Olive Oil and Wheat Pita Bread

My mother has always grown her own sprouts, soaking the seeds in a bowl before laying them on a little trellis and letting them grow to fledgling sprouts in the fridge. I never liked sprouts and still don't, but I loved opening the fridge to see the small lawn of sproutlings. I would ask my mom if I could pick the portion for her lunch, as I delighted in pulling the collective tangle of roots out. My mother used them in a number of dishes; salads, open-faced sandwiches and, often, filling pita with hummus, avocado, cheese, and a handful of sprouts. My sister, brother and I would eat our pitas simultaneously, mine bare of any leaf, and then attack our individual heaps of blue corn chips.

I grew up on these and other pita sandwiches. Sometimes no one had sprouts, just shredded cheese, warmed in the oven until the edges got crisp. Sometimes they'd be fancier, filled with meatless meatballs and homemade marinara or falafal. And now, I find myself making the pita from scratch.A spur-of-the-moment decision, and nearly as easy to come together as the sandwiches we made.

 This recipe is incredibly easy. I give credit to the olive oil, an ingredient I do not in fact use that often. The few drops create luscious flavour, but also make the dough very easy to handle. A short rise followed by an even shorter one, and the dough is ready to bake. If you've got a baking stone, go ahead and put it on the rack as you warm up the oven. I did the same with an overturned cookie sheet, with great results.They're also fun to make- quite a few of mine rose into spherical pillows as they baked, appropriately deflating upon removal from the oven. Another trick- I used chopsticks to remove the baked pitas from the oven, as a spatula would have resulted in a chase across the cookie sheet surface, and the pitas were too hot to touch with bare fingers alone.

Adapted from The Fresh Loaf's pita bread
Olive Oil and Wheat Pita Bread
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups cold water
1 tbsp granulated sugar or honey
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 TBSP olive oil

Directions
--Heat water in a small saucepan until warm. Pour over yeast and sugar. Let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes.
--Combine flours and salt. Add yeast mixture and olive oil and stir with a wooden spoon until dough begins to come together. Using hands, knead dough into one mass. Keep kneading until dough is smooth, about 10 minutes, adding more flour if necessary.
--Let rise in a covered bowl until double, about one hour.
--Divide dough into 8-10 portions. Let balls of dough rest on a flat surface for about twenty minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400. Place a baking stone or overturned cookie or baking sheet in the oven while it heats up.
--Using a rolling pin or your hands, stretch portions of dough into rough rounds. Place on overturned sheet, as many as will fit (I fit three at a time). Bake for 5 minutes, or until dough is puffy and feels crisp to the touch. Using chopsticks or tongs, remove from oven and place on a plate to cool.
--Repeat with rest of dough. Eat immediately with smashed, roasted garlic, hummus, cheese, or plain. Pitas will also store up to a week, and can be frozen, with good results.