I've actually become quite good at baking bread and bread products.
Much to the chagrin of my ever expanding waistline.
One thing I have never tried before, though, is pita.
I make things similar to pita, quite often, like tortillas and even naan bread... but I wanted to try making pita.
Well, it turns out they're a little tricky. And my first iteration herein did not really turn out very well...
I mean, nothing was inedible or anything; in fact these flatbread saucer thingies turned out quite delicious. They were fresh, hot, and very yummy... they just weren't pitas.
The differentiating factor, and what I was going for here, was the ability for these things to 'open' or have pouches/pockets created within.
I mean, how else can you stuff it with deliciousness? You can't stuff a flatbread, bub. Nosiree.
:(
Anyway, I'll show you how I did this. As far as a bread product goes, it was relatively easily prepared, and the dough was ready within a couple of hours only.
Proof a couple of teaspoons of active dry yeast in a cup of warm water.
Let that do its thing for about five minutes, and then add to it about 3 cups of flour (start with 2 1/2 cups, depending on your relative humidity... I live someplace very humid) and a pinch of salt.
I used whole wheat flour... for all the good and bad that that entails.
Turn that out on your counter and kneed for five minutes, adding more flour as needed.
Once the dough has formed, lightly coat it in some vegetable oil and put it in a medium sized bowl.
Cover with a tea towel, and let stand for a couple of hours, preferably in a warmish spot. My favourite spot is on top of my stove (oven is not turned on... it was about 30° the day I did this) with the bright (and surprisingly hot... I've literally burned myself on these) led lights of the overhead fan on.
After a couple of hours, I pulled the dough apart into 8 separate and relatively uniform balls.
These I then carefully rolled out with a rolling pin.
Before placing them carefully in a lightly (very lightly) greased cast iron pan.
Avocado oil being my oil of choice.
You can see that they WANTED to puff up... at least a little bit.
But they ended up being just too delicate for me, and when I tried to (gingerly) cut open one side and gently pull it apart, they all inevitably ripped.
Sigh.
It's ok though.
They still ended up making a delightful and tasty flatbread.
Especially when I smothered them with hummus and adorned them with freshly fried falafels!
So, I know that all hummus is vegan. But when I put the word in the post, it shows up when people search for vegan things. Which apparently is a lot. Like a crap tonne.
:)
Well... now that I come to think on it, I guess somebody could put some dairy in there... some butter... or some cream... or maybe top it with some cheese...but I've never heard of that... and plus you'd be crazy to do that...
Hummus don't need no dairy.
;)
I don't know why I've never made my own hummus before; I've always wanted to.
Perhaps it's because it is so plentiful and relatively cheap out there in the world.
Or perhaps I'm just lazy and have never gotten around to itl I mean, I've had a jar of tahini in the cupboard for over a year I think... I guess I'm just lucky that shit just doesn't go bad.
Well... I had always been told it was easy to make, but now I know just how easy. (By the way, that would be super easy.)
Plus, if you make it yourself, you can add or omit anything you like.
I went for a relatively traditional garlic and lemon hummus, but added a touch of cumin and cilantro.
So, in order of concentration, we're talking:
- Chick Peas (Garbanzo Beans) (about 2 cups before soaking overnight)
- Tahini (Sesame Paste) (about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup... myself, I like a strong tahini flavour)
- Lemon Juice (of two medium lemons... I'd say roughly 1/2 cup)
- Cilantro (dealer's choice... I put in a fair bit... the freshness is nice)
- Garlic (again, dealer's choice... but again, I like a strong garlic flavour... so I put in about 5 cloves... which, when I compared to other recipes, apparently is quite a lot... but I don't think so.)
- Cumin Seed (this is optional... but I like it...)
- Paprika (just a dash here, and a dash there... like after for presentation)
- Sea Salt (just a pinch... don't need much... I'd still recommend a little though, so don't omit this.)
You can literally just huck all of that into a food processor and press the button. It really is that simple.
I did drizzle a scant but steady stream of extra virgin olive oil through the lid's drizzle hole (what else would we call this tiny, spherical hole under a plastic cap on top of the lid? It's not big enough to put anything solid through it, so it has to be for liquid. But it's way too small to be called a 'pour' hole... So... Imma call it a drizzle hole, foo'.) as it 'processed' but that was maybe a tablespoon all-told.
Scrape it all out, and garnish with some more paprika and cilantro.
That easy.
Serve with pita, toast points, crudité, kale chips, or whatever your heart fancies, really. Or (my favourite) underneath some freshly fried falafels! Yum!
