I made Pita!  My first time.  I had thought, maybe, there was some voodoo involved, but there isn't.

I used Beatrice Ojakangas' "Whole Wheat Pita Bread" recipe on page 277 of "Great Whole Grain Breads".  I stuck the dough in the fridge overnight, planning to pick up her instructions after the kneading.  But the recipe got confusing.  If I took her literally, I would "preheat" the oven to 500 after I stuck the rounds in the oven; didn't make sense since I was baking only for 4-5 minutes and in three batches.

I sat on the floor and watched through the oven window each batch bake.  After about the two-minute mark, they would start to fluff up.  By the end of the baking time, they were fully-puffed out.  I ate one and it was delicious!  Next time I'd probably make them a bit smaller, though.

Does anyone know of a pita-making video?  I think that might help.

Rosalie

There is a bakery in San Francisco CA called Liguria Bakery.  They make focaccia in a gas fired brick oven.  Their focaccia comes out of the oven light, moist and airy.  Does anyone know their recipe? 

I was archiveing some pages the otherday, and stumbled upon this wild pizza experiment, and thought I'd share it with all of you. The recipe went as follows:

Mix some yeast with warm water, and allow yeast to fully dissolve and become bubbly.  Mix in some flour, until a dough-like consistency is achieved.  Place in oiled bowl, cover with damp cloth, and allow to rest for a few hours in a warm place.  Remove and knead dough.  Shape dough in softball-sized spheres, cover with cloth, and allow to sit.  Preheat oven to around 400 degrees or so.  Roll out the dough, and add toppings (dandelion greens, anybody?).  Shove the thing in the oven, and before too long, you have pizza!

I spent way too much time the night before Thanksgiving making a stack of parathas to take to a potluck. Roll out chapati dough, brush with ghee, fold in half, brush with ghee, fold, crimp. roll out further. Later I discovered that after my parathas had been sitting for a while, I could stretch them further with my hand.

Still, I thought they were too doughy, not flaky enough.

So I did what I've been doing more and more these days: went on YouTube to look for a recipe. When it comes to cooking, video teaches better than words.

I found this little video of Burmese street vendors making hundred layer parathas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD6XDD1lB8E

I'd have to practice for months before I could whap out a paratha that easily.

I just made my first pizza.  It's in the oven, but it was touch-and-go to get it there.  I created it on the counter with corn meal beneath, it slid around fine, but trying to get the peel under it to transfer it to the oven was not happening.  I ended up getting help and using parchment paper and the peel together to transfer it to the oven.  Can someone describe a better way for me?  Perhaps I should put to dough on cornmeal and on the (metal) peel before I add the toppings?  I made enough dough for two, so I can try again tomorrow.  Thanks for any insight.

:-Paul

Well, my subject line says it all.  Monday I have a Thanksgiving potluck to attend and would like to take something I can prepare Sunday that will hold well.  The recipe must not have eggs.  I appreciate any suggestions you may have and I thank you in advance.

 :o) 

I have a question, I have 2 little containers of these tiny tomatoes and wanted to know if it would work if I crushed them up in a processor and froze it, I can't eat all of them and hate to waste it.

Hi,

I made the pitas liston the right side of the page from this site. I think the water is too much . I made them as instructed and it unusable, then I looked at the recipe, 2.5 (or 2.25) water to a pound of flour , I added more flour salt, they came out ok, I guess. I play in the kitchen so, I sued soem speldt, in place of wheat flour. I took hald and made pita (some had pockets, some did not), the other half I simply rose forst coating it with seseme seeds then slitting it , allowing a good rise. Every one loved the bread, didn't like the pita.  I really was trying for the pocket, and some worked others did not work.

One day I will do the lentil bean roti trick I watched the women do at a restaurant I did electrical work for.

They took a lump of dough say 3-4 ounces, poked a hole in it, then filled it with about a tblspn ground cooekd lentils, sealed it, then rolled it to a disc, real big like 14-16 inches then panfried 'em. , not too dry, very flexable. When you order a Roti (say curried chix, they take this put a nice schmear of spudes a ladle of chix  filling then pull up the sides, and it looks like a huge round knish or burger. to eat you open it tear off bread and scoop up the stew, no forks, well I used fork. I tried to tell the owner, for people in USA who work in office , debone everything, cook the bones in the stock, but remove them. People will pick them up and bit it like a burger. He went out of biz. sadly. His carribean food was great.

chris

Hello, I am searching for a type of foaccia deep pan type bread.  Recently, on Food Network - saw episode containing bread that was baked in large pan and appeared to be about 2 inches thick.  It was then cut into squares a out 4 or 5 inches wide and sliced in half for sandwiches.  Does any one know what type of bread this could be????  IF so, what type of recipe would you use????    Thank you!!!!