go away winter

Pita Bread

makes 4 large pitas or 16 individual pitas.

3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tbsp yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp salt
6 1/2 cups flour
cornmeal for pizza peel

1. add yeast and salt to the water in a large bowl. mix in the flour until uniformly moist. there’s no need to knead. cover with a loose lid or towel and let rise for about 2 hours. at this point you can bake or store in the fridge (the dough is easier to work with after a few hours in the fridge).

2. 20 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 500F with a baking stone if you have one. just before baking, dust the surface of the dough with flour and cut off a piece (size is up to you). dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball. using your hands and rolling pin, roll the dough out into a thin round (about 1/8″ thick).

3. slide the dough directly onto the baking stone or place on a baking sheet and bake for 5 to 7 minutes, until lightly browned and puffed. when you pull them out of the oven, wrap the pitas in a clean dish towl and set on a cooling rack to keep them soft.

Notes: I got this from Pete Bakes who got it from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I wish I had taken pictures of the process because it was quite a show, if you are a total bread nerd that is. Pita is really easy to make and fun to watch puff up into a pocket. I recommend you use an oven with a window because it happens quick. Seriously though if you have never made bread you should make Pita, you don’t have to knead it, it just sits there for two hours, and bake time is 7 minutes.

Bread and Soup

Spicy Indian Soup from Twelve Months of Monastery Soups
and Modified No-Knead bread ( I used a teaspoon of yeast and only let it rise for 9hrs)