If you’re making falafel, tabbouleh or kebabs - pita bread is the go-to wrapper. Mediterranean flatbread is easy to make at home (perfect for baking with kids!), and this recipe adds a healthy and delicious twist: flax.
Everyone loves food in a pocket. Empanadas, tacos, and onigiri are just a few examples of hand-held foods that are enjoyed in various cuisines. Breakfast, lunch or dinner, you can enjoy these pitas. Fill them with scrambled eggs or tofu for breakfast. How about tuna salad for lunch? Tabbouleh for dinner, or split, brush with olive oil and dust with spices like za'atar. Crisped in the oven, pita chips are a healthy alternative to potato chips.
Part of the fun is watching the simple dough rounds puff up in the first few minutes of baking.
Benefits of Flax
Flax seed is full of nutrition: Calcium, iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Coper, Thiamin, Manganese, all in these tiny little seeds. They are champions in the fiber department, too. In order to access all of these delicious health benefits, flax must be ground up. Try the new "Dash o'Flax" product, which is pre-ground in a shaker top. For a healthy shake, add it to all sorts of salads, sandwiches, stir-fries and even DIY Granola.
Pocket Breads Are Fun to Stuff
Get kids involved in cooking, and you'll find they are more adventurous than you might've thought. Have a pita making and stuffing day. How about a buffet of items they can choose from to stuff their handmade pita pockets?
Or, make breakfast scrambles of eggs and/or tofu, veggies and cheese. You can open them up and roll them like burritos, too.
Here's a healthy take on the classic recipe:
Flecks o'Flax Flatbreads (go on, try to say it five times fast)
- 1 TBSP Hodgson Mills Yeast*
- 1/4 tsp honey
- 1/4 C warm water
- 2 C All Purpose flour
- 1 C light or white wheat, or organic pastry wheat flour
- 1 TBSP honey
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- ~1/4 C ground flax seed to taste
- 1 tsp sea salt or Kosher salt
- 1 1/4 C warm water
Mix flours, and salt together. Add about half of the mixture to the work bowl. Pulse to combine yeast mixture with water and half of the flour mixture. You’ll have a sort of sticky batter. Add additional flour mix until it forms a shaggy mass.
Knead for a bit until it mostly comes together (scraping down the sides to incorporate as much as possible). Dump the mix onto a clean, dry surface and begin to pull it together. A tea ball or strainer with flour is a handy way to lightly dust the surface, as needed, without adding too much.
Push down with the heel of your hand, fold, turn and push.
Sprinkle ground flax on the dough as you fold and turn.“Smooth and elastic” is what you’re shooting for with the kneading. About ten minutes or until your arms begin to tire.
Place in a lightly oiled bowl cover with plastic or a damp clean kitchen towel and let rise for 90 minutes. When it's doubled in size, scrape from the bowl and roll a bit to let some gas escape.
Roll into a fat, smooth log and divide into 8 balls about the size of a lemon. It’s actually good for a variety of snacking options to have different sizes. Don’t fret about making them all the same or perfectly round and even.
Roll each ball of dough out, to about a 1/4” thickness. Let them rise for another 20 minutes on a lightly floured surface.
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. If you have a pizza stone or a large inverted cast iron skillet, heat them up in the oven as well. Cookie sheets would also work, but you may not get as much puffing up.
Using a large spatula (as you’d use for pancakes), flip the pitas onto your preheated surfaces. Bake about 4 minutes until they’re puffed up and lightly golden.
* This Hodgson Mills yeast is strong enough to leaven when baking with heavier flours and things like flax seed, both can cut the gluten strands and make breads heavy.
Jacqueline Church - Award-winning writer, speaker, teacher on topics at the intersection of gourmet and sustainable food issues.
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