Homemade Pita Bread

I don’t know what is more exciting, the fact that I can make my own pita bread or that it’s really pretty easy. It all starts out as a fairly standard bread dough, not that much different than the dough for a basic sandwich bread. The magic must be in the extra yeast and sugar. And magic it is! You just roll out balls of dough into flat discs, bake them at high temperature for just a few minutes and the discs blow up into big balloons. It’s really pretty fun to watch. That balloon collapses upon cooling, forming a handy pocket just right for sandwich fixings.

I started with a recipe from The Joy of Cooking and swapped in whole wheat flour for some of the bread flour. I also changed a few things in the procedure. While I used a pizza stone to bake the breads, I eliminated the step in which the stone is sprayed with water before baking. The last time I tried this, I ended up with a broken pizza stone. Not cool! I’ve found that the breads come out just fine if I don’t spray any water in the oven. It not only saves the stone (and I’ve heard of folks who broke their oven light bulbs by spraying water in the oven), but it saves a round of opening and closing the oven as well.

A pizza peel is also nice for transferring the dough disks into and out of the oven, but you could use a cookie sheet, or even carefully place them in by hand. You also could use an inverted baking sheet instead of a pizza stone to bake the breads upon. Just be sure to preheat it.

These pitas are soft and fluffy with a nice whole wheat flavor. The pockets on this batch turned out to be very delicate, that is just a thin layer of dough separated when it ballooned out in the oven. The outer edge of the pocket tears easily, but I don’t mind. I just made my own pita bread!

It might also happen that the pocket doesn’t form in the bread, especially if the dough gets kinked or folded when rolling out or transferring to the oven. While this is disappointing, you can still carefully cut into the bread to make a pocket if you like, or wrap the whole soft pita around your chosen sandwich filling. Luckily, experience seems to help this problem, and I rarely have it happen anymore.

Pitas are sneakily easy to make, especially if you use a heavy-duty stand mixer to mix and knead the dough. (I’ve been doing this lately to save time.) Once you get to the stage where the balls of dough are ready to be rolled out and baked, the whole thing only takes about half an hour, (assuming you can bake 2 breads at once.) If you have any experience making bread dough, you really should try this. If you’ve got an oven window and light, you might want to call in all the youngsters to watch the pitas puff up. Heck, call me in to watch. I love seeing them puff up.

Just make sure you tell everyone that you made your own pita bread. Nobody will give you credit as the magician you are if they think you just went to the store.

Whole Wheat Pita Bread
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking

1 ¼ cups warm water (about 100 F), divided
4 teaspoons active dry yeast (or about 2 envelopes)
1 ½ tablespoons sugar
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups bread flour (or a little more if needed), divided
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 ½ teaspoons salt

1. In the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer or other large bowl, combine ¼ cup water, yeast and sugar. Let stand for about 5 minutes or until the yeast is foamy.

2. Add the whole wheat flour, about 1 ½ cups bread flour, butter and salt. Mix with the paddle attachment until well blended (or mix with a spoon if not using a mixer). Exchange the paddle attachment for the dough hook or turn out the dough on a floured surface. Knead the dough with the dough hook or by hand for about 10 minutes gradually adding in the remaining bread flour, or more if needed. The dough should be smooth and stretchy, but still very soft and a little tacky.

3. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a large bowl that has been greased or coated with cooking spray (I use the mixer bowl). Grease or spray the top of the dough ball and place a piece of plastic wrap on top. Cover the bowl with a towel and let stand until approximately double in size, about 1 hour.

4. Gently inflate the dough and form it into a new ball. Let stand for a few minutes. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball. Lightly flour a surface on which to set the dough balls. Cover with a towel and let stand for 20 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, preheat the oven and a pizza baking stone or inverted baking sheet to 450 F. I put my pizza stone on the bottom of the oven, since it doesn’t have a heating element there. You can put your stone or baking sheet on the lowest rack in the oven.

6. On a floured surface roll one dough ball into a round disk about 1/8 inch thick. Try to get it as round and smooth as you can. Place the disk on a peel or a floured cookie sheet or inverted baking sheet. Repeat with a second dough ball. Slide the two discs onto the preheated pizza stone or baking sheet.

