Pita Bread — The Bread That Connects Every Table

A good week in real estate: 2 closings, 5 new leads, the satisfaction of matching families with houses the way Mama matches fillings with phyllo — instinctively, confidently. I brought spanakopita to an open house. The buyers ate it. They made an offer.

Mama called at 5:30 AM to tell me the tourists are back. She reported this with the urgency of a woman who considers every piece of information critical and every phone call an opportunity to also critique my cooking from forty miles away.

I stood in my kitchen this evening and looked at the counter where I have made a thousand meals for my family and thought: this is what I do. I feed people. I sell them houses and I feed them food and I keep showing up because showing up is the only recipe that never fails.

I made a watermelon and feta salad with fresh mint and olive oil. Sweet, salty, refreshing — the taste of summer distilled into a bowl. The kitchen smelled like oregano and summer and I thought: this is what survives. Not the money or the stress or the arguments about phyllo. The food survives. The recipes survive. The love baked into every dish survives.

The house was quiet this evening. I sat at the kitchen table with a glass of wine and the remains of dinner and I thought about all the tables I have sat at — Mama's table in Tarpon Springs, the table in the South Tampa house I lost, the table in the apartment where I started over, this table where I have fed my children for years. Every table is a different chapter. The food connects them all.

That watermelon feta salad needed something to go with it — something I could tear with my hands and drag through the olive oil pooling at the bottom of the bowl. So I made pita. Real pita, the kind Mama taught me, the kind that puffs up in a hot oven like it’s proud of itself. It’s the bread that’s been on every table I’ve ever sat at, and it’s the bread I keep coming back to because, like showing up, it never fails.

Pita Bread

Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes | Servings: 8 pitas

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water (about 110°F)
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

1. Bloom the yeast. Combine warm water, yeast, and sugar in a small bowl. Let stand until foamy, about 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Make the dough. In a large bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Pour in the yeast mixture and olive oil. Stir until a shaggy dough forms, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 to 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
3. Let it rise. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm spot for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
4. Preheat. Place a baking sheet or pizza stone on the middle rack and preheat oven to 475°F for at least 15 minutes.
5. Divide and roll. Punch down the dough and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, then roll out on a lightly floured surface into circles about 1/4 inch thick and 6 inches across. Let rest 5 minutes.
6. Bake. Carefully place 2 to 3 rounds at a time on the hot baking sheet. Bake for 3 to 4 minutes until puffed and lightly golden on the bottom. Flip and bake 1 to 2 minutes more.
7. Keep warm. Wrap baked pitas in a clean kitchen towel to keep them soft while you bake the remaining rounds.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 195 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 4g | Carbs: 35g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 440mg