Whole Wheat Pitas with Flax

You know how you step away from the blog for just a second with every intention of coming right back and then you turn around and it's been two months? Yep, that's what's happened here. The really sad thing is that even though I haven't blogged here I think about blogging here once or twice a week. The ideas are flowing, I just don't have time/energy.

Here's a recipe I've been playing around with lately. It was inspired by some truly unpleasant pitas I picked up at the store not long ago. I thought, "Why am I buying these less-than-pleasing pitas when I can just make my own?" So, I am.

This recipe has two tracks. For purposes of time in my own life, I've started using my bread machine to do the mixing, kneading, and rising. I really like the results and it's made homemade fresh bread so much easier.  However, I'm including instructions to make them without a machine as well.

Whole Wheat Pita with Flax

1 cup +1 tablespoon warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons raw sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup stone ground whole wheat
1/2 cup milled flax
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour


1a. Place all ingredients in bread pan of your bread machine, select "Dough" cycle and start.  When cycle ends remove dough.  Continue with directions in step two.

1b. If making without bread machine, pour warm water in large bowl.  Sprinkle yeast over water and gently mix until dissolved.  Add olive oil, sugar, and salt to the mixture and mix gently until sugar and salt are dissolved.  Add in milled flax and stone ground flour.  Mix until completely incorporated.  Last, add in the whole wheat pastry flour 1/2 cup at a time.  When the dough is firm with a slightly tacky feel, turn out on floured surface to knead.  Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, generally about six to ten minutes.  Smooth dough into ball and place in lightly greased bowl to rise.  Cover bowl with towel and place in warm draft free place.  Let rise one until double generally about one hour.

2. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently roll and stretch dough into a 12 inch rope. With a sharp knife, divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll each into a smooth ball. With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6 to 7 inch circle, at least 1/8" to 1/4" thick. Set aside on a lightly floured counter top.  Cover with a towel. Let pitas rise about 30 minutes until slightly puffy.

3. Place 2 or 3 pitas on a wire cake rack. Place cake rack directly on oven rack. Bake pitas 4 to 5 minutes until puffed and tops begin to brown. Remove from oven and immediately cover  with a damp kitchen towel until soft.  Once pitas are softened, either cut in half or split top edge for half or whole pitas. They can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for 1 or 2 months.

Notes:  An alternate to placing the pitas under a damp towel is to immediately place them in a paper bag.  I use the towel method and it works nicely for me.

Also, if you do not have access to whole wheat pastry flour, a half and half mixture of unbleached white and whole wheat works nicely.  In fact, this recipe is great to play around with.  Just try to keep the amount of dry ingredients and liquid ingredients roughly the same as amounts in the recipe.

When you're working with whole wheat, it's important to keep in mind that whole wheat flour absorbs more moisture than standard white flour.  Therefore, you may need to adjust water amounts slightly for the dough.