The Lazy Organizer

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You probably don’t think of pita bread as Heavenly but around here anything that’s not green or vegetable-y is a treat. Especially when you drizzle it, hot out of the oven, with honey.  (Oooo!  That just gave me an idea.*)

The Happy Housewife posted her pita recipe on TAT a few months ago. I won’t tell you how long pitas have been on my list to make but now that I had a recipe I didn’t have any more excuses not to try them. We were not disappointed! They do not taste like the store bought pitas that I never buy because they are so disgusting. These are soft and delicious and they are wonderful for packing in lunches. Veggie wraps were my kids’ favorite meal on the go but now pitas have made lunch even easier.

Sour dough again?

I made my pitas with my sour dough starter instead of yeast.  If you’ve never baked with sour dough  you really should try it.  It is easy and so much healthier than quick rise yeast breads.  The wheat gets broken down during the long rise making it softer and easier to digest. You know.  I think sour dough is even easier than using yeast.  That must be why I like it so much.  You do have to plan ahead but the timing isn’t as critical with sour dough because it rises so slowly.  Once it has doubled you can bake it now or in three hours.  It really doesn’t matter.

Whole Wheat Sour Dough Pitas

If you want to bake your pitas in the morning then start this at night. If you want to bake them in the afternoon or evening then start it in the morning. It takes 8 plus hours for the dough to rise. It will take longer if your house is cold.

3 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
2 T honey
1 cup water
1/4 cup sour dough starter**

Combine all the ingredients in your mixer with the bread hook and let it knead it for 10 minutes. Add a little more flour or water as needed. I like it sticky but not too floppy.  (I think that is a technical term used in bread making.) Leave the dough covered in your mixer until it has doubled in size, 8 plus hours.

Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces and roll into balls. Let them rest while your oven is preheating to 400 degrees. Put your pan in the oven so it is nice and hot when you put the pitas on it. Roll out your pitas till they are 6-7 inches in diameter. Put them on the hot pan and bake for 5 minutes. You want to take them out before they brown so they will stay soft. That’s it. Easy!

I have to quadruple this recipe to make enough pitas to last my hungry family for a few days because they will eat them for breakfast lunch and dinner if I let them.

Want to double it?

**If you are doubling the recipe (or more) you do not need to double the amount of sour dough you use. If I double it I use 1/3 cup starter and when I quadruple it I use 1/2 a cup. Just trust me on this. A little goes a long way.

Babysitting your sour dough start.

I keep mine in the fridge in a quart jar. When I want to use it I take out what I need, feed the rest (add some arbitrary amount of flour and water to it) and stick it back in the fridge. If I don’t use it for a week or so I feed it and put it back in the fridge again.  It sounds really difficult, doesn’t it?

Little Caesars is not for grown ups.

The other night when we were out Sailor stopped and ordered a veggie pizza, without cheese from Little Caesars.  it was a nice idea but it did not taste like the pizza we were used to (covered in greasy pepperoni and cheese) and not only that but they used rubber (canned) mushrooms which ruined the whole thing.

As soon as we got home I started my dough, using this pita bread recipe, (I quadrupled the recipe while I was at it and made pitas with the left over dough.) to see if I could make pizza that was healthy and tasted good.  This was my first attempt at vegan pizza and I think it was good enough to serve company so now you know what you’re getting the next time you come over.

• Roll out the dough like you are making pitas.
• Put it on a hot baking sheet or stone.
• Brush the dough with olive oil.
• Layer on fresh spinach leaves.
• Add sauteed bell pepper, onion and garlic.  (We always use coconut oil for cooking at high temperatures.)
• Top with grape tomatoes.
• Bake for 5 minutes.
• I had to sprinkle mine with red pepper.
• Yum!!!

This would be good with all kinds of veggies.  If you must have cheese then I will let you use goat feta but nothing else.  My kids couldn’t live without tomato sauce which we didn’t have to they spread salsa on theirs before they added the veggies.

Let your nine year old make dinner while you clean out the garage.

The pizzas were so good that the kids wanted them again for dinner.  Since the pitas were already baked (And I made a lot so they can eat them while I’m gone.) all they had to do was add the toppings and warm in the toaster oven for a minute.  Instead of making pizza with mine, after sauteing all the veggies, including the tomatoes, I stuffed it like a pita sandwich.

Seriously people.  I never knew vegan could taste so good.

*My New Idea

Wouldn’t it be fabulous to saute some fresh peaches or some other such delectable fruit, stuff it in a warm pita and drizzle with honey?  I can’t wait to try it.

May 25th, 2009 Lara Gallagher Posted in Recipes, Talk About Tuesday 2009 | 23 Comments »

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