Gluten-Free Pita

The pita recipe is the result of some online recipe research combined with my own experimentation. These work very well with traditional chick pea falafel, millet falafel, or hummus. Or, you can pour a good fruity olive oil onto a plate, sprinkle with za'atar spice, and dip away.

Ingredients

• 3 cups GOOD gluten-free baking flour (I recommend Better Batter or America’s Test Kitchen recipe) plus extra to for rolling out pitas
• 2 teaspoons xanthan gum (if not already in flour)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 cup plain yoghurt
• 1½ cups warm 1% or 2% milk, about 100 to 110 °F

Place a baking stone in a cold oven and preheat to 450°F.

Whisk together 3 cups of flour, xanthan gum, salt, yeast, and sugar in a stand mixer bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together oil, yoghurt, and milk.

With the mixer on low speed, add the milk in a slow pour and mix thoroughly until completely incorporated into the flour. If you do not have a stand mixer, the dough can be mixed by hand with a wooden spoon for about two minutes. The dough should be moist and tacky, but it should hold together.

Divide the dough into 8 balls. Wet hands and on a sheet of parchment paper the diameter of the baking stone, press out each ball to a thickness of about one quarter inch, making sure the flattened balls are not touching. Let dough rise for 45 minutes. You may need to use multiple sheets of parchment paper.

Place the sheet of parchment with the flattened dough onto the hot baking stone in the oven. Bake for 4 minutes, flip each pita with a spatula, and bake for 4-5 additional minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on cooling rack. If pita does not puff up, you can carefully slit it open with a sharp knife.

Makes 8 pitas.