| 1. | Whisk together yeast, 1/2 cup flour, honey and 1/2 cup flour until smooth, then cover with plastic wrap and let stand in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk and bubbly, about 45 minutes. [30 minutes in the summer] |
| 2. | Stir in oil, salt, remaining 3/4 cup warm water, and remaining 2 1/2 cups flour mixture until a dough forms. |
| 3. | Turn out dough onto a floured surface and knead, working in just enough additional flour to keep dough from sticking, until dough is smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. |
| 4. | Form dough into a ball and put in an oiled large bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise in draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. [If dough rises too fast, stretch to deflate and let rise some more.] |
| 5. | Punch down dough and cut into 8 pieces. Form each piece into a ball. Flatten 1 ball, then roll out into a 6 1/2- to 7-inch round on floured surface with a floured rolling pin. [I cut into 16 pieces to make mini pitas; roll to 3 inches.] |
| 6. | Transfer round to 1 of 2 baking sheets lightly sprinkled with cornmeal. Make 7 more rounds in same manner, arranging them on baking sheets. Loosely cover pitas with 2 clean kitchen towels (not terry cloth) and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes. |
| 7. | Set oven rack in lower third of oven and remove other racks. Preheat oven to 500°F. [I preheat to 500º before rolling the pitas and use a stone instead of the rack.] |
| 8. | Transfer 4 pitas, 1 at a time, directly onto oven rack. Bake until just puffed and pale golden, about 2 minutes. [I have found 3 minutes is closer to reality.] |
| 9. | Turn over with tongs and bake 1 minute more. |
| 10. | Cool pitas on a cooling rack 2 minutes, then stack and wrap loosely in a kitchen towel to keep pitas warm. Bake remaining 4 pitas in same manner. Serve warm. |