Whole Wheat Sesame Pita Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups flour all purpose flour

• 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

• 2 1/2 tsp yeast

• 2 tsp salt

• 1/3 cup olive oil

• 1 1/3 cups water (room temperature)

• 2 tsp sugar

• 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

1. Combine all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, yeast, salt, sugar and sesame seeds in the bowl of a stand mixer.

2. Using dough hook attachment on low speed, slowly pour oil into flour mixture and then pour water into flour mixture. Mix until a cohesive dough starts to form and no dry ingredients remain, 2 minutes.

3. Increase speed to medium-low and knead dough until smooth and elastic, 6 minutes.

4. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for form a smooth round ball. Place dough, seam side down, in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, let rise until double in size; 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

5. Gently deflate dough. Transfer to a lightly floured surface. Divide dough into 8 equal portions. Cover loosely with a dish towel.

6. Keep dough covered as you work with 1 piece at a time. Form each piece of dough into a ball.

7. Heat crepe pan or tava on medium heat. Coat 1 dough ball with flour and roll into an 8-inch round. Place pita on hot pan and let cook for 1 minute until you begin to see air pocket, flip pita over and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Flip once more and cook an additional minute. After the first flip, pita should inflate. If the pan gets too hot, lower heat.

8. Place cooked pita covered in a dish towel. Continue cooking pitas until all are done.

9. Serve with your favorite grilled meat and vegetables or with hummus.

Yields: 8 pitas

Notes&Tips:

• Pitas are very similar to a kind of roti (sada) I grew up eating. However, with sada roti baking power is the rising agent and not yeast.

• When baking the pitas, you have to attend to them as they cook very quickly. Cooking these get easier after you do it a few times.

• Flax seeds or Chia seeds can be substituted for the sesame seeds. However, if you'd prefer to omit the seeds altogether it does not take away from the taste of the pitas. I often use ground flax in a lot of my baking.

• These pitas were delicious and tasted unlike the store bought version.

• I used the pitas as a base for my skewered Grilled Chicken and Peppers.