Breadsticks

A Sunday dinner staple at the White House.


Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 Tbl. yeast
• 1 Tbl. honey
• 1 Tbl. malted milk
• 1 tsp. salt
• Italian seasoning
  
• 4 cups flour
  

Mix warm water and yeast in a mixer, let sit until yeast starts foaming (3-4 minutes). Add other ingredients, ending with the flour, adding the flour slowly. Knead for 10-15 minutes. Allow to double. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out into snakes. Brush with butter and sprinkle freshly grated parmesean cheese and allow to rise again. Bake 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Sometimes we cook them for 10 minutes and then broil them for a few minutes to brown the top.

Eat-a-Pita (or five)

Store bought is no competition for these fresh out of the oven babies. They are very versatile, delicious with anything from gyro meat to honey butter.


Ingredients:

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting [Make sure you use BREAD flour, it makes a huge difference in the taste]
  
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

In the bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water; stir to blend. Let the yeast stand until foamy, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Stir in the salt. Add the flour, a little at a time, mixing at the lowest speed until all the flour has been incorporated and the dough gathers into a ball. Turn the mixing speed up to medium or medium high and knead until smooth and elastic (if you stretch it, you should see a "baker's window"). Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turn it over to coat, and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise until double in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

Place a large pizza stone on the lower oven rack, preheat the oven (and stone) to 500 degrees F.

Punch the dough down, divide it into 8 pieces, and gather each piece into a ball; keeping all of them lightly floured and covered while you work. Allow the balls of dough to rest, covered, for 15 minutes so they will be easier to roll out.

Using a rolling pin, roll each dough ball into a circle that is about 8-inches in diameter and 1/4-inch thick. Make sure the circle is totally smooth, with no creases or seams in the dough, which can prevent the pitas from puffing up properly. Cover the disks as you roll them out, but do not stack them up. Put 2 pita rounds at a time on the hot pizza stone and bake for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the bread puffs up like a balloon and is pale golden. Watch closely; they bake fast. Remove the bread from the oven and place on a rack to cool for 5 minutes; they will naturally deflate, leaving a pocket in the center. Wrap the pitas in a large kitchen towel to keep them soft.

Recipe courtesy of Tyler Florence, Foodnetwork.com