Pita Perfection

I wasn't going to post tonight's meal, but I had a great thing happen.

I decided to make a meal of a bunch of mediterranean-like food. Hummus, cous-cous, cucumbers, and pitas. One thing: no pitas.

So, I pull out Bernard Clayton's New Compete Book of Breads. In it, I found a wonderful recipe for pitas that I felt I had to share. Now, I'm not saying this is the perfect pita recipe, but it is very, very close. And it takes...wait for it...about 35 minutes to prepare. With rising. Enough said. My Kitchen Aid mixer helped, but it would be pretty easy by hand as well. (It would just take a little longer to knead.)

2 1/2 cups flour (it calls for bread, but I used AP (all-purpous)
2 tsp salt
1 Tbs sugar
1 package dry yeast
2 Tbs oil (Olive oil preferred. Here is where I use my machine oil.)
1 cup hot water (120º-130ºF)

Eight 7" squares of aluminum foil.

1. Mix 1 cup flour with dry ingredients. Add oil and hot water. Beat for ~3 minutes. Stir in balance of flour, 1/2 cup at a time until you get a very soft dough. (I used 3 cups flour this time.)

2. Knead for 6 minutes or so. If using the mixer, do the last minute by hand.

3. Preheat the oven to 500ºF (yes 500!). Divide dough into 8 pieces (I did 6 because apparently, I can't count). Roll into balls an dlet rest for 20 minutes.

4. Flatten each ball and roll into ~6" diameter disk (don't worry if they aren't round). Place each disk on a piece of foil.

5. Carefully place 2-3 at a time in the oven on the middle shelf. Bake 8 minutes.

6. Remove and wrap all the breads from a batch in a large piece of foil, stacked (this allows them to soften). Serve warm or let cool and freeze.

I don't know if I'll ever buy pitas at the store again.