Flax Seed Pita Bread

The reason I love pita bread is its versatility.  You can hold it in half to make a sandwich, stuff with tuna inside the pocket, make a panini, or cut into wedges for dipping.  Leftover pitas make great pita chips. 

The only special tool you will need to make pitas at home is a baking stone.  There are round and rectangular baking stones.  I prefer the rectangular stone for its larger surface area.

Flax Seed Pita Bread

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Ingredients(makes 12)
1 1/2 cups skim milk, heated to lukewarm
1 tablespoon dry active yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
5 turns ground salt
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
4-5 cups all-purpose flour
Salted butter (optional)

1.  Place milk in a large mixing bowl.  Sprinkle yeast and sugar over milk.  Let it stand for 5 minutes or until yeast turns foamy.
2.  Add salt and flax seeds.
3.  Add 1 cup of flour and mix well.  Repeat 3 more times.  Add enough flour to form a stiff dough.
4.  Knead the dough on floured surface until smooth and elastic. 
5.  Place the dough in a clean large bowl (large enough for the dough to double in size), cover with plastic wrap or damp cloth towel.  Let it stand 1to1 1/2hours until the doubled in size.
6.  Place the baking stone on the rack positioned at lower third in the oven.  Preheat the oven to 450F.
7.  Divide the dough in 12.  On the floured surface, roll each piece of dough out to form a quarter inch thick round.  Roll out as many rounds as your baking stone can hold at a time.
8.  Place the rolled out dough on the baking stone in preheated oven.  Check them in 3 minutes to avoid over baking.  When the pitas are nicely puffy and the bottom is slightly brown, remove pitas from the oven and place them on a cooling rack.  Spread butter on pitas while they are still hot (optional).
9.  Repeat 7&8 with remaining dough.