We eat a LOT of hummus around here. With veggies from the garden, pita bread, pita chips, etc. I don't know why I didn't think of making it myself before, especially the pita bread! It was a lot easier than I thought it was be and I'm happy with the results. The family is happy, as well!
For the pita bread, I used
this recipe from Allrecipes, though I made some changes also. (my changes in purple)
INGREDIENTS
- 1 1/8 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (I used 2 cups all-purpose, 1 cup whole-wheat)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
DIRECTIONS
- Place all ingredients in bread pan of your bread machine, select Dough setting and start. When dough has risen long enough, machine will beep.
- 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 countertop. cover with a towel. Let pitas rise about 30 minutes until slightly puffy.
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). 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 and immediately place pitas in a sealed brown paper bag or cover them with a damp kitchen towel until soft. Once pitas a 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.
I don't have a bread machine, so I dissolved the yeast and sugar in the warm water and let it sit for 5 minutes to make sure it was active. After it started bubbling I mixed in the oil and salt, then gradually added the flour in to make a dough. Once the dough was made I kneaded it by hand for 8 minutes. After kneading I let the dough sit in an oiled bowl covered with a dish towel in a warm spot (my utility room is always HOT, so I always let yeast breads rise there!) After 45 minutes, I took the dough and formed it into a rope and divided it into 8 pieces. I rolled the pieces into rounds, covered them with warm damp paper towels and let rise for another 30 minutes. When the time was up, I baked as directed (500 degrees for 5 minutes.)
I am really happy with how they turned out. They aren't as puffy as the pictures on allrecipes, but I think the texture and taste was perfect.
For the hummus, I used
this basic recipe with some changes of my own, of course! I didn't have tahini (H bought sesame OIL instead of PASTE) so I had to make do with what I had.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained, liquid reserved
- 1 clove garlic, crushed (I used 2 cloves...I love garlic)
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin (I was out of cumin, so I used paprika instead)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (I did 1/2 olive oil and 1/2 sesame oil for the nutty taste)
- I also used the juice of one small lemon
DIRECTIONS
- In a blender or food processor combine garbanzo beans, garlic, cumin, salt and olive oil. Blend on low speed, gradually adding reserved bean liquid, until desired consistency is achieved.
The consistency was a little more gritty/grainy than I'm used to with store-bought hummus, which I think tahini would have taken care of. The taste is absolutely fabulous, though, and it went well with the pita and some carrots straight from the field!
I had an intense PMS craving for peanut butter and carbs. MMm. I used spaghetti, but you can use any kind of pasta you have around!
