Pita Bread

I use a cast iron flat bottomed griddle pan to cook these pitas.  I do it outside on the side burner on my barbecue grill.  I am able to achieve the high heat and the smoke does not fill the house.  The pitas are soft and delicious.

Bread Machine Pita Bread

1 ½ pound loaf	1 pound loaf
1 1/8 cups water	3/4 cup water
3 cups all purpose flour	2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt	½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oil	2 teaspoons oil
1 ½ teaspoons sugar	1 teaspoon sugar
1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast or active yeast	1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast or active yeast

Place all ingredients in bread machine pan.

Select Dough Mode.

When dough has risen long enough, the machine will beep.

Turn off bread machine, remove bread pan and turn out dough on floured countertop or cutting board.

Using a bench scraper or knife, cut dough in 8 pieces for the 1 ½ lb loaf or cut the in 6 pieces for the 1 pound loaf.

Roll each section into a ball.

Roll each ball into a 6 or 7 inch circles.

Set each circle on a lightly floured board and cover with a lint free towel.

Let dough rise for 15 minutes.

Heat a heavy duty flat bottomed square grill pan, fry pan, cast iron pan.

Heat grill pan over high heat.

Brush circle of dough with olive oil and place face down on hot pan.

When pita starts to puff, brush with olive oil and turn to cook other side.

Cook until pita puffs and is browned.

Remove to a rack and cover the cook pita with the lint free towel.

Repeat with the rest of the pitas storing under the towel.

Serve immediately.

*I do this outside as the pan needs to be very hot to the smoke point.

Oven Method

Let pitas rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 500F.

Preferably on a baking stone with a rack on top or just a rack place 2 to 3 pitas on the heated rack.

Bake pitas 4 to 5 minutes until puffed and browned.

Remove from oven, place on rack, and cover with a damp lint free towel.

Serve once pitas are softened.

Pitas from the oven back in 2010

Bread Machine Buttermilk Bread Loaf or Rolls

I make these rolls often and it is fast and easy in my bread machine.  The rolls serve as the extra dinner carbohydrate for the many hungry young people my kids bring home for dinner.  The smell of home baked bread hot from the oven filled with cold butter melting is soul filling along with the family table filled with conversation and laughter. These rolls can serve as the base for smoked pork or make them larger for hamburgers, leftover roasted chicken sandwiches or sloppy joes.  

Bread Machine Buttermilk Bread Loaf or Rolls

1 ½ pound loaf	1 pound loaf
1 1/8 cup buttermilk or non-dairy milk	7/8 cup buttermilk or nondairy buttermilk
3 cups bread flour	2 cups bread flour
1 ½ teaspoon salt	1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoons butter or  nondairy butter substitute	1 tablespoons butter or  nondairy butter substitute
3 tablespoons honey or sugar	2 tablespoons sugar or honey
¼ teaspoon baking soda	¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast or active yeast	1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast or active yeast
Buttermilk	Buttermilk
Add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice or vinegar to the non-dairy milk or dairy milk	Add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice or vinegar to the non-dairy milk or dairy milk

Place all ingredients in bread machine pan.

Select Light Crust setting.

When machine beeps, use hot mitts to remove hot pan from machine and turn loaf on to a cooling rack.

Let loaf cool for 1 hour before slicing.

Buttermilk Rolls

Select dough mode.

When dough has risen long enough, the machine will beep.

Turn off bread machine, remove bread pan and turn out dough on floured countertop or cutting board.

Turn on proofing setting in oven, if have, or warm oven at lowest temperature for a few minutes then turn off.

Using a bench scraper or knife, cut dough in half, then half again until there are 12 to16 pieces. 

Roll each dough piece in roll shape.

Place on a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet.

Cover with a lint free towel and place in a warm place, warmed oven, or proofing oven. 

When doubled, remove from oven and preheat to 375F.

Bake rolls 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown.

Topping, if desired

Once the rolls have risen, mix with oil chopped onion, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, herbs, garlic etc.  I often use finely minced onions and oil and salt and pepper spooned over right before the rolls go in the oven.

Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls

My love of cinnamon rolls began on a camping and rock climbing retreat as young teenager.  The camp counselor/cook made homemade cinnamon rolls right at camp from kneading, raising, filling cutting and baking in a clever camp stove oven. As the smell permeated the camp, I couldn't wait to sink my sugar addicted teeth into something that smelled so good.  Yeasted sweet dough treats were not part of my childhood so this was a new and wonderful taste experience. But then for more than a decade, I did not think of cinnamon rolls, outside of the grocery store tube can variety, until the mall chain store pumped out giant, thickly frosted cinnamon rolls to the mall crowds.  Neither the tube can nor mall store rolls ever stood up to those camping rolls.  Then bread machines came on to the market in the early 1990s and cinnamon rolls became a mainstay in my home. My first bread maker was the Panasonic machine from 1994. That machine was extraordinary and didn’t break down until 2012 after making many loaves of bread and many more doughs for rolls of all kinds.  Though the bread machine does have its limitations as the breads produced are not artisanal and the bread quality tends to be the same across recipes, the bread machine fills a place in the home for fast and easy homemade bread for even the most unskilled or skilled and overworked person.

Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls

1 ½ pound loaf	1 pound loaf
3/8 cup milk or non-dairy milk	¼ cup milk or non-dairy milk
3/8 cup water	¼ cup water
1 egg	1 egg
3 cups all-purpose flour	2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons butter or  nondairy butter substitute	3 tablespoons butter or  nondairy butter substitute
1/3 cup sugar	¼ cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast or active yeast	1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast or active yeast
*Roll dough into 9X18 inch rectangle	*Roll dough into 8X14 inch rectangle
Filling	Filling
3 tablespoons of softened butter	2 tablespoons of softened butter
4 tablespoons sugar	3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon	1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons cocoa powder if desired	1 ½ teaspoons cocoa powder if desired
Icing	Icing
3 tablespoons softened dairy free butter	2 ½ tablespoons softened dairy free butter
1 cup powdered sugar	3/4 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons non-dairy milk of choice	2 ½ tablespoons non-dairy milk of choice
½ to 1 tsp vanilla, lemon juice, or lemon extract – adjust to personal taste preferences	½ to 1 tsp vanilla, lemon juice, or lemon extract – adjust to personal taste preferences

Line a sheet pan with a Silpat or parchment paper.

Place all ingredients in bread machine pan.

Select dough setting and press start.

When dough has risen long enough, the machine will beep.

Turn off bread machine, remove bread pan and turn out dough on floured countertop or cutting board.

Turn on proofing setting in oven, if have, or warm oven at lowest temperature for a few minutes then turn off.

Roll dough into the loaf size rectangle - *see above*

Filling

Spread the softened butter edge to edge across the rectangle.

Mix the sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa powder in small bowl.

Sprinkle the sugar mixture edge to edge across the dough rectangle.

Roll rectangle tightly into a log starting from the long end.

Pinch seam.

Put seam side to cutting board or counter and cut with a sharp thin bladed knife into the desired number of rolls and place rolls 1 inch apart on prepared pan

**see below if making ahead.

Thicker rolls 8-12 pieces 13/4 inches thick

Smaller rolls 12-16 pieces 1/1/4 inches thick

Cover with a lint free towel and let rise for 30 minutes until doubled in size in proofing oven, warmed oven, or warm place.

Once nearly doubled, remove from oven.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Bake rolls for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Icing

Mix in a large bowl with whisk, hand mixer, or bowl mixer the powdered sugar and softened butter until combined.

Whisk in milk until smooth and at the consistency of a soft slow flowing icing or preferred desired consistency

Adjust consistency by alternately adding more liquid or powdered sugar.

Frost by stringing, pooling, spreading etc. – any coverage level and pattern desired.

**At this point, if desired, cover tightly with aluminum foil, and refrigerate overnight. 

Remove from refrigerator and let rise in proofing oven, warmed oven, or warm place until doubled in size - plan for extra time for the proofing step.