Angie Lelyukh
Hour 2

                                                     Homemade Pita Bread

Ingredients for 8 pita breads:

For the sponge mix:

1 pkg dry active yeast (2 1/4 tsp)

1 cup warm water (about 90-100 degrees F.)

1 cup (4.5 oz by weight) all-purpose flour

Then:

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

1 3/4 to 2 cups all-purpose flour, or until a soft, slightly sticky dough forms (about 8-9 oz by weight)

*Let rise about 2 hours, or until doubled in size. Form 8 small, round loaves, let rise 30 minutes. Roll out and let rest 5 minutes before grilling.

http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/search?q=pita+bread (Directions) 

I have found that I enjoy baking while watching how to make videos and I found a great website -- Foodwishes.com -- that does not include any written directions but only videos with Chef John, At home, I made grilled pita bread because I wanted to try something new and wanted to stuff them with something yummy. Pita bread is a yeast bread therefore, I used the straight dough method. When making the pita bread I realized that the waiting time including fermentation, and bench proofing plus extra waiting time on the side was about 3 hours which more than the typical bread and looking at the recipe I realized that it was because one of the main ingredients that helps yeast grow -- sugar, was absent so I was very tempted to add a tiny addition of sugar to speed up the process. I also got impatient while waiting for the fermentation to take place so I boiled hot water and put in a pan in the bottom of the oven to help create heat which in fact did speed up the process. Also, I was a little afraid that they were going to turn out dry because I felt like I added in too much flour at once in the mixer but in the end they ended up being done well. The only thing I was disappointed with while making the pita bread was at the end they did not seperate like they were suppose to so I had to cut them open. Although they were not gushing with flavor because they are only a floury paste, they were still delicious because they had a pinch of salt to them and the olive oil gave them a nice flavor. On top of that, the texture was perfect, they were crispy/toughish on the outside but when bitting in to them they were warm, soft and fluffy. The ended up looking nothing like pita breads but more like dough that was fried, a pale color with the spots of  brown on the sides (the sides they were grilled on). 

Overall, I though this proccess was very lengthy for only 8 pita breads so If I were to do it again, I would double or even triple the reciepe.