Chicken Curry Pitas

This is great summer meal that my family loves and is easy to throw together.  If I have time and plan ahead, the homemade pitas are especially delicious! 

Chicken Curry Pitas

3 cups chopped cooked chicken

1/3 cup celery

1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise

2 tablespoons golden raisins

1 tablespoon chopped green onions

2 tablespoons mango chutney

1 teaspoon curry powder

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

4 (6-inch) pitas, cut in half

Combine the first 8 ingredients in a medium bowl.  Spoon 1/2 cup chicken mixture into each pita half.  Serve.

*Adapted from Cooking Light

Pita Bread

3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon honey

2 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix flour, salt, and yeast together in the bowl of a mixer fitted with paddle attachment.  Add 1 1/4 cups of water and olive oil to flour mixture and mix until it comes together.  The ingredients should form a ball.  If there is flour that won't incorporate add water a couple of teaspoons at time. 

Once a ball is formed, switch the paddle attachment to the dough hook and knead on low speed for 10 minutes.  When the dough is done kneading, transfer it to a lightly greased bowl, rolling the ball of dough around so that it is lightly coated with oil.  Cover with the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and let rise until it has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.

When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down and divide into 8 pieces.  Form each piece of dough into a ball, cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to preheat as well.  If you don't have a stone, turn a cookie sheet upside down and place it on the middle rack of the oven while you are preheating the oven.  This is the surface you will bake your pitas.

After the dough has rested, lightly flour your work surface and place one ball of dough there.  Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a circle between a 1/8 and 1/4-inch thick.

With a spray bottle filled with water, spray a light mist of water onto your baking stone or cookie sheet and close oven for 30 seconds.  This step reduces the blistering on the outside of your pitas.

Open the oven and place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface (I can only fit one).  Bake for 3 minutes.  Remove from oven and cover with towel until ready to eat.

*This recipe is a shortened and slightly adapted version from thefreshloaf.com