As requested, the pita bread recipe. If you decide flatbreads are your thing, this book has been great for me so far. It has a James Beard award as well, and great reviews on Amazon.com.

The pita recipe is paraphrased below (ingredients are exactly as printed):

• 2 teaspoons dry yeast
• 2 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 5 to 6 cups hard whole wheat flour, or 3 cups each hard whole wheat flour and hard unbleached flour, or unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

I halved this recipe and used a mix of whole wheat and white flour. I'm not sure what "hard" flour means, other than that you shouldn't use a finely milled flour like pastry or cake flour.

In a large bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and stir to dissolve. Stir in 3 cups of flour, one cup at a time, and then stir vigorously in one direction for one minute to activate the gluten in the flour. Let sit for ten minutes to two hours. You'll notice the flour puff up a little.

Sprinkle the salt and olive oil over the flour, then add the rest of the flour one cup at a time until it's hard to stir the dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for eight to ten minutes. Use a light hand and turn often, trying not to add too much flour to the dough. Rinse out the bowl and lightly grease it with olive oil, then put the dough in the bowl and cover it with a damp towel or plastic wrap. Let sit for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

There are a few different ways to bake the dough, but what I did was pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees with a baking sheet in it. I divided the dough in half and put half in a plastic container in the fridge (more on this later). The rest of the dough is divided into eight pieces, and each piece is rolled out to about 1/4 inch thick. The pitas I liked best were about 7 inches in diameter.

Very carefully slide a pita onto the hot baking sheet. Your first few will probably be misshapen, but you'll get the hang of it. Bake for 2 to 3 minutes until the pita has poofed into a ball and browned on the outside. Remove with a pair of tongs, and repeat until you're done.

The leftover dough can be kept in the fridge for several days as long as you remember to gently deflate it daily. I haven't tasted "old dough" pita yet, but I hear it develops a nice flavor due to slight fermentation. Just remember to take out what dough you want and let it come to room temperature before you bake it.