Pita Bread

Pita bread was one of the first items I added to my wishlist of things to make for the blog, so I was excited to finally give it a try. The simplicity of pita was appealing to me. I have all of the ingredients needed on hand almost all of the time, how convenient!



One of the things I have been excited about doing with this blog is learning to bake things that most people wouldn’t ordinarily try at home, foods that we normally tend to just pick up at the grocery. I am quickly learning that so many of these types of food items are actually very simple and relatively easy to bake in your own kitchen. This latest project was one such experience.

So, what is it that makes pita different from other bread? The pocket! I have learned that the key to making pita with a nice pocket is a very hot oven and baking surface that stays consistently hot throughout the baking process. The JOC suggests using the bottom side of a baking sheet or a baking stone for your baking surface. My baking stone is currently in storage, so my only option was to use the bottom side of a large pizza pan.



Since Orin and I are both big fans of pita, I decided to make a double recipe. I was about to head out of town for work and thought that it would be a nice alternative for my lunches on-the-go. I used half bread flour and half wheat flour for my pita. According to the JOC, all wheat flour can be used, but you will need to increase the amount of water you add to the dough mixture to keep the consistency softer.

Of the doughs I have created and worked with so far, I think that the pita dough has been one of the most successful. The dough was very “alive” and had excellent consistency. It rose very well and was easy (and fun) to handle.



Here are some more detailed directions so that you can make your own pita. I enjoy it with hummus and fresh cucumber slices. Pita can also be eaten with falafel or as the flatbread to any deli-type sandwich.

Pita Bread

Combine the following dry ingredients in a large bowl:
3 cups of bread flour (or wheat flour)
1 ½ Tablespoons of Active Dry Yeast
1 ½ Tablespoons of sugar
1 ½ Teaspoons of salt



Add the following wet ingredients to the mixture above:
2 Tablespoons of melted butter
1 ¼ cup of room temperature (72-75⁰F) water

Stir until the dough is formed, then transfer to a kneading surface.



Knead the dough for 10 minutes, adding small amounts of water or flour if needed. The dough should be moist and tacky, but not sticky. To knead, press with the heel of your hand, rotate the dough, fold it over itself, and then press down again with the heel of your hand.



When finished kneading, place in an oiled bowl, turn over once to coat with oil and then cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for 1 to 1 ½ hours or until it has doubled in size.



While the dough is rising, you will want to place your baking surface on the bottom rack of your oven and begin preheating the oven to 475⁰F.

Once the dough has risen, punch down and knead just until it no longer contains air bubbles.



Divide the dough into 8 equally-sized pieces and roll each piece into a dough ball.





Place the dough balls on a lightly floured surface and cover. Let rest for 20 minutes.



When the dough balls are done resting, you will want to roll each one into an 8-inch round (approximately 1/8 inch thick) on a floured surface.





Once the oven is preheated, you can add as many rounds as will fit onto your baking surface and bake at 475⁰ for 3 minutes. Remove from the oven after 3 minutes and let cool completely. Continue baking each set of rounds for 3 minutes each. Ideally, the pita will “pop” and look like a balloon before you remove it from the oven. This “pop” is what creates the pocket in the pita. Only a few of my rounds actually “popped”. I think that my oven cooled too much between each batch of baking. I would suggest waiting a few minutes between each batch to let your oven reheat itself and closely monitor the temperature throughout the baking process.



I think that the half and half mixture of bread flour and wheat flour was a nice one. Although most of my pita didn’t “pop”, they still had a great texture and flavor. An overall success!



Thank you Orin for the amazing photos!

