If you are taking the trouble to make souvlaki (gyro meat) you should go all the way and make pita bread for your gyro.

It is almost impossible to replicate the pita bread made in the Middle East, because home kitchens typically don't have brick ovens capable of reaching temperatures of 800 to 900 degrees F.

This recipe comes close, so I know you will enjoy the pita bread you make.

Actually, the pita bread came out great, and my sweetheart and I first used it warmed with an herb and olive oil dipping oil ... like the Carrabba's Dipping Oil recipe in Food Nirvana. Yummy! Then, I made a real gyro and Wow! I sure was pleased!

Ingredients:

1, 1/4-ounce package of active dry yeast

1/2 cup of warm water (110 degrees F)

1 teaspoon of granulated sugar

3 cups of all-purpose flour or bread flour

1 1/4 teaspoons of salt

1 cup of lukewarm water (105 degrees F)

A can of Pam® spray canola oil

1/2 cup of flour (or more) for rolling the dough

Directions:

Mix the yeast into 1/2 cup of 110 degrees F warm water, using a one cup Pyrex® glass measuring cup or a similar container. You can check the temperature of the water with an instant read thermometer to get the temperature right before adding the yeast. Too high a temperature, like 120 degrees F, will kill the yeast.

Add the sugar and stir until it is dissolved. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes until the mixture is becoming frothy on top. Froth is a sure indicator that the yeast is fine as it lets you know the yeast is active and already fermenting the sugar you provided.

Combine the flour and salt in a large electric mixer bowl.

Start the electric mixer on low speed.

Slowly pour in the 1/2 cup of yeast water, followed by 1 cup of 105 degrees F lukewarm water, and mix on low to medium speed for two minutes to combine the ingredients.

Use a soft spatula to scrape the ingredients down the inside of the mixing bowl. Knead the dough using the electric mixer on medium speed. This could take three to five minutes (or longer). When the dough has become elastic and sticks together, it has been successfully kneaded. You will probably use the soft spatula twice during the kneading, stopping the mixer temporarily to scrape down the dough from the inside of the mixing bowl.

You may find the regular mixer beater to be fine for kneading the dough, or, you may choose to use a mixer dough hook accessory. As noted above, you may/will also need to scrape down the inside of the mixer bowl once or twice during kneading with a soft spatula to make sure all of the ingredients are being combined and kneaded.

Once the kneading is done, remove the beater and the bowl from the mixer. Use the soft spatula to get all the dough from the beater. Scrape down the dough from the inside of the mixer bowl and into the pile of dough at the bottom.

Use the can of Pam® and lightly spray the inside surface of the mixer bowl. Also lightly spray the exposed surface of the dough. Then turn the dough upside down by tilting the bowl and rolling the dough, and make sure all of the dough surface on the bottom is sprayed lightly with Pam®.

Allow the mixer bowl to sit in a warm place, covered with plastic wrap or a damp, warm dish towel, for about 2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.

Handling the risen dough to make the pita bread is a pain in the butt unless you keep your hands and the pieces of dough well floured. Remember to do so and you will curse less!

Once the dough has doubled in size, flour your hands and remove it from the mixer bowl, place it on a floured wood cutting board, roll it around gently to coat it with flour, and form it into the shape of a 2" diameter fat cylinder by hand. Cut the dough in half and put one piece back into the mixer bowl. Then roll the remaining dough into a 12" long cylinder and cut pieces from the roll to form a total of 6 smaller pieces, rolling each of those pieces by hand into the shape of a ball.

Place the balls on the floured wood cutting board. Let them sit covered by plastic wrap for 10 minutes.

Heat the oven to 500 degrees F with the rack placed at the very bottom position of the oven.

Put an 11"x17" (or larger) baking sheet into the hot oven to preheat it.

Use a rolling pin, and some flour, to dust the top of each of the six balls of dough and roll them into circles 5 to 6 inches in diameter and roughly 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. I like to do that on a 24" length of floured 12" wide plastic wrap on a hard counter as it makes the flouring, rolling, dough circle removal and stacking of the well floured circles on a paper plate easy.

When the six balls of dough have been rolled, put four of the dough circles onto the baking sheet. Don't be dismayed if your circles are somewhat different than perfectly round. Life ain't perfect, here or in the Middle East.

Bake the circles of dough for 4 minutes until the pita bread puffs up. Then turn the pieces over and bake them for 2 more minutes.

While the first four dough circles are baking you can process the second half of the dough from the mixing bowl to make six more balls and then dough circles, well floured and stacked on a paper plate.

At the end of each batch of baking, remove each baked pita from the baking sheet with a metal spatula and place it on a wire cooling rack.

While the pita bread pieces are still warm, use the spatula to gently push down on each puffy area to flatten it.

The batch of completed pita bread pieces can be removed from the wire rack as they cool and placed on a paper plate while the next batch of dough circles is baking.

Repeat the above baking steps for the second group of four dough circles. Then do the last four dough circles.

When all of the pita bread pieces are completely cool (room temperature), put them into a sealable storage bag and seal it.

Use the pita bread within a day or two, warming each piece briefly (10 seconds) in the microwave oven before serving it.

Alternatively, you can freeze the pita bread in the sealed storage bag and use it within a month.

Note that you can serve pita bread with a seasoned dipping oil, tearing off bite size pieces and dipping them in the flavorful oil and herbs ... And then wolfing them down and feeling really good about life. You might want a nice chilled, crisp white wine like Pinot Grigio with that snack.

Enjoy!