Author: petebakes

we didn’t have pita bread around the house growing up, but i had a friend who always brought sandwiches on it to school. we were only about 6 or 7 at the time, so when i asked what he was eating, i swore i heard “peter bread.” for years i seriously thought it was called peter bread. and even though it’s not actually named after me, i’ve grown to love it over the years.

the dough is a cinch to make, and you can just keep a big bowl of it in the fridge and bake up batches whenever you’re in need of a sandwich to take to school or work. pita bread pretty much goes with anything, but fits especially well with middle eastern dishes. side note: i had my first falafel just over a year ago. why was i not told about them sooner?

the thinner you roll out the dough, the puffier your pitas get once they heat the heat. no matter how many times i make them, i have to sit right in front of the oven and watch them blow up. it’s pure magic. they work very well on the baking stones, but a baking sheet works just as well. alternatively, you can bake your pitas right on the stovetop on a skillet. they don’t always puff quite as much as in the oven but are still soft, delicate and delicious.

as a quick snack, i usually pair a pita up with a parsley and red onion salad with a little greek yogurt. also i like that if you open up the pita it looks like the jaw of a shark. awesome!

there’s something about a chilly saturday afternoon that just makes you want to stay inside and bake all day. last november i tackled cooking and canning apple butter for the first time and i’m proud to say the butter i made last year actually preserved correctly and is just as delicious this year. but since i’m running low, i decided it was time to make a fresh batch. i’ll run through the steps as we go through the pictures and i’ve included the fully detailed recipe at the end of the post. there’s nothing like warm biscuits and apple butter on a lazy sunday morning.

you’re going to get yourself a whole bunch of good cooking apples. i happened to have a ton left over from apple picking, but otherwise i would go with a good bunch of granny smith (my favorite). the best part of this recipe is that you don’t have to peel or core these apples (unless you don’t have a way to strain them out later). you’re just going to cut them up into quarters and empty them into a wide shallow pan filled with a bit of water and apple cider vinegar.

pile the apples in your pan (i used my dutch oven) and bring the liquid to a boil. cook for another 20 minutes or so, stirring occasionally, and you’ll break down the apples completely.

this is what you end up with. it may look ugly but it smells incredible.

from there, the apples take a trip into your food mill, which is an amazingly simple hand powered strainer. i just got mine for my birthday a few weeks ago (thanks mom!) and i’m already on the lookout for more recipes that use it. give yourself a workout straining out the cores, seeds and peels, add a bit of sugar and cinnamon to the apple puree, and you’ve got…

…applesauce! if all you wanted was applesauce, stop now. eat! if you dare to make apple butter, press on, putting the applesauce back on high heat for a few hours. keep a close eye on the apple butter and stir it constantly so it doesn’t burn on the bottom and develop a crust.

the apple butter goes a little crazy on high heat. like, bubbly, deadly crazy. i burned myself several times and covered the kitchen in hot apple puree. of course, i was cooking without a shirt on (it got REALLY hot in the kitchen) so i only have myself to blame for singed chest hair. your inclination might be to cover the pot, but leaving the pot uncovered actually helps the apple butter thicken more quickly because you can promote evaporation by stirring constantly, and at the same time moisture isn’t building up on the pot lid and dripping right back in.

canning apple butter is not as scary as it sounds, but i didn’t capture any pictures of it because i was concentrating on not burning myself (any more) while sterilizing the jars and then sealing the filled jars in boiling water. there are full directions for canning below.

after the apple butter is all finished, the biscuits are a breeze. the recipe comes from alton brown, who, for whatever reason, was the first person that came to mind when i thought of biscuits. rest assured, it uses plenty of buttermilk.

you can store and reheat the biscuits over the following week if for whatever reason you can’t devour a dozen at a time (you wimp). slather the apple butter on anything and everything. it’s good hot and cold, and a big ‘ole jar makes a really good gift for the holidays.