I've always found flatbreads intimidating. I'm not sure why. I guess it feels like there's less margin for error with most flatbreads; there's nowhere to hide. (My harcha failure probably hasn't improved my confidence either.) I really wanted some pitas this week though. I was prepared to buy them, but then I took another look at the giant jar of sourdough starter loitering in the fridge and decided that maybe I should give sourdough pitas a try. TM made some a few weeks ago and they turned out great.

I debated whether to follow the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book recipe for these or search elsewhere. On the one hand Laurel and the gang have proven invaluable in making all sorts of whole wheat breads. Things that other people swear can't be done as 100% whole wheat, they pull of flawlessly. That book has been my bread bible. That said, they don't really deal with sourdoughs. Sure, they include a few "sourdough" recipes, but they only use the sour as a flavouring and conditioning element, not leavener. All their "sourdough" recipes include commercial yeast. Given that, and my relative inexperience with both sourdoughs and flatbreads, I decided that I'd be better off finding a sourdough pita recipe and following that for my first time though. Maybe I can try the Laurel's Kitchen recipe next time. Or possibly I'll try converting this one to a 100% whole wheat version.

Flour choices not withstanding, I'm extremely pleased with how these pitas turned out! The dough rose well. It was fairly easy to work with. The pitas puffed up spectacularly well in the oven. They all got a nice little pocket. And they taste wonderful. Great success!

Sourdough Pitas

Slightly adapted from Baking Sense

Ingredients

• 225g (100% hydration) fed/active sourdough starter
• 1 c. warm water
• 150g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 230-250g hard (strong/high grade/bread) flour

Directions

1. Ensure your starter is nice and active. If not, start with just 75g and feed it (with 75mL of water and 75g of flour). Once it's had a good 3-4 hours to get going, move on with the rest of the recipe.
2. In a large bowl, combine starter, warm water, and whole wheat flour. Mix well to form a thick batter and then cover and set aside for 30-60 minutes.
3. Add olive oil, sugar, and salt and mix well.
4. Mix in remaining flour until a soft dough is formed.
5. Turn dough out onto work surface and begin kneading. You may need to add a little more flour during kneading, but use it sparingly. Dough should be stiffer than a brioche but looser than a bagel. Knead for 5-10 minutes.
6. Return to bowl, cover, and set aside for 30 minutes.
7. After 30 minutes the dough needs to be stretched and folded. Reach down to the bottom of the bowl on one side, grab the dough, and fold it up over itself into the middle. Rotate the bowl a quarter turn and repeat. Repeat two more times until all four sides have been folded up and over. Cover and set aside for another 30 minutes.
8. After 30 more minutes, repeat the stretch-and-fold procedure. Cover and set aside for 60 minutes.
9. After 60 minutes, stretch-and-fold one more time. Cover and set aside for another 60 minutes.
10. Transfer dough to fridge overnight.
11. After its long, slow overnight rise in the fridge, bring the dough back out of the fridge and give it an hour or two to come up to room temperature.
12. Place a pizza stone or dark-coloured baking sheet in the oven and preheat it to 230°C (450°F).
13. Divide the dough into eight (roughly) equal portions. Work with two portions at a time and keep the rest covered so they don't dry out.
14. Roll out each portion of dough to a thickness of ~5 or 6mm on a lightly floured surface.
15. Bake the pitas on the preheated pizza stone/baking sheet for 3-5 minutes. (Mine only needed 3.) They should puff up during baking.
16. Remove pitas from pizza stone and wrap in a tea towel while remaining rounds get cooked. They do not need to be flipped or cooked on the other side. Once they puff, they're done.
17. Eat immediately or freeze for later enjoyment.