Recipe: Basic Pita Bread

This recipe, while delicious, is not for the lazy. If you're more on the lazy side or just afraid of food that requires baking you can pretty easily find some vegan pita bread in the grocery store. Most pita bread (white and wheat) is accidentally vegan. Baking your own, however, is cheaper and tastier than buying the stuff you find in the store or ordering it out from a Greek restaurant.

Estimated Time Needed: 2+ hours (most of this time is used for the bread to rise)
Good For Lazy Folks?: No

Ingredients:
- 3 1/2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 packet active dry yeast
- 1 tbsp organic cane sugar or other vegan sugar
- 2 tsp fine sea salt
- Extra flour for kneading

Preparation:
1. Dissolve the sugar and the packet of active dry yeast into the warm water. Allow it to sit for 10 minutes or until foamy.
2. In a large bowl, mix up the flour, yeast mixture, and salt.
3. On a floured surface, knead the dough by hand until elastic and smooth. Add flour as needed.
4. Form the dough into a ball and transfer it to a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to rise for 2 hours.
5. Prehat your stove to 500 degrees.

NOTE: 500 degrees is really hot. You cannot use silicon bakeware or silicon oven mits in temperatures exceeding 400 degrees. Be careful.

6. Punch down the dough and divide it up into 8 equally-sized balls.
7. Let the dough balls rest for 15 minutes under a kitchen towel.
8. Roll out the dough balls into approx. 1/4" thick circles. Make sure to roll out any creases in the dough.

Cooking:
1. Bake your pitas two at a time on a baking sheet for about 3-4 minutes or until you see them puff up.

Serve pitas with salad, stuffed with vegan goodies like hummus or tabbouleh, or eat them just as they are.