Soft Pretzels

Pretzels are a yummy snack that I have enjoyed ever since I was a child. I have fond memories of visiting my grandma and great grandma in Ohio and making special trips to a small, local pretzel bakery. The bakery specialized in hard pretzels that lasted weeks. Bags of these crunchy, salty snacks were ever-present throughout my childhood. My grandma kept us constantly stocked for as long as I can remember. An in person visit to the bakery was very special though, because it meant that we could get a big, fresh, soft pretzel to eat right then. The thought of making my own fresh pretzels has often gone through my mind as I have begun to bake more at home. While making my wish list for the blog, pretzels were one of the first projects to be added to the list. I have been waiting for just the right opportunity to make them. Soft pretzels need to be eaten within a day or so of being baked and I needed an occasion where I could share them with a group. Game night at a friend’s house seemed like the perfect opportunity, so I went for it.



I knew that pretzels were similar to bagels, since they are boiled before being baked, but I still didn’t know what made the distinctive flavor and shiny golden brown appearance. Now I know that it is a combination of melted butter in the dough mixture and oiling the dough while rising that makes them unique from other breads.

Similar to most other dough, you start the process by dissolving yeast in warm water. I have had problems in the past with achieving the right water temperature. If the water is too hot, then you will kill the yeast and your dough won’t rise. If the water is not warm enough, it will not activate the yeast and your dough won’t rise. The optimal temperature to activate yeast is somewhere between 105° and 115°F. I decided to start using a digital thermometer to more accurately measure my water temperatures for mixing dough. It takes a lot fo the guess work out of dough mixing and has worked really well.



Here is a slightly revised version of the recipe I used from the JOC. I would highly recommend trying them for yourself!

-Combine in a large bowl and let dissolve:
½ cup of warm water (105°-115°F)
1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons) of active dry yeast

-Add: 1 ¼ cups of all purpose flour
1 ¼ cups of bread flour
2 tablespoons of melted butter
1 tablespoon of sugar
½ teaspoon of salt

-mix by hand (or in a mixer) while adding an additional ½ cup of warm water (105°-115°F)

-Stir well, adding up to ¼ cup of each type of flour additional if needed. The dough should be moist but not sticky. Transfer to a kneading surface and knead for about 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. I found that the texture was very similar to that of the bagel dough after kneading.



-Place the dough in a bowl that has been lightly oiled with either vegetable to olive oil.

-Turn the dough over in the bowl a few times to coat the dough with a light layer of the oil.



-Lightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place (75°-80°F) for at least an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

-Once the dough has risen, punch it down and divide equally into 12 parts. Roll each section of dough into a ball, place on an un-floured work surface, loosely cover with oiled plastic wrap, and let set for about 10 minutes. Grease a large baking sheet.



-Roll each section of dough into a long snake. (about 18 inches) Forming the pretzels takes a little bit of practice. I will try to describe the process, but you really will just have to work with it a few times to figure it out. Lift the dough in front of you, holding one end in each hand, twist the dough around itself, a few inches from each end, then fold over and press the ends into the looped part of the dough.



-Place each pretzel on the greased baking sheet, spaced well. Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap and let rise for about 35 minutes.



-Preheat the oven to 450°F and boil a large pot of water.

-Once the pretzels have risen, boil each one for about 30 seconds on each side, until they are “puffy”.



-Remove from the water and place back onto the greased baking sheet. Lightly sprinkle with coarse kosher salt.



-Bake at 450°F for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

-Remove from the oven and let cool for just a few minutes.



*I made the mistake of trying to remove them from the baking sheet too early and ended up tearing the bottom layer off of a few pretzels. They don’t need to be cooled completely, but waiting until they are no longer hot will enable you to remove them from the baking sheet without tearing them apart. *

You will want to keep these in an airtight container and eat them within a day or so. If you don’t eat them fresh out of the oven, reheating in the oven for a few minutes will soften them up. We enjoyed some dipped in melted cheese, some with mustard, and others simply plain and salted.



For Dad, Grandma Pat, and my Great Grandma Grether.

Lemon Scones

I was feeling a bit thrifty trying to decide what to bake for this blog entry. I looked over my wish list and started going through recipes to see what I could make with ingredients I already had on hand here in the apartment. Thanks to some remaining heavy cream leftover from a messy, but very yummy, truffle-making experiment and with the exception of a few fresh lemons, I had everything I needed to make a simple summer breakfast treat of lemon scones.



