homemade pitas

In keeping with our latest kick of recreating classic store-bought goodies from scratch (pop-tarts, hamburger buns, tortilla chips...), I searched for a homemade pita recipe to showcase the gyros recently highlighted in my newest favorite food blog, The Londoner. There were many out there, but this recipe from anoregoncottage.com  seemed to be the easiest (ie. used ingredients in my pantry) that was proven with whole wheat flour. I went with the ratios of whole wheat to all-purpose flour below for my first attempt, but will probably try to increase the whole wheat in the future. Since I am not a consummate baker, I can say with confidence that anyone should be able to make these with success. Let me know how yours turn out!Homemade Pita Bread   Makes 8 large pitas

• 2-1/4 c. whole wheat dough
• 1 c. all purpose flour
• 1-1/2 tsp. salt
• 1-1/2 tsp. instant yeast
• 1-1/4 warm water
• 2 Tbl. olive oil

Combine all the ingredients and mix them together – by mixer or by hand. Knead by mixer 5 minutes or by hand 8 minutes until you have a soft dough that is tacky to the touch. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic and let rise until doubled, 1 to 1-1/2 hours.Heat oven to 500 degrees. Place a baking/cooling rack directly on the oven rack.Turn dough out to lightly floured board, cut in half and place one half under a dampened towel. Divide the other half into four equal portions, shaping each into a ball and placing under the towel. Repeat with the remaining half of dough.Let rest 5 minutes.Use a rolling pin to roll each ball one at a time into a circle about 6 inches in diameter and 1/4 thick on a lightly floured surface. Repeat with one or two more rolls.Place the rolled pitas directly on the baking rack in the oven. Set timer for 4 minutes, check for browning and puffing, and remove or continue cooking for up to 1 more minute, if needed.While the first pitas are cooking, prepare the next batch. When removing the pitas from the oven, stack them together in a kitchen towel to keep them from crisping as they cool. Immediately add the next batch of dough to the rack in the oven, repeating process until all the dough has been cooked.