Anyway, this recipe. Let me tell you that originally my pitas were going to be much bigger and more delicious and I was going to stuff them with a chicken avocado salad I planned to make. My pitas turned out considerably smaller than I thought they would (what? I thought they would grow in the oven, it happens) and there just weren't enough to make for dinner. So, I ended up stuffing them with the chipotle black bean hummus I made earlier this week and the lentil sprouts I've been sprouting all week. My kids loved the pita bread itself and Laila ate two of them with hummus in them, but no one was brave enough to eat the sprouts, not even Kristian. I loved the sprouts in there. I thought they were so yummy. The whole combination was a win win in my book. My pitas didn't ever puff the way they should and I think my using home made unstrained almond milk was a little too heavy for them. I used gluten free flour from trader Joe's. If you are just using regular flour, you could omit the xanthan gum. This recipe is also on my Healthy habits pinterest board.
Gluten-free Pita
MAKES 8 TO 10 PITAS, depending upon size
Ingredients
3 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour, divided
2 teaspoons xanthan gum (omit if using Better Batter all-purpose gluten-free flour)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons canola (or vegetable) oil, plus more
2 1/2 cups warm milk, about 100 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit (low-fat is fine, non-fat is not)(nondairy is fine provided it has some fat)
Baking & Preparation Notes:
*Please pretty please read through the whole recipe before you begin. We’re all very excited, but we.must.remain.calm. Deep breath. Read on.
*These directions assume a stand mixer. If you do not have one do not despair. Use a large bowl and a spoon, and just do your best stand mixer impression. You can also use a food processor.
*You will need some sort of hole-y (not necessarily holy (but who am I to judge?), just with lots of holes) surface upon which to bake the pitas. You need lots of air circulating around them to get them to fill with steam. I use a pizza crisper. For pizza, I use a pizza stone, but it doesn’t work for pitas. It looks like this. Anything oven-safe up to about 500 degrees F that has lots of holes in it will do, though.
*You need a screaming hot oven. And NO PEEKING. It’s kinda like a souffle. It’s modest. No peekaboo. You’ll ruin everything.
*Here’s the biggest secret of all: You don’t need every single pita to puff all the way through. The essential feature is that the pita be cooked until a tiny bit crusty on the outside, and kinda fluffy on the inside. If you get that far, and it puffs on at least part, you can let the pita cool a bit, slice it in half through the center, and slide a knife (horizontally and with care) through the center to free the pocket. Free the pockets! Free all the pockets!
*Ideally, when shaping the dough, you’re going for a seamless, airless form. You have to squeeze out all the air pockets that were created by the yeast. It seems like madness, since you just let the dough rise. Seriously? Humor me on this. ;)
*No rolling pins allowed. Just alternating flour and oil, finger tips, and turn turn turn to every season turn turn turn. You’ll see.
1. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, place 3 cups of flour and the xanthan gum, along with the salt, and mix to combine well. Add the yeast and sugar, then the oil, mixing well to combine after each addition.
2. With the mixer on low speed, add the milk in a slow pour. The dough should begin to come together. Continue adding the milk until it’s all in there, baby.
3. Now comes the part where it would be super-helpful if I had a picture for you of the dough as it begins to take shape. But I don’t. And I feel real bad about that. So I’ll paint you a picture: Add enough additional flour so that the dough is thick and kinda creamy looking – not dry, and not really sticky, but tacky (not like it’s poorly dressed, but like if you touch it some of it sticks to your finger).
4. Dump the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, turn it over a few times to coat with oil, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to rise in a warm, humid place for about an hour, or until nearly doubled in size.
5. Once the dough has risen, preheat your oven to 475 degrees F. Turn the dough out onto a heavily floured surface (if you have a silicone mat, this would be a great time to break it out). Divide the dough into 8 to 10 pieces, roll each in the flour on the mat, pick one to work with first, & let’s get the initiation over with, shall we?
6. For each ball of dough, begin to flatten it (& squeeze out the air) with the heel of your hand, staying away from the edges, taking care not to make it too thin and sprinkling flour on sticky spots. Using floured fingertips, press the dough toward the edges (without pressing down the edges). Keep the form relatively small, no more than about 6 inches. Rotate the round of dough on the floured surface, and flip it frequently. As the dough begins to resemble a round, continue pressing toward the edges with your fingertips, and press back toward the center of the round with the side of your other hand, rotating and flipping the dough as you go. If this sounds confusing, go back and read this paragraph again, keeping in mind that we’re trying to create a seamless piece of dough with integrated sides. If you have added too much flour at any point, drizzle in some canola (or vegetable) oil. And don’t be afraid to oil up a piece of dough and start again. It’s more forgiving than you think. If you see any concerning spots, try to seal them up with either flour or oil, depending upon what the issues seems to be.
7. Place only as many pita-to-be rounds on your pizza crisper as can fit without touching. Stepping lively, place the crisper in the preheated oven and shut the door right quick. Bake for between 5 and 8 minutes, taking care not to allow the pita to burn (it will be crunchy and very hard to work with). Watch in amazement.
Remember – if not every pita pops, don’t.worry.about.a.thing. Don’t get discouraged. If one pita doesn’t work, pull it out before it burns, call it Naan, and keep on keepin’ on.
Cut pitas in half, gently slice open the more reluctant ones,
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