Whole Wheat Pita Bread - Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads

Growing up I remember eating whole wheat pita (commercially produced) to have veggie sandwich pockets. I figured it was time to give this a try and see if I could get a nice pocket bread myself. Following the instructions in Whole Grain Breads was not difficult and with the use of a stand mixer to do the actual gluten development I found this to be surprisingly easy. 

RECIPE AND CALCULATIONS HERE

Day 1 - Mix the soaker and biga and leave overnight. 

Day 2 - Mix soaker, biga, and other ingredients together in a stand mixer. Use a dough hook to make a smooth dough that passes a windowpane test. Proof, Shape, Proof, Roll, Rest.....Bake. Easy!

Sensei's Report Card

Tasting Notes: Wow, this is what I was hoping for flavor wise. This is a delicious whole wheat. Earthy, tasty, moist, flavorful, nutty. Looking forward to eating them this week with hummus. 

Time/Effort: 2 days (kinda). The mixing on day one at night after dinner takes maybe 5 minutes and that's it for day one. The second day takes some time because of the double rise and rest and roll out. But like most things with bread you can do a step or two and then do other things while the dough rests. They are baked one at a time on a pizza stone. I followed the time guidelines given in the book (about 3 min each) and while they were cooked I think they could have been baked a bit longer. The ones that were baked the shortest time are moist inside (not gummy) and didn't open up as fully as they could. Feels like something that will be refined with practice.  

Would I make it again: Yes! For a first time bake I am pleased with the results. The flavor is great and I imagine with practice the technique and end result will get even better. In fact, I like the flavor enough that I would like to make a full sandwich loaf using this recipe as opposed to the whole wheat loaf I made recently.