling rack 2 minutes, then stack and wrap loosely in a kitchen towel to keep pitas warm. Bake remaining 4 pitas in same manner. Serve warm.

Here's a couple of great filling ideas:

#1: Chicken Salad
2 1/2 cups, cubed, cooked chicken breast (about 1 lb)
1 c matchstick cut carrots
1/4 cup finely chopped green onions
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp dill
1 8oz can crushed pineapple drained
8 romaine lettuce leaves

Cook chicken. Combine all ingredients, except lettuce. Fill a half Pita with mixture add lettuce and enjoy.

#2: Falafel Tacos - This recipes comes from a great friend who is a vegetarian - for some reason it wouldn't let me link the exact recipe, but you can do a search for vegetarian recipes and find it and a lot of other great ones. We had these the other night and they were really good!

#3 Rice Salad - this or another rice salad would make a great filling for these pita pockets.