Peppy's Pita Bread

I have been wanting to make pita bread for a really long time.  Usually when I try it, it doesn't puff up like it is supposed to and turns out to be more like a flat bread.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, and it was way easy and tasty.  We had fun watching every single pita puff up perfectly in the oven.  I can't wait to stuff them with something yummy!

Ingredients:

1 1/8 cups warm water (110 degrees F)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions:

1.  Place all ingredients in bread pan of your bread machine, select Dough setting and start.  When dough has risen long enough, machine will beep.  (I made my in my Kitchenaid because I don't have a bread machine, and just mixed it until it formed a soft dough, then let it rise until double in size.)

2.  Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface.  Gently roll and stretch dough into a 12 inch rope.  With a sharp knife, divide dough into 8 pieces.  Roll each into a smooth ball.  With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6 to 7 inch circle.  Set aside on a lightly floured counter top.  Cover with a towel.  Let pitas rise about 30 minutes until slightly puffy.

3.  Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.  Place 2 or 3 pitas on a wire cake rack.  Place cake rack directly on oven rack.  Bake pitas 4 to 5 minutes until puffed and tops begin to brown.  Remove from oven immediately place pitas in a sealed brown paper bag or cover them with a damp kitchen towel until soft.  Once pitas are softened, either cut in half or split top edge for half or whole pitas.  They can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for 1 or 2 months.

Feta Cheese Foldovers

For one of classes we had to do a presentation on a countries culture and talk about their food habits and etiquette. We did this so that one day if we are counseling this group of people we can know a little bit about them. My group chose to do Greece and I learned a lot. Just a little trivia: Greece was the birth place of the cookbook and the white hats that chefs wear. Pretty cool huh? So these are the food samples that I made and took for our presentation. They are really good as an appetizer and super easy! My class loved them so much they asked me to bring them to our class party that we had a week later! Hope you like them as much as they did!

Recipe Courtesy: Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped green onions
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 (17.5 ounce) package frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 1 egg yolk, beaten with 1 teaspoon water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a small bowl, blend feta cheese, green onions, and egg. Cut pastry into 12 (3 inch) squares. Place a mounded tablespoon of feta mixture in the center of each square. Moisten edges with water, and fold pastry over filling to form a triangle. Press edges together firmly with a fork to seal. Lightly brush pastries with the egg yolk mixture.
3. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.