Homemade Pita Bread and Hummus

I got back from two weeks of vacation with my family on Friday, so I was excited to have my own kitchen again. I made a batch of S'mores cookies on Saturday for a barbecue which were as awesome as the last time. Except it was so hot in my apartment that my bag of chocolate chips melted.


Sunday, I went grocery shopping because my refrigerator was completely empty. I was going to buy some hummus at the store, but then I decided to make my own since I knew that I had a can of chickpeas and tahini at home. I had made hummus once before, but I have no idea what recipe I used last time. So I went with trusty Martha Stewart and used a recipe on her site as my basis. I made a few adjustments based on what I had on hand, and I also added some scallions and cilantro.


On Sunday, I ate the hummus with cucumber, but today there was no cucumber left and I really wanted some pita. But I'm trying to avoid the grocery store for the rest of the week to save some money after vacation and I am subject to impulse buys when I'm around food. I've been wanting to try to make homemade pita for awhile after seeing big puffed up pita breads on so many blogs in the past year. So tonight was the night.


I had everything I needed on hand, so I started when I got home from work around 7:30 and by 9:00 I was eating homemade pita. I used the recipe from The Kitchn which was just as easy as it says. And because my kitchen is 90 degrees, my dough doubled in size in about half an hour instead of the 1-2 hours the recipe suggests.


I only made half the recipe tonight and stored the rest in the fridge for later this week. I used my pizza stone and attempted to slap the dough onto the stone. I was doubtful, but three out of my four pitas puffed up. The fourth one was like a little football!



Homemade Hummus
adapted from Martha Stewart recipe

20 oz can chickpeas, drained, liquid reserved
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1/4 cup cilantro
2-3 scallions, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tbsp lemon zest

In blender or food processor, combine the chickpeas (reserve a few whole chickpeas to garnish if you want to be all fancy), olive oil, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, cilantro, and scallions. Process or blend until all combined. Add some of the reserved liquid from the chickpeas until it reaches the thickness that you like. Salt and pepper to your taste.

Garnish with the reserved whole chickpeas and the lemon zest.

Homemade Pita Bread
recipe from Apartment Therapy: The Kitchn

1 cup warm water
2 tsp active or instant yeast
3 cups flour (I had to add more flour, maybe because it's so humid)
2 tsp salt
1-2 tsp olive oil (optional)

Combine the warm water and yeast and let sit for about 5 minutes. In a stand mixer, add about 2 1/2 cups of the flour, salt, and olive oil to the yeast mixture and mix until combined. Switch to the dough hook and add some more flour. Let knead in the mixer for about 8-10 minutes (you can do this by hand too). If it's really sticky add some more flour, but don't add too much, it will still be sticky.

After kneading, place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for 1-2 hours until doubled (mine only took half and hour because it was so warm).

Preheat the oven to 450ºF and place baking stone or baking sheet in the oven. Once dough is done rising, lightly punch it down and place on a floured surface. At this point, you can refrigerate dough for later use for up to one week. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions and place under plastic wrap until ready to use. Roll each portion of dough into an 8-9 inch round. Place the round in one hand, and flip it over on the baking stone or sheet.

Bake for 3 minutes or until it's all ballooned up. And if they don't puff up, they're still good.