PITA BREAD

Mix the yeast in a little warm water and a teaspoon of sugar. Set it aside to activate (5 to 10 minutes).
Mix the flour, salt, honey and olive oil together, followed by the risen yeast mixture.
Make a soft dough and knead it for 10 minutes.
Grease the dough lightly with olive oil and keep it inside a greased bowl.
Cover it with a wet cloth and let it rise at room temperature (preferably in a warm place) until it has doubled in size. This will take one hour.
After an hour punch down the dough and make 8 to 10 equally sized balls.
Pat down each ball into ¼ inch thick round pitas. Set it aside for half an hour.
Bake the pitas in a preheated oven at 220o C for 5 minutes on the lower tray. Turn the pitas upside down and bake them for another 5 minutes on the center tray
Your soft, puffed up delicious pitas breads are now ready.
Don’t worry if you do not have an oven. You can cook them on a stove top, until they are golden brown and puffed up.
Serve the hot pitas with hummus or lebaneh and falafel or any sabji of your choice. Pickled carrots, cucumber, chilli pepper and radish all make a good accompaniment.
A very refreshing variation to this recipe that I learned when I worked with Lebanese colleagues (in Lahoud Engineering company) is the Zaatar bread.
Zaatar mix is readily available in stores in the Middle East. It is made from dried herbs and seeds like thyme, majoram, sumac, sesame seeds, fennel, etc. Basically, an equal amount of Zaatar powder is mixed with olive oil and used as the topping.
The addition of finely chopped, roasted and crushed garlic, with a little lime juice and a pinch of lemon zest is another good variation. This is spread on top of the pita bread. Set them aside for 20 to 30 minutes and bake them until the bread is browned and done.
Some people like pitas crispy, so you can bake them until they are crispy. I bet the aroma that fills your home while baking this bread will be special.
Ingredients for Pita sandwich
Chopped tomato
Diced onion
Diced roasted green bell pepper
Tahini sauce or mayonnaise
Pita bread and falafel
Slice the pita bread into half. Spread tahini or mayonnaise inside the bread. Stuff half a pita with falafel balls, chopped tomatoes, onion, green pepper and pickled vegetables.