ADVENTURES IN DOMESTICITY: Homemade Pita Bread Edition

Last week, I dialed back the exoticism with the cooking and attempted to make something very ordinary: pita bread. This was my first foray into the world of bread making, and while I know pita is sort of a lightweight entry in that category, I still wound up kneading and using yeast, which are two things I’d never really done before. I’ll be honest: I was a bit scared. However, since I’ve become a convert to homemade hummus, I figured why not take the next step and go for homemade pita too. It would certainly be cheaper than store-bought. The question is whether or not it would be a wise use of time and effort. Results after the jump…

Like many breads and infections, things start off with some yeast.

I add some warm water and sugar to the mug. Pretty exciting stuff.

Meanwhile, I gather my dry ingredients: one cup whole wheat flour, two cups all purpose white flour, and salt.

Ten minutes later, my yeast is bubbly and ALIVE!

Yeast and flour join together in holy matrimony.

Also joining the fun is more water and some olive oil.

Mixy mixy.

Once the dough has become a solid mass, I prepare to knead. However, it proves to be entirely too wet and sticky. I take a risk and add more flour. I really don’t know what to do in such a situation, but it seems like a natural thing to do. I’m instantly scared that I’ve ruined EVERYTHING.

Fifteen minutes later, I’ve successfully kneaded the dough into a pliable mound of pre-pita awesomeness. Sorry — no pics of me kneading. I was alone, and my hands were too messy to handle the camera with.

Yeeeaaaaah….

Of course, my expert kneading came at the expense of a clean shirt. Memo to self: invest in an apron.

I’m a mess.

I then oil up a bowl, plop the dough inside, and then roll it around until it too is coated.

And now, fair ball, you shall go on your journey.

I cover the bowl and wait..

Forty-five minutes later, the dough has plumped up.

After ninety minutes, the dough has doubled in size. It’s quite the handsome mound.

After having punched it down, I remove the dough from the bowl and prepare to divide it up.

Ta-da! Eight adorable balls. Or as I call them, Lil Rounds.

I cover the Lil Rounds with a damp towel and wait yet again for ten minutes.

In the meantime, it’s time to drink. Oh I keeed! This empty Skyy Vodka bottle serves as my rolling pin.

At the end of the ten minute wait, I roll out each Lil Round into a flat pita.

Check it.

Into the oven they go. Unfortunately, the window on my oven door has annoying stripes on it that ruin the view.

See? Isn’t that simply awful?

Nevertheless, the recipe called for the pitas to be cooked for three minutes at 400 degrees (make sure the cookie sheet is hot too — stick it in the oven while it preheats).

The first batch of hot pitas come out of the oven. I quickly learn that three minutes is far too short.

A sample nibble (Lil Nibs) reveals that the outside is crispy and cooked, but the insides — especially towards the center of the pita — is stick tacky and dough-like. Not a crime against humanity as it still tasted very good, but I still opted to throw the pitas back into the oven for about five or six more minutes.

Much better now. They didn’t puff up like crazy, but that’s okay.

In honor of the pitas, I whip out my latest batch of hummus.

It looks simple, but I can tell you that what you see on this table is absolutely delicious.

Success.

THE VERDICT: It’s hard to complain about homemade bread. The pitas turned out very nicely. In fact, I downed two of them right away. While this recipe (or at least, my execution of it) didn’t yield the lightest, fluffiest pitas, it really didn’t matter because the end results was still quite tasty. Can’t argue with that. The real question is whether or not it’s worth it to make a batch of pitas every time I want hummus. Probably not. It’s certainly cheaper to make them at home, but it’s not like store-bought pitas are that pricey. The money saved by making fresh pitas is nothing compared to the money saved by making fresh hummus. As such, while making pita was fun, it will not be a regular occurrence. It just takes too long — even if a good chunk of the experience is merely waiting for dough to rise. Then again, maybe if I get into the habit of making pita, it won’t seem like a time commitment. Hmmm…
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