Whole Wheat Pita Bread

I love this bread for making paninis, and it's also awesome with hummus!

3 1/2 Cups whole wheat flour (or a combination of all-purpose flour, pastry wheat flour, etc)
2 tsp. salt (I use kosher)
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 Tbps. Olive oil, plus some for greasing bowl
Approx. 2 Cups water


**The recipe I originally used comes from (surprise, surprise) Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. He uses a food processor to make the dough; which I bet is quicker, but I don't have one big enough to 'do' bread dough so I just mix it and knead it by hand and give it ample time to sit. (I usually make the dough the night before -- it takes less than 15 minutes -- and then just let it sit covered overnight to cook the next morning.) But I'm sure you could get away with letting it sit for a few hours and then baking. **

• Add dry ingredients in large bowl and give a rough mix with a large serving fork.
• Mix in olive oil.
• Begin to add water a few tablespoons at a time until dough is "a well defined, barely sticky. easy-to-handle ball." (I am using my hands to mix and knead the dough still in the bowl at this point. If you've added too much water, just add a tablespoon or two of flour until you get the right consistency.)
• Lightly oil around the outsides and bottom of your bowl and cover the bowl. (Obviously the dough round is inside.)
• Let rise until the dough ball has about doubled in size. (Like I said, I just let it sit overnight, but with instant yeast, it probably only takes a couple of hours.)
  
• Deflate and divide into 6 - 12 pieces.
  

Enter Bittman's Fabulous instructions (taken pretty much word for word) noted in italics.

Keep all pieces lightly floured and covered. Preheat oven to 500 F. If you have baking stones, use them; if you so not, place a baking sheet on each oven rack.

On a lightly floured surface, flatten each piece into a disk, then roll it out to a 6- to 8-inch circle.

(Sometimes my 'rounds' are more of a lose interpretation of the word.)

Lightly flour each circle as you finish it, and cover it; do not stack.

When the oven is preheated, place as many of the pita rounds as will comfortably fit on your stones or baking sheets (start with the rounds you rolled out first.) In 2 to 3 minutes, the dough will puff up; remove it form the oven and repeat the process. If the breads do not puff up, they will still be fine, but next time try to make sure that there are no creases or seams in the dough after rolling it out.

Sometimes they don't puff up much.

And sometimes they puff up a lot, but just on one side. :)

I do prefer to use a pizza stone and I like the size of using 8 pieces from the dough (as opposed to 6 or 12). Enjoy!

Easy Garlic Hummus

Yet another adaptation from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything

Time: About 20 minutes with pre-cooked/canned garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas)

2 Cups chickpeas (if you're cooking them instead of using canned, make sure they're well-cooked)
1/2 Cup tahini (sesame paste)
1/4 Cup olive oil (Bittman says you can also use the sesame oil from the top of the tahini, but I swear olive oil is easier) plus some to drizzle for garnish
1 clove garlic, peeled or to taste (roasted would be awesome but I still haven't tried it that way)
Salt & Fresh ground pepper to taste
Ground cumin to taste (1 Tbs. is a good starting point) plus some for sprinkling as garnish
Juice of 2 lemons or to taste (Bittman's recipe just calls for 1, but I use more)
About 1/2 Cup of water

Place everything except water in food processor.
Process.
Add water as needed for the smoothness desired.

Taste and add more garlic, salt, cumin, etc as needed (maybe lemon, but with 2 you should be covered!)

Serve with vegetables, crackers or pita bread.

Crackers

Adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything

Makes about 4 servings
Time: About 15 minutes

"Crackers are ridiculously easy to make," Bittman muses, "and once you produce your first batch you'll have little trouble figuring out how to create your favorites. Sprinkle them with salt, sesame seeds, or poppy seeds, work a tiny bit of garlic or herbs into the dough, or substitute whole wheat or rye flour for some or all of the white flour."

1 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 T butter
About 1/4 C water (or milk), plus more as needed

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Place first three ingredients in a bowl or food processor and mix together until flour and butter are combined. Add about 1/4 C liquid, continuing to add until the mixture holds together but is not sticky
3. Roll on lightly floured surface 1/4 inch thick or less. Add flour as necessary. (Bittman says you don't have to worry about about over-handling the dough... crackers are very forgiving!) Score with knife or razor to break into nice squares or rectangles later on. (I find a pizza cutter or cookie cutters work great depending on how you want the size and shape of your crackers.)
4. Bake on a lightly floured baking sheet, or directly on baking stones until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Cool on a rack, serve warm or at room temperature, or store in a tin (I use mason jars with lids.)

For Recipe club, I use whole wheat flour and followed the variation for Bittman's Cream crackers and used milk in place of water (though cream would obviously work too), increasing the butter to 4 T (1/2 stick instead of 2 T). I also added a tsp of sugar for more flavor!

A few pictures can be found on my blog here.

Creamy Avocado Dip

Adapted from Annabel Karmel's First Foods:

Serves 4 (can easily be doubled)

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe avocado
• 1/4 Cup soft cream cheese
• Approx 1 T salsa (may substitute diced tomatoes, seasonings, etc) or to taste

Scoop out avocado flesh, mash until smooth and then mix with remaining ingredients.

Serve with veggies or home-made crackers.