Home-made Pita Bread with Hummus
Yes, I made home-made pita bread today!
It was fun. Really. I followed this recipe (thanks paola for the link!) step by step, and finally, I was able to enjoy the hummus with pita as many of you suggested. Yay!
I would rate my first home-made pita bread as … maybe B-. The recipe yielded 8 but I downsized it to half and made 4 of them. Two out of them puffed up perfectly but the rest didn’t. Maybe the dry yeast wasn’t fully awake… it had been kept in the freezer for months and I didn’t leave it at room temperature long enough before mixing into the flour. (Or just as firmgirl says, "All pitas do not puff." That remark really made me feel at ease.)
 
That said, the pita bread (with or without pockets) went well with the hummus, as many of you said. Thanks again for the suggestions! Next time I’ll try home-made whole wheat pita.
With pita bread at hand, I HAD TO try out this recipe, Lemon Chicken Pita Burgers on Joe's site. I found the recipe about a week ago, but was about to give up on that because I didn't think I could buy pita anywhere.
Unfortunately, there was another thing called for in the recipe that was not available around here: Greek seasoning mix. So I googled to see what kind of spices were included in the mix and just picked the ones I had: ground cumin, paprika, pepper, salt and garlic powder. I had to use regular oregano in place of Greek oregano, and probably that made a big difference because I read on several websites that Greek oregano is tangy or pungent.
Anyway, making many bold (?) substitutions and omissions, I made something that can be called “Chicken Pita Burgers” which might be very different from Joe’s.
Chicken Pita Burgers and Hummus-stuffed Cherry Tomatoes
My burgers were not totally terrible, though… they were just another B- stuff, I would say. The problem was that I couldn't really taste the tang of lemon, and the pita bread was rather plain... To improve the taste, I put some hummus inside the pita burger. So it was pita+hummus combination all the way. Next time I’ll try this with whole wheat pita bread (home-made, of course) and more lemony yogurt sauce.
BTW, I gave one thumb up for the hummus-stuffed cherry tomatoes. Those were pretty good. (I just love bite-size finger food ;))
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16 comments:
Sorry obachan,I've deleted my comment above by mistake.This was my comment...↓
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How adventurous you are...this pita bread looks very good!
I suppose the real good cook is able to make do with what he's got yet produces delicious food.
You really are inspirational,
obachan.
So yummy looking.. and so adventurous of you .. to make home made pita bread..! i love the tomatoes too..! that must be alot of work..eh..??
Wow!! indeed ... I live in Little Armenia (City designation) and your pita look JUST like those I buy at the bakery.
So, if ever you're job-hunting, you can come to Hollywood, and 'you got it made'.
I'm amazed at the different things you take-on ... and you're always so successful (yes, you really are).
Rah!! for you.
God bless, Christine in Los Angeles
You go, obachan - good for you! I was so proud of myself when I first made my homemade falafel but I've never even attempted my own pita. Yours look perfect - congratulations. Who knew that the middle east and far east were not so far from each other after all?
congratulations obachan, your pitas look great! when i make pita sandwiches i alway give them a good squirt of sriracha or other hot chili paste, plus some runny, lemony,garlicky tahini, otherwise they taste a little bland and dry to me....have you ever tried to make homemade boiled bagel? it's really fun and the texture is the true ny chewy style, not the puffy airy stuff!
OsloFoodie
Thanks. This was my first try, so I’m not going to be too critical about what I made this time. Yeah, the ones that puffed were pretty good.
KT121
That’s OK. I’ll delete the one above.
As far as the process is concerned, making pita wasn’t as complicated as baking some kind of cake or bread. But the result was really a matter of luck this time, so it was thrilling, in a sense :)
Big Bok
No, it wasn’t really a lot of work to make those stuffed tomatoes. They are my new favorites.
Christine
Wow, thank you for the compliment, but I don't think only 50% puff-rate is good enough to be a professional :D
glutton rabbit
Haha. And half of the menu would be various types of pizza made from unpuffed pitas. Cool! ;)
Annie
Thanks. I’m thinking about trying falafel sometime. Middle East and Far East? Not too far? Mmmm….. maybe so…but we live on islands, you know.
rae
Mmm, that kind of paste would be good with pita. Now I’ve noticed that several people mentioned tahini and I guess that’s another thing I should look into. It sounds pretty versatile…
Homemade bagel? Oh, come on, another temptation? Ahhhh…. Yeah, I can’t stand puffy airy bagels, but I’m a bit afraid that I might produce some stone-hard, weapon-like stuff if I gave it a try. Do you have a good recipe that you can recommend?
wow obachan, konnichiwa
the pita bread looks awesome. I am going to try making it as pita pockets are a quick and fun food to have. And the cherry tomatoes look really cute too. thanks for posting these.
Hi bilbo, konbanwa
I’m glad that you liked the post. Have fun making pita pockets!
When I sampled tahini to my Japanese friends they almost all said "it's like gomadoufu."
Actually, it's simpler, since it's just finely ground sesame seeds that become a paste... but I like the accent in hummus and in some sauces.
Tonight I made some pita also... thanks for reminding me of how nice it is to have fresh pita. I also made Egyptian-style foul mudammas, which is a more mild spread similar to hummus but made with onions, tomato and soramame.
milgwimper
Oh, have fun! It was so much fun to see them puff (even though some of them didn’t…)
AG
Well, I think pita bread is already quite popular in bigger cities in Japan. Around here, I remember seeing pita sandwiches at a bakery in town a while ago, but they did not sell pita bread alone. They only sold sandwiches, and those sandwiches were not made at the bakery but from a factory somewhere outside the town.
Jason
Oh is tahini like gomadofu? I sort of imagined it to be something like neri-goma. I love to have my toast with neri-goma (made from white sesame seeds) and honey spread on top.
Your pita was awesome. I hope mine will be like yours next time.
Obachan, your pita bread looks so good I keep scrolling down to have a look at it :)
Thanks! ;) I'll try again sometime soon.
Hello again!
What interesting timing. I think I was waiting for your site to open so I could read more of your posts while you were leaving a comment at mine! Ooooh, I made it down to your pita post! Everything looks and sounds absolutely delish. Those stuffed tomatoes are adorable. I love the wide variety of things you write about. The Garden Report is wonderful! Until next time. . .
P.S. You asked if I mind that you added a link to Farmgirl Fare on your blog. Far from it--I'm very flattered. Thank you! : )
Thanks for visiting my site, farmgirl. For me visiting your site to imagine myself being in your farm is a kind of therapy. I owe you a lot. Honestly.
Thanks for the recipe and instructions! I'm going to try that. For help increasing the nutrition of your pita bread recipe, check out this blog: http://enrichingexperiences.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the link. I'll try it someday. Yeah, I’ve heard that sprouting the grains has some nutritional benefit.
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