Pita Bread with Hummus

One of our favorite dips and foods is Hummus.

Today with the Bakereoose we will be making the classic Pita Bread with Hummus

How to Make Pita Pocket Bread

T dry yeast

1 cup warm water

1T sugar

1 tsp salt

1T olive oil (I used a garlic infused oil)

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 cups bread flour

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Let sit for 10-15 minutes until water is frothy.

Combine flour and salt in large bowl.
Make a small depression in the middle of flour and pour yeast water in depression.
Slowly add 1 cup of warm water, and stir with wooden spoon or rubber spatula until elastic.
Place dough on floured surface and knead for 4-minutes. When the dough is no longer sticky and is smooth and elastic, it has been successfully kneaded.

Coat large bowl with vegetable oil and place dough in bowl. Turn dough upside down so all of the dough is coated. Cover bowl.
Allow to sit in a warm place for about 1 1/2 hours, or until it has doubled in size.

Once doubled, roll out in a rope, and pinch off 10-12 small pieces. Place balls on floured surface. Let sit covered for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 500 deg F. and make sure rack is at the very bottom of oven. Be sure to also preheat your baking sheet.

Roll out each ball of dough with a rolling pin into circles. Each should be about 5-6 inches across and 1/4 inch thick.

Bake each circle for 4 minutes until the bread puffs up. Turn over and bake for 2 minutes.
Remove each pita with a spatula from the baking sheet and add additional pitas for baking.

Take spatula and gently push down puff. Immediately place in storage bags.

Hummus 101

Hummus is a dip or spread made from chickpeas. Hummus is in fact the Arabic word for chickpea. Hummus has been eaten since ancient Egyptian times. Over 7,000 years ago. In almost every culture the use of mashed beans in some form are used.They are an excellent form of protein. Coupled with pita bread they provide all the essential components of a complete protein. Many people around the world don't eat meat to get their protein. The combine grains and legumes (beans and grains) to get all that their bodies need. It's a wonderful way to eat. There are not any set in stone recipes for hummus. When you don't have tahini, you may use sesame oil or sometimes we use sesame seeds. Tahini is a paste made from toasted sesame seeds. It's very strongly smoky flavored from the sesame.

Hummus with Tahini

1 16 oz can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans

1/4 cup liquid from can of chickpeas

3-5 tablespoons lemon juice (depending on taste)

1 1/2 tablespoons tahini

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation:

Drain chickpeas and set aside liquid from can. Combine remaining ingredients in blender or food processor. Add 1/4 cup of liquid from chickpeas. Blend for 3-5 minutes on low until thoroughly mixed and smooth.Place in serving bowl, and create a shallow well in the center of the hummus

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

1 can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans (15 oz

1/3 cup tahini

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 cup -3/4 cup roasted red peppers (depending on taste)

Put all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Sun Dried Tomato Hummus

1 can garbanzo beans/chickpeas (15 oz.), drained

3 tablespoons sun dried tomatoes in oil

2 teaspoons parsley

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preparation:

In a food processor, combine all ingredients and process until smooth and creamy. If too thick, add 1 tablespoon water until desired consistency.

thank you to About.com for the useful hummus recipes in this post: http://mideastfood.about.com/od/hummusrecipes/tp/kids_hummus.htm

Oh Crepes!

Our family has been making crepes since EmaBug's birthday last month.

"A crêpe is a type of very thin pancake, usually made from wheat flour. The word is of French origin, deriving from the Latin crispa, meaning "curled." "

Today we made white flour and whole wheat flour crepes.

 

 


"Mise en place is a French phrase defined by the Culinary Institute of America  as "everything in place", as in set up. It is used in professional  kitchens to refer to organizing and arranging the ingredients that a  cook will require for the menu items that he or she expects to prepare  during his/her shift.^[1]"

Stir, stir, stir

 Thank you, Miss Stephanie, for the (silver) crepe pan!!

oops! We are such great cooks that this one even got the fire alarm cheering for us. =}

Here's a whole wheat one cooking. We only got two thumbs down (one person, two thumbs) on these.
Bear: "It tasted a little different, but not that much."
EmaBug: "It's not as light and fills you up more and that's a good thing."
Mom is just happy to have a healthier crepe that tastes good.

Yum! 

Basic Crepes –Chef Tess

4 eggs

1 cup water

2 tsp vanilla

Blend in blender or really well by hand.
1 c. flour
1 T. sugar
1/3 c. instant powdered milk
1/2 tsp. salt

In a separate container, combine the wet ingredients very well. Add the wet to the dry and mix until all the lumps are gone. You may have to use a strainer. The batter should be just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Use a very small amount of oil in a non-stick skillet. I use an 8 inch skillet...and Medium low heat. If your pan is too hot the crepe batter will start to cook before you can coat the pan with it. I use 1/4 cup batter and just roll the pan around until the batter lightly coats the bottom of the pan. Cook 2-3 minutes on one side and then gently turn over. Usually you'll have one side that gets a little more brown than the other.