7. Bake about 3 minutes. The dough should puff up and brown just a bit. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. The balloon will collapse as the bread cools. Repeat with the remaining dough balls. To serve, cut the circles to expose the pockets and stuff with desired fillings, or wrap the whole pita around desired fillings.

Makes 8 pita breads. They will keep for a few days in a zip-top bag, or you can freeze them for longer storage.

Other recipes like this one: Naan with Whole Wheat Flour, Yogurt Tortillas with Whole Wheat Flour

One year ago: Squash and Pinto Bean Chili

Two years ago: Roasted Winter Squash Puree

Frosted Pumpkin Cookies

Of all the recipes I make with pumpkin and squash in the fall and winter, my favorites are the sweet baked goods. No matter that there’s an overabundance of miniature chocolate bars and other individually wrapped, personal-sized candy treats in the world this time of year, I still gravitate toward the homemade late-fall sweets. Like these frosted pumpkin cookies, for instance.

I bumped up the WFQ* in this recipe from The Pillsbury Complete Book of Baking by swapping out one cup of all-purpose flour with millet flour. As far as I know, millet is gluten-free, so its addition in baked goods will make them a little more soft and/or crumbly than wheat flour does. For this reason, I didn’t go all millet, but left some gluten in the form of all-purpose flour to hold everything together. (If you require a gluten-free flour, there are many of them in the stores and on the internet.)

The millet flour did make these cookies extra-soft, but also extra-flavorful. Millet has a pleasantly nutty, slightly sweet flavor that might just make you forget you’re increasing your diet’s WFQ. I loved it in these cookies, but if you don’t happen to have any on hand, and aren’t looking to expand your whole grain repertoire, you could just use all-purpose flour. (I’m also curious about how whole wheat pastry flour would taste in this recipe.)

I also personalized the flavors of these cookies by creating a Pumpkin Pie Spice blend that I used in place of the plain cinnamon in the original recipe. This blend is a little hoity-toity, I admit, especially since I ground some whole spices just to make it. Yes, I have all this stuff in my spice cupboard on any given day, but if you don’t you could use a commercially-prepared pumpkin pie or apple pie spice blend, use another recipe, make your own, or, heck, just use cinnamon.

As I said, these cookies are very soft, almost cake-like. I think some of that is from the millet flour, but the moist pumpkin contributes to the texture as well, so if you don’t use the millet flour, your cookies will still be quite soft. And then there’s the brown sugar frosting (which I also spiced up just a bit). It’s sweet and just a bit caramel-y and sets up on the cookie nicely without becoming too dry or crusty. It’s like you have your own little frosted cake (or two or three) that you won’t be expected to share.

Perhaps you can let all the costumed kids have their trick-or-treat candy, and keep these cookies to yourself. Nah, I won’t be doing that either…the letting kids eat all the candy part anyway.

*WFQ: Whole Food Quotient



The Messy Apron Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice

1. Combine all the spices and mix well. Keep in an airtight container for a few months.

Makes a scant 3 tablespoons.


Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Sugar Frosting
Adapted from The Pillsbury Complete Book of Baking

I used walnuts to make these cookies, but I think pecans would be even better.

You could use more all-purpose flour in place of the millet flour.

For the cookies:
1cup all-purpose flour
1 cup millet flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons The Messy Apron Pumpkin Pie Spice (or pumpkin pie spice of your choice)
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar
½ cup firmly-packed brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter at room temperature
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin or other sweet squash puree (canned is fine)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup finely chopped walnuts (or pecans)

For the frosting:
3 tablespoons butter
½ cup firmly-packed brown sugar
¼ cup milk
½ teaspoon The Messy Apron Pumpkin Pie Spice (or pumpkin pie spice of your choice)
2-2 ½ cups powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. In a medium-size bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, millet flour, baking powder, baking soda, 2 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice, and salt. Whisk together until well-blended.

2. In large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugar, ½ cup brown sugar and 1 cup butter. Beat together with an electric mixer or in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment until well-creamed and fluffy, at least a minute or two.

3. Beat in the egg until well combined. Beat in the pumpkin and vanilla extract.

4. Slowly mix in the flour mixture a little at a time until just combined. Stir in the walnuts.

5. Lightly grease cookie sheets for baking. Scoop up heaping tablespoons of the cookie batter and place them on the sheets at least 2 inches apart.

