the simple pita

We’re going back to the basics again. Not a rusk, but the pita bread.

Listen, if I had faith that you could find everything you ever craved in gluten-free all the time, I’d just tell you where to go buy them. These things differ though. State to State, grocery store to grocery store, & country to country. Even day to day!

I can’t promise you that you’ll find one out there that doesn’t taste like rubber, or worse.

So, here we are starting with the fundamental building blocks once more.

To tell you the truth, I’m not even craving pita bread…. oh no I didn’t!

……………I’m craving pita chips! Where on earth am I going to find those though? Maybe if I searched every organic store in Athens, but even then that might be a long shot. If I had endless bounds of money, I’d send someone out on a scavenger hunt to buy me every obscure gluten-free product they could find. Just so I could have it.

Just so I was never laying on the couch, watching a movie, thinking “I’d really like a crunchy snack that isn’t raw carrots.”

So again, I’m going to teach you how to make gluten-free pita bread so that in turn, you can make the gluten-free pita chip. In any flavor you want. You don’t even have to turn it into a chip! You can turn it into a sandwich, or a wrap, or shawarma. Or just eat it plain because you’re standing in the kitchen too hungry to think about what actually to make & you just need to sooth the beast for a minute or two so you can collect your thoughts.

You’ll thank me one day.

Ingredients: – 475ml warm water – 1 tbs instant yeast – 1 tbs honey – 160g (1 cup) Oat Flour – 160g (1 cup) Buckwheat Flour – 160g (1 cup) gluten-free white flour blend – 3 tsp xanthan gum – 0.50 tsp salt

Directions: 1. combine the water, yeast & honey in a bowl & set aside for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to froth up & activate. 2. in a large bowl combine the oat flour, buckwheat flour, white flour blend, salt & xanthan gum. Mix to combine & create a well in the centre. Pour the yeast mixture into the well & begin to mix the wet into the dry. Knead the dough to combine all the ingredients thoroughly until it is a smooth ball that will be quite sticky (if you have a machine with a dough hook, it will be easier to use that). Coat lightly with oil, leave in the bowl, cover & let rise for 3 hours. 3. divide the dough into 12 equal balls & allow to rise for a further 10 minutes. You will need wet hands to do this so that the dough wont stick to you. Keep a bowl of water next to you & dip your fingers in between each ball. Place the balls on a surface that has been dusted with flour (any of the three used in the recipe will do) 4. coat your hands with more flour & then flatten out your balls of dough into discs about 13 to 15cm (5 to 6 inches) wide using your fingertips. Make sure they are approx. 0.25 inches thick, too thin & they wont puff up properly. Allow to rise for a further 20 minutes after they’ve been rolled out. Preheat the oven to 260°C (500ºF) make sure to preheat your baking trays as well (a pizza stone works really well to bake them on). 5. bake on the bottom rack for 4 minutes or until the dough puffs up, turn the discs over & then bake for another 2 minutes. Allow to cool.

Tools/ Equipment/ Machinery/ Ingredients:

Stand Mixer - Kenwood - http://amzn.to/2yqXPiH

Silicone Spatula - Zyliss - http://amzn.to/2y3Srkw

Chef's Knife 8" - Miyabi - http://amzn.to/2fUtyRK

Active Dry Yeast - Bob's Red Mill - http://amzn.to/2gcC2R4

Brown Rice Flour - Bob's Red Mill - http://amzn.to/2z1MUt1

Buckwheat Flour - Anthony’s Organic - http://amzn.to/2xjRS6T

Oat Flour - Bob's Red Mill - http://amzn.to/2fNUuyZ

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#yeast #honey #oatflour #buckwheatflour #xanthangum