Pita and Hummus

This is similar to porco_espinho’s Spicy Hummus w/lime recipe nearby on this site.

Peta Bread and Hummus
This can serve as a small meal, a snack, or as a part of a main meal.
Pita
Pita is a traditional, near-eastern, simple round flat bread, it can be made with as little as ten minutes preparation time. In India I’ve had a Peta-like bread cooked on a scrap of sheet metal over a fire of cattle dung, eaten with appreciation. While Peta can be made without yeast it is better as a partly raised bread with yeast. The basic ingredients and procedure are as follows:
• About a Table Spoon of bread yeast, stirred into
• 1 ½ Cups of warm water with
• 1 teaspoon of sugar and
• 1 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• Allow the yeast to “proof”—that is, rise and create a bubbly froth, then add
• 3 Cups of flour.
• Mix these until a soft dough is formed—add more flour if necessary.
• Set aside to rise.

Hummus
Hummus is a mixture, somewhat like peanut butter, that can be eaten by itself, or on Pita bread, or as a dip with vegetables. Simple to make:
• 1 16 oz can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans are the same thing)
• 1/4 cup liquid from can of chickpeas
• Lemon juice to taste—2 or 3 Tablespoons
• 1 1/2 tablespoons tahini (Tahini is crushed and blended sesame seeds. It is possible to prepare tahini in your kitchen but it is MUCH easier to purchase it already made, in a near-eastern grocery.
• 2 or 3 cloves of garlic, crushed.
• Salt to taste.
•2 or 3 Tablespoons of olive oil.
Mix all of the above in a blender, or with an egg beater, or a food processor, or conceivability with a fork and a whisk. It should reach a soft, spreadable consistency.

Cooking the Pita
Heat a skillet. Black iron skillets are perfect for this, as are the hammered tops of discarded oil drums, but Teflon skillets work okay too. Remember, I said I’ve eaten Pita cooked on pieces of scrap iron, and once or twice from the blade of a shovel.
Form the Pita dough into wads about the size of a golf ball, then roll them flat—about six or seven inches in diameter, using a rolling pin, a bottle, or your hands.
Toss each Pita onto the hot skillet. Watch it closely until it begins to form small bumps on top, then turn it to brown on the other side. Don’t over do it, these should be lightly brown, not crisp.
Remove the browned Pita from the skillet and place them into a hot oven (a toaster oven works well for this, as does a hot fire of cattle dung). The flat Pita will probably puff up like air-filled pillows. Take them out of the oven and let them cool.
Tear the Pita in half, chances are that it will open like a pocket-bread. Spoon Hummus into or onto the Pita and enjoy.

Oh my Gosh! I want pitta & hummus now & I can't get to the shops this evening!!!
Sometimes the world is unfair

What flour do you recommend? Could you use wholemeal type of flour?
Oh yea do you know how much a cup of flour is in grams (or ounces even) we don't use cups in the UK ...edit found it here's a conversion page, so each cup is about 150 - 165 grams, so for ease you could say 450-ish grams for 3 cups of flour

Thanks to the wonders of google I now know a 'skillet' is a frying pan (OK I don't cook much & as I fry nothing I don't actually even own one!!!)

When you toss the pitta into the skillet is it dry or is it lightly oiled?

Damn, I'm REALLY hungry now - got to go eat!

Pete wrote:

Oh my Gosh! I want pitta & hummus now & I can't get to the shops this evening!!!
Sometimes the world is unfair

What flour do you recommend? Could you use wholemeal type of flour?
Oh yea do you know how much a cup of flour is in grams (or ounces even) we don't use cups in the UK ...edit found it here's a conversion page, so each cup is about 150 - 165 grams, so for ease you could say 450-ish grams for 3 cups of flour

Thanks to the wonders of google I now know a 'skillet' is a frying pan (OK I don't cook much & as I fry nothing I don't actually even own one!!!)

When you toss the pitta into the skillet is it dry or is it lightly oiled?

Damn, I'm REALLY hungry now - got to go eat!

I often use unbleached bread flour, but "all-purpose" flour works well too. I sometimes use whole wheat flour--I like the rougher texture, but not everyone else does.

I wish the U.S. would get serious about converting to metric, anyone with ten fingers can master the system.
But as far as measuring flour for Pita, the recipe is very forgiving, you can mis-measure a lot and it will still come out okay. I often ignore the measuring cup and just grab the nearest coffee mug. In remote parts of India I've seen little girls measuring out flour for flat bread by the hands-full*.

The frying pan is dry. Pita don't usually stick to the hot cooking surface.
_______________________________________________

* At the beginning of my first experience in India I asked an Old India Hand if germs were a problem when food was prepared so casually. He looked askance and said, "The food is cooked at over 500 degrees, not too many bugs can survive that."

I must confess I went out & bought pitta & houmous
They were just sitting there in the shop I couldn't help myself

I also bought a vegan quiche! Never had one before. It was in the freezer section at my health food store, so I thought I'd give it a go (Infact to be honest I've never had any sort of quiche before, so it will be a first!)

Tomorrow is going to be pita and hummus day. I just checked our plans for tomorrow and found that we have to drive into town, and that it is going to be a busy day. So when we get home pita and hummus will be a quick and fun meal.
Oh, and healthy too.

OOOOOhhhhhhh....pitta & houmous day! I'll be in - if my back injury can get me to the shops. It will be top of the list!
For an update on the injury check out this thread

I eat a bit of hummus almost daily. Like to mix it with stewed vegetables. There is a movie: "Don't Mess with the Zohan". A comedy where one of the jokes is that the hero uses hummus for everything. He dips candy bars in it. In one scene his father puts some in his tea. At the end he puts out a blazing fire with a large vat. I just about agree. Although I haven't tried it with chocolate yet.