I’d call this my winter of eating globally but, truthfully, my interest in world cuisines started early and largely as a result of my Western Pennsylvania hometown. A former steel city, New Castle boasted of an array of ethnic backgrounds and extraordinary foods. Forget bland white bread, burgers, tomato soup and apple pie. I grew up eating such exotic, Mediterranean specialties as spinach pie (spanikopita), stuffed grape leaves (dolma), pasta fagioli and tiramisu.

A childhood favorite that I still adore is pita. Unfortunately, depending on whose you’ve eaten, this Mediterranean flat bread is either an ethereal vessel for falafel and souvlaki or a dry, tough disc that’s impossible to chew. In recent months, as markets and Mediterranean cafes change their bakeries, I’ve been stuck with the unappetizing kind. Because I love the tag team of hummus and pita — I could eat it every day of the week — I’ve become annoyed, really annoyed, with the lousy pita supply.

Enter homemade pita. Soft and airy, it’s a far cry from stale, store-bought bread. Plus, it’s so quick and easy to make; I’m embarrassed that I didn’t start baking my own sooner.

For my first attempt I followed the pita recipe from The Joy of Cooking (Scribner, 1997). With its simple ingredients, concise instructions and the book’s excellent track record it was an obvious starting point.

The recipe didn’t disappoint. After two hours of watching the dough rise and three minutes of baking it I had one mini and eight large pitas. Soft, fluffy and flexible, they left the stale, mass-produced versions in the dust.

At this point I won’t claim to have mastered pita making. Compared to commercially baked pita, my loaves seem a bit large. They may also be a tad too light to hold hot, juicy foods such as grilled chicken or fish. They are perfect, though, for scooping up hummus and enveloping salads.

For now I’ll pass along The Joy of Cooking recipe, sans tweaks. Check back in the coming weeks for updates as I attempt to perfect pita. Up next . . . what to stuff into your homemade Mediterranean flat bread.

PITA BREAD
from Rombauer et al’s The Joy of Cooking (Scribner, 1997)
Makes 8 pitas

3 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/4 cups room temperature water

In a large mixing bowl or heavy mixer combine the flour, sugar, salt and yeast. Add the butter and water and mix to combine. Using either your hands or the dough hook on your mixer, knead for 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth, soft and elastic. Add extra water as needed; the dough should not be sticky.

Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and turn it over once to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down the dough, divide equally into 8 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Cover and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. If you don’t have a pizza or baking stone, place a baking sheet upside down on an oven rack to serve as your hearth.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out each ball into a round that’s 8-inches in diameter and about 1/8-inch thick. Spray the stone or baking sheet with water, wait 30 seconds and then place as many dough rounds as will fit without touching onto the hearth. Bake until the dough puffs up, about 3 minutes, wait 30 seconds and then remove each loaf to a cooling rack. Repeat until all the dough rounds have baked.