Prep Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 25 minutes

The first time I made pita bread, I fell in love. It was wonderful, soft, crispy. The simple flat dough puffs up and makes little pockets perfect for stuffing with some flavorful veggies. The following recipe could be a quick lunch on the go, an afternoon snack, crowd-pleasing party food, and/or even a nice dinner. You can prepare most of it in advance, and assemble at the last minute. Enjoy!

Pita bread:

Ingredients

1 cup warm water

2 teaspoons dry yeast

2 ½ - 3 cups Spelt flour

2 teaspoons salt

1-2 teaspoons olive oil

Directions

Place dry ingredients into the bowl of your mixer, attach it with the dough hook and set on medium speed and add the water with the oil. Knead for about 7-10 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball and brush it with some oil all over. Let the dough rise in a warm place for at least an hour, covered with plastic wrap. Once it’s at least doubled in size, you can punch out the air, wrap it in cling foil or something similar, and store it in the refrigerator for up to a week (you can use single portions at a time with this method). If using right away; place on a floured surface and cut into eight parts. Roll each piece out in a circular shape. Keep turning it and add small amounts of flour so it doesn't stick to your work surface. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and warm up the oven to 375 F. Bake for 15 minutes. If you bake on the middle rack, they usually come out light in color. If you bake them half of the time on the top oven rack and half on the bottom rack, however, they will turn a nice warm brown, and be much crispier. The longer you bake them, the crispier they get.

Broccoli Dumplings, (gluten free):

Ingredients

1 head of broccoli (or two if smaller), cut into florets

4 tablespoons polenta

3 tablespoons corn starch

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon turmeric

1 pinch black pepper

3 (or more) tablespoons buckwheat flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

Cook the broccoli until soft, but still firm. Drain it and mash with a potato masher. Add the rest of the ingredients one by one, and stir well after each addition to incorporate. Taste and adjust if necessary. The mixture will be soft and moist but should hold it's form. Add more buckwheat flour if you feel that it is needed. Shape into small sized balls (about a tablespoon) and sear them in a pan with a little bit of olive oil. Cook them over medium heat for a few minutes on each side. If you have any leftover (raw) you can freeze them and use them at a later time.

To assemble these cuties--

Cut up some colorful veggies (I used red onion, carrot, and Swiss chard).

Cut the pita breads in half, and spread them apart to make little pockets. (I used some hummus I had on hand to spread it in the pita bread, but any vegan spread or dressing you like would do fine.)

Fill the pita pockets with vegetables and broccoli dumplings and serve.

Note: A slightly acidic dressing would go great with this.

Fun fact? These are also wonderful cold. Enjoy!