===== Pita Bread =====

This recipe comes from the Los Angeles Times California Cookbook.  I've never actually used it as it was intended, but only to make pizza.  The people who run a Turkish restaurant nearby make their own bread and use the same dough for pizza (suçuk pizza!); however, they don't put oil in their dough, or so they told me.

^ Half ^ Full ^ ^ Ingredient ^
| 2.5-3 | 5-6 | C | "bread" flour |
| 1.5 | 3 | Tb | sugar |
| 1 | 2 | tsp | salt |
| 1 | 2 | pkg | yeast. ((I was often stingy with the yeast, putting only half as much (depending on the claimed potency on the package, and considering a cup of flour is about 100 g.) )) |
| 1 | 2 | C | H<sub>2</sub>O |
| 2 | 4 | Tb | oil, but a more neutral-tasting oil, not olive oil (or just a little) |
^ Yield ^^^^
| 7 | 14 | 7-inch circles 1/8 inch thick (according to the cookbook) ||
| 270 | 539 | sq. inches | total surface 1/8 inch thick |
| 3476 | 6952 | cm<sup>2</sup> | total surface 3-4 mm thick |
| 4 | 8 | 32 cm (13 inch) pizzas @ 804 cm<sup>2</sup>.  Less if one prefers thicker crusts (as we often did) ||

  * Combine sugar, salt, yeast, and 1/3 of the flour.
  * Heat H<sub>2</sub>0 and oil to about 50° C.  Blend in to dry ingredients at low speed.
  * Beat 3 minutes at medium speed
  * Stir in about 1/2 of the flour to obtain a dough of kneadable consistency.
  * Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes) on countertop with remaining flour.
  * Let rise in covered, greased bowl until doubled, about 90 minutes.
  * Punch down.  If making the "full" recipe, divide in two.  Make ball(s), let rest on counter, 15 minutes, covered.
  * Divide into the number of crusts desired, and roll.

I would often, but not always, brush the rolled crusts with olive oil so they would absorb less tomato sauce (and thus stay lighter, in theory).