Pita Bread for the GF Ratio Rally!

July…
It’s right in the middle of summer, and here we are, the day before Independence Day (at least for those of us in the States!)…which usually means life is pretty busy for everyone. Fireworks, picnics, get-togethers….For the Gluten Free Rally-ers, there is no exception. This month’s challenge was pita bread, but everyone was so busy having fun with their family and friends that no other recipes got posted this month.
That’s okay…I hope that this post will inspire you to try your hand at making pita bread on your own; explore and come up with your own version (after you finish that giant piece of watermelon at the picnic, of course!)
Here’s my original post for this month’s rally:
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It’s time for this month’s Gluten Free Ratio Rally…and this time around, I get the privilege of hosting! When the suggestion of pita bread was brought up as this month’s challenge, I jumped right on it. I’ve never made pita bread before, much less gluten free, but I’ve always wanted to. So here was my chance! I hope that you will enjoy making it as much as I did!The technique for making pita bread seems to be pretty standard, but there’s always a few “tricks” when working with gluten free bread. Here are some good links that I started working with for my recipe:

Food Like Amma Used to Make It suggests a ratio of 2 parts flour to every 1 part water.
Jenn Cuisine – A fellow rally-er, and her tips on making good GF pita bread
Cybele Pascal and another gf pita recipe that I found useful

Gluten Free Pita Bread

4 oz warm water
1 T. sugar
1 pkt. active-rise yeast
1 t. baking powder
8 oz. (1 2/3 c.) gf flour blend
1 T. (12g.) psyllium husk powder
1/2 t. salt
1 egg
2 t. olive oil

In a small bowl, mix water + sugar + yeast. Let rest 5 minutes, or till foamy.
In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
In another small bowl, beat the egg with a fork. Add the olive oil.
Add egg mixture and yeast mixture to the large bowl with flour blend. Mix well. The dough will be a little sticky.
LIGHTLY flour your hands, and form the dough into a large ball. Then split the dough evenly into 8 pieces.Pat each of the sections of dough with your hands, forming them into flat, round pitas (about 1/4″ thick) on two greased baking sheets, or ones lined with parchment paper.
Cover the pans with Cling Wrap or a damp towel, and let them set in warm place 1 hr.Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Putting the trays on the lowest rack in your oven, bake for 4 min, or till they start to brown. Then carefully flip them over, and bake for 1-2 more minutes.

Sadly, these pitas do not automatically form pockets–probably because they don’t rise much due to having no gluten. That takes the fun away for about two seconds. But once you cut the pitas in half, they are easily split open with a knife. There! Good as ever!!
You can use your pita bread to dip in hummus, or make them into “tote-able” salads or sandwiches. One recipe that I hope to make soon is lamb with cucumber yogurt sauce to fill my pitas. Also, my sister and I have toasted these with a little olive oil and garlic salt, and used as “toast” with zucchini lasagna….Yum!!