6. Bake at 350 F for 12-14 minutes or until the cookies are just beginning to brown and the surface appears set and slightly dry. Remove from the pans immediately and cool on wire racks. The cookies will be very soft, so may need a little extra care in removal.

7. To make the frosting, heat the 3 tablespoons butter and ½ cup brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally as the butter melts. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.

8. Remove from the heat and cool 10 minutes.

9. Add the milk. Stir until smooth. The sugar may have crystallized, so keep stirring until it dissolves.

10. Stir in the Pumpkin Pie Spice. Sift in about 2 cups powdered sugar. (Failing to sift the powdered sugar may give you a lumpy frosting. I, unfortunately, do this all to often.) Stir until well-combined and smooth. Sift and stir in more powdered sugar if needed to make the frosting spread easily.

11. Frost the cookies when they have completely cooled. Allow to stand until the frosting is set.

Makes about 3-4 dozen cookies (depending on how big you make them). They will keep in an airtight container for a few days.

Other recipes like this one: Pumpkin Oatmeal Quick Bread with Dates and Pecans, Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

One year ago: Caramel Corn

Two years ago: Black Beans with Beets and Oranges

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

I’m always looking for recipes to help me prove that spaghetti squash is not just fake spaghetti. Well, not always, but certainly when the stuff is in season and I get a few in my CSA box. Almost two years ago, this search led me to a Greek-flavored spaghetti squash salad that I was feeling pretty smug about, until I realized it reminded me of pasta salad.

This year I found a take on something more like a general vegetable treatment: gratin. You’ve seen other vegetables treated this way, layered with cheese (or béchamel sauce or cream), topped with breadcrumbs and baked. The original version was made with walnuts, bacon and mozzarella cheese, but I went with cheddar cheese and omitted the walnuts. I left the bacon right where it was. Everything’s better with bacon.

Speaking of the bacon, this recipe only calls for two slices of thick-cut bacon. You’ll want more. I know you will. And that would probably work just fine. I found the two slices, chopped, cooked and layered into the casserole, to be enough. You do what you feel you must in the name of bacon.

Let’s face it, spaghetti squash is a bit on the bland side, so I liked the sharp cheddar and bacon, both of which are strongly flavored and add a lot to this dish. I also spiced things up with a bit of Aleppo pepper, which I’ve really only just discovered, and with which I am quite enamored. You could use black pepper or another ground or crushed chile pepper that you like, or omit it if you don’t want the extra heat.

Overall, this is a nice, tasty and easy way to enjoy spaghetti squash. There’s much more work involved in preparing the squash than there is in assembling and baking the casserole. (I still like to use the method of baking the whole squash a bit, then cutting it when it’s slightly softened, which is much easier than hacking into a raw squash.) You could do all the assembly as much as a day ahead, then just heat it up to serve and you’ll have a nice vegetable dish without anyone seeing you sweat.

While this is first and foremost a vegetable dish (with cheese and bacon) and a great treatment for spaghetti squash, I just can’t help but wonder how good it would be with noodles instead.


Spaghetti Squash Casserole with Bacon and Cheddar
Adapted from this recipe at Chocolate and Zucchini

I used two squash for this recipe for a total of about 4 1/2 pounds.

4-5 pounds whole spaghetti squash
2 slices thick-cut bacon
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon Aleppo pepper (or chile or black pepper of your choice)
4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup fresh whole wheat breadcrumbs

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Pierce the squash skin all over with a sharp knife. Place the whole squash on a baking sheet or in a large baking dish. Bake at 375 F for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand until cool enough to handle.

2. Cut the squash in half. Scoop out the seeds. Return the squash to the baking pan or dish and return to a 375 F oven. Bake another 20-30 minutes or until the squash flesh is tender and can easily be separated into strands. Let stand until cool enough to handle.

3. While the squash is baking and cooling, cut the bacon into small strips. Cook the bacon in a pan over medium heat until browned. Drain on a paper towel. Set aside.

4. When the squash has cooled a bit, scrape the flesh from the shell-like skin with a fork. It will separate into strands. Place these strands in a large bowl. Stir in the salt and pepper.