After a little bit of research, I learned that one of the keys to successful, flaky scones (like biscuits as well) is to handle and work the dough as little as possible. Like the pie crust, you also want to use a pastry blender to cut the butter in this recipe into the dry ingredients while it is cold.



The Joy of Cooking also recommends using two butter knives to cut fat into a flour mixture if you do not have a pastry blender.



This recipe turned out to be relatively simple and easy to execute. I look forward to making scones again and again, adding different flavors and ingredients each time. Orange and white chocolate chip scones are sounding like an excellent idea for fall!

Here is the recipe so you can try it in your own kitchen!

Lemon Scones
Preheat your oven to 450°F

Dry Ingredients:
1 ¾ cups of all-purpose flour
2 ¼ teaspoons of baking powder
1 tablespoon of sugar
½ teaspoon of salt

Wet Ingredients:
¼ cup ( ½ stick) of cold butter
2 large eggs
1/3 cup of heavy cream
2 tablespoons of lemon zest

-Combine dry ingredients and sift together into a medium-sized bowl.
-Cut the butter into the flour mixture.
-In a small bowl, beat the two eggs together and then set aside 2 tablespoons of the beaten egg for later use.



-Add the heavy cream to the beaten eggs
-Mix 2 tablespoons of lemon zest to the liquid mixture.
-Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the liquid mixture into the well.


*I forgot to add the lemon zest earlier, so I had to add it in at his point. Turned out to work just fine.*

-Just combine the ingredients in a few strokes. Don’t mix thoroughly! Turn the dough onto a floured work surface.



-Pat the dough to ¾ inch thick and into an 8-inch round.



-Cut into 8-12 wedges



-Place on an ungreased baking sheet



-Brush with the reserved egg.



-Bake at 450°F until golden brown (about 15 minutes)
-Remove from the oven and sift powdered sugar over the top.



You can eat them warm out of the oven or let cool completely and store in an airtight container to enjoy for up to a week. Tea drinkers will love this treat combined with their favorite summer tea.


Enjoy!

Sandwhich Bread

I have been looking forward to making my first real loaf of bread for the blog and the time has finally come. Last week, I hurriedly packed my bags as I was about to head down to New Mexico for a week and a half of work. Looking over my “wish list” for the blog, I wondered what baking project might fit into my travels and time in Los Alamos. I eventually decided that I would attempt a loaf of sandwich bread, practical for my lunches in the field and relatively simple ingredients to pack up and bring with me. Luckily, my company has a few corporate apartments here in town, so I am fortunate to have a kitchen at my disposal during my time here.



I had every intention of baking a hearty whole wheat loaf for my first solo bread attempt. However, another drastic difference in flour amounts recommended by the JOC resulted in a nice loaf of white bread. Most whole wheat bread recipes call for equal amounts of whole wheat and white flour. The JOC recipe says to use 5-6 total cups of flour, 3 white and 2-3 whole wheat for this particular bread. I ended up only using a total of 3 cups of flour combined with all of the other ingredients. Since I added the white flour first, it ended up being the only flour used and the recipe then only yielded one single loaf as well.

Despite all of that, my one loaf of white sandwhich bread came out really well. It has been very tasty for lunch the last few days.



Here is my revised version of the recipe.

Pre-heat the oven to 450⁰F

Combine in a saucepan and heat until melted and warm (105 - 115⁰F):
1 cup of milk (you can use also water)
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of shortening or lard
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of salt

In a separate bowl, combine and let stand until the yeast dissolves:
¼ cup of warm water (105-115⁰F)
1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons) of active dry yeast

Once the yeast has dissolved, combine with the mixture above.

Have 3-4 cups of flour ready (you can use all white or a half white/half wheat mixture)

Add about half of the flour to the liquid mixture and stir for a good while. Gradually keep adding flour until the dough is not longer too sticky and you can take it out of the bowl to knead.



