Gluten-Free Pita Pockets

Thanks to Living Without Magazine, I was able to have a tuna salad sandwich on whole grain pita bread...gluten-free!  At last, a gluten-free pita.  I don't know about you, but I haven't eaten pita bread since I went gluten-free, over four long years ago.  I got this recipe in an email today from Living Without and I decided to try it immediately.  I thought I had all the ingredients it called for, but when I started assembling things, I realized that I had run out of sorghum flour.  Rats! What to do?  What I did have was teff flour, so I substituted it for the sorghum.  I also used their egg substitution (ground flaxseed + water).  Luckily, it worked and the result was awfully tasty...and pretty to boot, don't you think?  Try it yourself and see.  Here is the recipe as I modified it:

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Pita Bread
makes 10-12 (I only got 8, but who's counting?)
1 pkg.  quick-rising yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1  1/2 cups brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1 cup Teff flour
2 tsp. xanthan gum
1  1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 to 1 cup warm water
1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 3 Tablespoons warm water

Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water (115° F).  Add sugar and stir.  Let sit 10-15 mins until water is frothy.  Combine flours, xanthan gum and salt in large bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment.  Pour in yeast and flaxseed mixture.   Mix on medium speed.  Slowly add 1/2 to 1 cup warm water and mix on medium for 2 minutes. Use enough water so that dough is soft and tacky, not liquid (I didn't need as much water as they said and I think this is how I ended up with only 8 pitas, but better to have correct-looking dough, I say).

Coat large bowl with cooking spray and place dough inside, turning to coat on all sides.  Put in a warm spot and cover with plastic wrap.  Let rise (2-3 hours).

Preheat oven to 500 ° F.  Place a cookie sheet inside oven while preheating (I sprayed mine with cooking spray).  Pinch off 8 pieces of dough and form into balls.  Roll out on a floured surface.  Roll each piece into a circle with a rolling pin to about 1/4" thick.  Place 3-4 circles on the preheated cookie sheet and bake for 6 minutes.  Turn them over and bake another 2 minutes.  Remove and cool on rack.  Repeat baking for remaining circles of dough.

If you make the dough after breakfast, you can have these babies for lunch, hot out of the oven.  The baking of them doesn't take long.  When finished, slice a pocket in half, open it up and fill with your favorite sandwich filling.  I found them quite tasty and filling.  They tasted very similar to whole wheat pitas, only better!

Enjoy!

Karen, herself