5. Lightly grease, oil or spray with nonstick cooking spray a 2 quart (2 liter) baking dish. Place about half of the squash mixture into the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle with half the cheese and half the bacon.

6. Layer the remaining squash over the bacon and top that with the remaining cheese and bacon. Cover it all with the breadcrumbs in an even layer.

7. Bake at 375 F for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the breadcrumbs are browned and toasted.

Makes about 4 main-dish servings or 6-8 side-dish servings.

Other recipes like this one: Spaghetti Squash Salad with Greek Flavors, Spicy Potato and Tomato Gratin with Caramelized Onions, Broccoli Cheese Casserole with Mustard Rye Croutons

One year ago: Cranberry Vinaigrette

Two years ago: Roasted Vegetables

Why Not Broccoli?

I collect about seven million recipes every year. (I’m exaggerating…a little.) And so when I finally get around to going through them, I’ve often missed the season for some of the more interesting ones. Take, for instance, a recipe for Spicy-Sweet Green Beans from Food Matters by Mark Bittman. This summer, I had plenty of green beans with which to try this treatment, but, of course, the notes I took on the recipe were buried in a notebook that was buried in some other papers, which were in turn buried in the ubiquitous clutter when we moved.

So now I have this recipe, but no beans, except, perhaps, for those that would have been grown a thousand miles away in the Emerald City or somewhere else perpetually green. What I was really interested in was the sauce anyway, so I looked at the last few CSA boxes of the season and said, “Why not broccoli?”

Broccoli is always a good vehicle for sauces, since its bushy, bushy green hairdo is lovely for trapping flavors like a mop. This sauce, which is quite thick, didn’t so much ooze into the broccoli florets as coat the whole piece with its rich spicy, sweet, salty, tangy goodness. You kind of have to scoop up the sauce with the broccoli rather than soak it up, but the result is just as good.

Actually, this isn’t really about the broccoli. It’s about the sauce. I don’t care whether it gets scooped by or soaked into my vegetables, or even what vegetables they are (I think it would be good with steamed cauliflower or sautéed cabbage as well as the green beans in the original recipe). It’s about the sauce, I tell you. This sauce is fabulously delicious. This sauce is one of my new favorite foods. I’m trying to think of a way to slather it on every meal. I’m thinking of giving it out to trick-or-treaters.

Okay, that might be going too far, but this is maddeningly good stuff with a sharp, strong, wake-you-up flavor from lots of garlic, plenty of dried chiles, honey and soy sauce. The sweet and the spicy are beautifully balance and the salty-tangy (some would say umami-filled) soy sauce and sturdy ground almonds fill in all the flavor spaces. The only thing I might consider adding is a bit of sesame oil. That, however, might totally blow my mind. If so, I’ll take full responsibility. I doubt I’ll be able to blame it on the broccoli anyway.


Broccoli with Sweet and Spicy Almond Sauce
Adapted from Food Matters by Mark Bittman

1 pound broccoli florets
½ cup whole almonds
2 large (or 3 medium) garlic cloves
2 dried hot chiles
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons soy sauce

1. Place the broccoli in a microwave-safe dish. Add about 2 tablespoons water and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Poke several holes in the plastic wrap with a knife (this will allow steam to escape).

2. Microwave the broccoli for 3 minutes on high. Carefully remove the plastic wrap, avoiding any escaping steam. The broccoli should be tender-crisp, but you can steam it longer if you like. Drain the broccoli. Set aside.

3. Combine the almonds, garlic, dried chiles and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a food processor. Process until a coarse paste is formed. If the mixture is too dry to form a paste, add a little more olive oil. Set aside.

4. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes or until the onion is soft and beginning to brown. Add the almond mixture from the food processor and cook about 2 minutes more. This mixture is fairly sticky in the pan, so you’ll want to stir and scrape it up frequently.

5. Stir in the honey and soy sauce. Add the cooked broccoli and toss to coat with the sauce mixture. Cook just until heated through.

Makes about 4 side-dish servings.

Other recipes like this one: Sesame-Soy Asparagus with Ginger and Garlic, Spicy Sesame Cabbage and Zucchini, Szechuan Broccoli and Water Chestnut Stir Fry

One year ago: Chard Soup with Cilantro and Lime

Two years ago: Homemade Pizza