Knead the dough on a solid, flat surface while continuing to add enough flour so that the dough is smooth, elastic, and doesn’t stick to your fingers. Once you are finished kneading, your dough should easily form into a smooth ball.



Place the dough back into the mixing bowl, cover, and let rise for an hour. After an hour, punch the dough down and knead again to remove air bubbles. You may need to add a little more flour at this point as well.



Once you have kneaded out all of the bubbles, form the dough into an oblong loaf and place into a lightly oiled 5”x9” loaf pan and let rise for another 45-60 minutes.

Once the dough has risen a second time, lightly oil the top of the dough and place in a pre-heated oven at 450⁰F for 10 minutes.



After the 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 350⁰F and bake for an additional 30 minutes until the loaf is golden brown.



Remove the loaf immediately from the pan and let cool completely before slicing.

Enjoy!

Granola

Before heading out on our travels to the Pacific Northwest, Orin and I decided to make a big batch of granola for the upcoming weeks on the road. Granola travels well and is the perfect breakfast when you’re on the go or even on a mountain!




Over the past two years, I have tried a few different recipes for granola. The best one by far is a simple recipe passed on to us by Orin’s mom, Ilana. The great thing about granola is that you can pick and choose what nuts or dried fruits you like to add and the basic recipe still remains the same. I like to buy most of the ingredients from the bulk foods section of Sunflower Farmers Market. Buying in bulk is often much cheaper and fresher than most pre-packaged foods.



The first step in making granola is to measure out your basic ingredient, the rolled oats, and coarsely chop the nuts you would like in your mix.



Using the meat cleaver for chopping the nuts reduces the amount of work you have to do since the weight of the cleaver will do a lot of the chopping for you. I think it's better to keep the nuts pretty coarse, so that they don’t get too dark when toasting.



Once the oats and nuts are ready, it’s time to mix your syrup. A good trick to use when mixing your syrup is to measure out the oil before the honey and swirl it in the measuring cup.



This way, when you measure out the honey, it will easily slide out of the measuring cup, saving you from a more lengthy and sticky cleanup.



Don’t quite bring the syrup to a boil before evenly pouring it over the oat a nut mixture.


Try to stir well and coat all of the oats and nuts with the liquid.



I use a large pizza pan to toast my granola, but a roasting pan(the kind you would cook a turkey in) actually works much better. I just don’t have one.



Try it for yourself. It’s really easy and much healthier than any store bought granola out there! I enjoy mine best with some yogurt and fresh fruit. It’s also very tasty with milk! On Mt Rainier, it even tasted good with powdered milk and warm water.

Preheat your oven to 350°F

Combine:
6 cups of Rolled Oats
3 cups of coarsely chopped nuts (any mixture of almonds, pecans, or walnuts will work)
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Spread the mixture evenly in a roasting pan.



Mix Syrup:
1 Tbsp of vanilla
2/3 cup of water
½ cup of vegetable oil
1 cup of honey
2 tsp of salt



Slowly warm in a saucepan over the stove. Heat until the mixture is well blended. Don’t boil! Pour the syrup evenly over the oats and nuts.



Mix well with a large spoon.

Bake initially for 15 minutes. After the first 15 minutes, remove from the oven and stir well. Bake for an additional 30-40 minutes, stirring the mixture every 10 minutes. Be careful not to over toast the oats. Remove from the oven before it gets too golden brown in color. Once you remove it from the oven, it will continue to bake for a few minutes, so you don’t want to overdo it.

Let the mixture cool completely before adding your favorite dried fruits and any other ingredients your heart may desire. Be creative and try a variety of combinations to suit your tastes.



I like to add:
½ cup of dried cranberries
½ cup of raisins
1 cup of dried banana slices.
2 cups of bran flakes



Thanks again to Orin for his lovely photos and also thanks to Ilana Bakal for the great recipe and teaching us how to make it just right!