Pita Bread

I made bread. And no, not in a bread maker. Like real bread. Like roll it with a rolling pin, kind of bread! Who would've thought? 

I always drool over the pitas at the store. So light and fluffy and perfect for sandwiches or hummus, but so expensive. I on,y get four for the price of a whole loaf of sandwich bread. But now, I can make my own! I mean, I doubt I will do it regularly, but now I know I can.

Pita Bread

1 1/4 cup lukewarm water

1 tbsp dry active yeast

2 tsp honey

3 to 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

In my stand mixer with the dough hook, I mixed water, honey and yeast. Then I let it rest for 5 minutes. Add  2 and 3/4 cup flour, salt and oil to the water and mix until a ball forms in the mixer and it does not stick to the walls of the bowl. 

Sprinkle the remaining flour onto a flat surface and put dough on floured surface. Split dough into 8 even sections and roll each section into a ball. Cover rolling pin in flour. Roll all 8 balls into 1/4 inch thick disks. Let rest for 30 minutes to puff. 

Rolling the dough

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and place pizza stone in oven to heat up. Once oven is at 450, place the disks onto the stone and bake for 10-15 minutes. Sit back and watch the magic. Puff time!

Flat

Puffed

Finished product

Pocket

I basically ate nothing pt pitas for a day straight. I was obsessed. Dip, ranch dress, salads, sandwiches, just pita with honey drizzled on it. I love it. Now I know my pitas came out a little more dough-ier than I wanted, but it still tasted good. I might try to make the disks thinner. But either way it'll be more than edible. 

Enjoy!

-Akemichan

Honey Soy Garlic Ginger Chicken Thighs

More backup blogging. So many recipes I used to try when living in Urbana. Now I only cook on the weekend. I guess that's what happens when you work longer hours and commute. Anyway, back to cooking.

Sometimes I just want greasy Chinese takeout. It doesn't happen often, but when It does, regret always comes after. I overeat noodles and rice and feel guilty later. If I make my own Asian inspired chicken, less guilt, and less likely to binge on fried rice. 

Honey Soy Garlic Chicken Thighs

1 inch ginger, grated

3 cloves of garlic, grated

1 cup soy sauce, low sodium

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1/4 tsp fish sauce

1/4 tsp sesame sauce

6-7 chicken thighs

Green onions, chopped

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large bowl, combine ginger, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, fish sauce and sesame oil. Whisk together until consistent. Sometimes I add mustard or hot sauce in here to give it some kick. 

Put chicken thighs in sauce and mix until well coated. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray and pour chicken into dish. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until chicken reaches 160 degree internal temperature. Let cool for 10 minutes, serve with green onion sprinkled over top. 

Enjoy

-Akemichan

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

It's seems like it's taken us forever to get settled, but then I realize, it's only been two weeks. Back to blogging. Going to pick up where I left off, aka, when I started packing.

Spring means strawberries in my mind, and it appears the grocery stores agree. Strawberries were plentiful, and that means one thing in our house, strawberry rhubarb crisp. 

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

3 stalks of rhubarb, cut into bite sized pieces

2 cups of strawberries, cut into bite sized pieces

1/4 cup of white sugar

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup oats

1/3 cup white sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine strawberries, rhubarb and sugar for the filling. . In another medium to large bowl, combine remaining ingredients for the crisp.

Grease casserole dish with butter, I just use what was on the butter wrapper. Fill with strawberry mixture, then top with oat mixture. Bake in oven for 35-40 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. 

Enjoy!

-Akemichan