1 1/4 cup warm water (mix 1/2 cup boiling water with 3/4 cup cold water)

1 tbsp yeast

1 tbsp sugar

3 cups flour

2 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil

Pour warm water into a small bowl and stir in sugar. Add yeast and stir. Then set the mixture aside for five minutes. Measure the flour into a large mixing bowl and make a depression into the center of the flour. Slowly pour the yeast and water mixture, which will be foamy into the depression in the flour. Add the oil. Mix ingredients to form a stiff dough, and knead for ten minutes. Cover and let rise until double in bulk (approximately 2 1/2 hours).

[For the purposes of Activity 7, this concludes the preparation work. The recipe continues below.]

Knead the dough for three or four more minutes and shape it into a thick rope. Cut the rope into six sections and shape each section into a ball. Place each ball onto a floured surface and roll it into a half-inch thick circle about four or five inches in diameter. Place the circles on baking sheets and place in the oven. Bake for five or six minutes until it is light brown, and do not open the oven door while it is cooking. Each loaf should puff up, leaving a pocket in the middle. Take the pita loaves out of the oven, putting them on a rack to cool.