Spelt Pita

This past Shabbat, we had a school weekend in a beautiful community called Nof Ayalon. Knowing that the food we would be eating for lunch was yeshiva food, I took the opportunity to once again bring my own bread with me so at least I knew I would be eating something. I whipped out my Whole Grain Baking and decided to make the Spelt Pita. It's been a while since I last tried my hand at making pita (the last try was the successful Whole Wheat Pitot) and I still have a bag of spelt flour hanging around from when I discovered a health food store that sold presifted every type of flour imaginable. (I have since found a much closer store that carries everything in more. I even found rye flakes!) It seemed the natural choice. One might ask, why make pita when you live in Israel? Now, it's true that pitot are Israeli's most loveable bread, especially if you love falafel. With their built in pocket, they are ready for any sandwich filling and they are ubiquitous. Still, there's something to be said about homemade bread- it's just fun! Especially watching them balloon in the oven. That never gets old. And I've never seen a spelt pita in any store. So there. Back to the recipe. I made a half recipe and it was quite simple. Make a sponge, add remaining ingredients, knead, let rise. I stashed my dough in the fridge overnight and baked them off Friday morning. I rolled them a bit too thin, so next time I would make them smaller so that they are more bready and sandwich like. I wasnt able to enjoy them right out of the oven, they would be soo good that way, but nonetheless they were really good. The spelt lends a noticeable sweetness and mellowness and I love the speckled, branny look it gave the dough as well. These breads are off to Yeastspotting!

Spelt Pita

from KAF Whole Grain Baking

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp instant yeast

1 cup water

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

1 1/2 cups spelt flour

Place the all purpose flour and yeast in a bowl and whisk. 

Pour in the water,

and stir until a smooth batter forms. Cover with plastic wrap and let it set for anywhere between ten minutes and two hours.

I let it go for a while and this is what I got. 

Add the olive oil and salt,

and a cup of the spelt flour.

Stir to form a shaggy mass.

Turn the dough out onto a silicone mat and knead the dough until it coes together until its smooth and elastic, using the remaining spelt flour as needed.

Place in a greased bowl and turn to coat. (At this point I put it in the fridge, but you can let it rise for about an hour until doubled and then proceed with the recipe.)

Here is what my dough looked like the next morning. Place a baking stone in your oven and turn your oven to 500 degrees.

Scale your dough into eight pieces. 

Roll them out into circles- this is a skill I havent yet totally mastered. Make yours smaller than mine and youll be rewarded with nice breads.

Place the one at a time on your hot stone. They should balloon in about three minutes. Carefully turn them over to get color on both sides.

Repeat with the remaining dough rounds. Enjoy!