Wholesome Pitas

Whole grain pitas are both delicious and nutritious. It is a great way to get your whole grains without heading into starch city on overdrive.

Ingredients:
3-1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1-1/2 teaspoons yeast
1-1/4 cups warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil

Combine all the ingredients and mix and knead them together, by hand or mixer, until you have a soft, supple dough. This should take about 8 minutes by hand or 5 minutes in the mixer. You may need a bit more flour, but remember whole grain dough starts out a bit stickier and absorbs liquid as it develops, so don't add too much at the beginning of the process; you'll regret it later. You want a soft dough that feels tacky to the touch.

Scoop up the dough and form into a ball and place in a greased large mixing bowl. Cover the bowl tightly and let the dough rise until doubled in bulk, about 1-1/2 hours.

Place a baking stone or cookie sheet on the bottom rack of your oven and preheat the oven to 450.

After it's risen, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut it in half. Divide one half into 4 or 8 equal portions and form each into a rough ball. Let the balls rest for 10 minutes, covered, while dividing the second half of dough in the same way. This rest makes dough easier to roll out.

Using a rolling pin, roll out each ball to a circle about 6 inches in diameter and less than 1/4" thick. Use only enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the pin and the work surface. Too much flour allows the dough to skid around. Keep the waiting balls of dough covered as you work.

Flour a spatula and load 2 or more pitas at a time directly on the hot baking stone or cookie sheet. It should take 3 to 4 minutes for the pitas to go into a full balloon.

Turn them once they're baking to assure a speckled, brown crust on each side. Total cooking time is approximately 5 minutes.

Remove the pitas from the oven and repeat with the remaining pieces. Stack the warm pitas together in a kitchen towel to keep them from crisping as they cool.