Oh, no! Bad sentence on my part. Southern California. We had a wonderful Syrian bakery that made brilliant pita. I still miss them. My heart breaks for what has happened there, but I've never been to Syria. You haven't said why you're eschewing "enriched flour" and don't need to, but white flour products are required by law to use vitamin enriched flour, and even most home baking white flour (bleached or unbleached) is enriched and has a little malted barley flour in it as well, which has a lot of an enzyme that's needed for rising. Unless you have a specific problem with one or more of the vitamins or the barley, the enrichment shouldn't be a problem. Maybe you're just concerned that there's white flour in there. White flour is often added to whole wheat flour to make the rise spongier. Sometimes vital wheat gluten is added to strengthen the gluten (the bran in the whole wheat can weaken or cut it). Wheat gluten can be isolated by hand by washing the wheat and kneading out the starch, and has been done for centuries, so it's not a weird industrial product. Anything that's made with white flour in the U.S. uses enriched flour. There may be some places that mill and sift their own flours that do not, but that's an extremely rare exception. Therefore, I would guarantee that the Lebanese pita are made with enriched flour. The thinner thing is probably a lack of leavening. Even in the Middle East, nowadays, the pita have leavening and are a bit spongy. That's not traditional. :) I haven't seen Kontos, and I'd guess it's an East Coast brand. I don't doubt that it's good! Whole Foods might be a better place to get 100% whole wheat, however, unless you can find a Middle Eastern or halal store where people are into the "new" kind of dietary laws (no white flour, pasture raise livestock, etc.). Maybe try stores near the colleges? College kids tend to be into better eating. Turlock is from California. I know they freeze to ship it to avoid preservatives, so you might find it there, but more likely the Whole Foods have something local. Good luck on your quest.

For people who are interested in using rice flour, it is easy to make at home if you have a coffee/spice mill. The difference in performance and color between white and brown rice flour is small. The white is a shade whiter, smoother textured, and less flavored. White or brown rice flour may be used interchangeably in any recipe. The BIG difference you need to note is the variety of rice that you use for what task. Flour made from any long-grain rice is suited to breading, sauces, and use as a thickener; it is not good for baking (brownies excepted) since it yields a wet, soggy product with a large crumb. Both medium- and short-grain rice flours are multipurpose and can be used as thickeners and in baked goods, where they give a sandy, dry crumb. The problem with buying rice flour is that you don't know what type of rice they use, so make your own at home. For 1 cup rice flour, grind a scant 3/4 cup (3/4 c. minus 1 T.) short-grain rice or 3/4 cup long-grain rice. An interesting use for rice flour: If you want to make really crunchy cookies, you can substitute part of the wheat flour for rice flour. -Grainlady Chinese Almond Cookies (source: The Splendid Grain by Rebecca Wood) Makes 24 5 T. unsalted butter 1/2 c. Sucanat or packed light brown sugar 1 large egg 1/2 t. almond extract 1-1/2 c. brown rice flour 1/4 t. sea salt 18 blanched almonds 1 large egg yolk Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a cookie sheet (or line with parchment paper) and set aside. Cream the butter and Sucanat in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg and almond extract. Stir in the flour and salt until well mixed. (The dough may be baked immediately or refrigerated, tightly covered, for up to 5 days.) Roll the dough into walnut-size balls. Place 2-inches apart on the cookie sheet. Flatten with your fingertips. Press in almond half into the center of each cookie. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until lightly golden. Cool on wire racks. (May be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week.)

* Posted by coconut-nj (My Page) on Sat, May 30, 09 at 11:27 Sally, anywhere that has alot of British imports would probably have it. I was checking out who had it online the other day and while you might not want 6 bottles of it.. smiles... Amazon has 6 bottles for $27.05. It's free shipping too. Most places sell it for between five and six or up to eight dollars, so that's a great price. They say they're 15 oz bottles. Maybe somebody else would want to go in on it with you?? I've always heard of it described as a mayo with more vinegar and also with a mustard taste. Sounds good. Smiles. My DW used it when she used to travel to the UK all the time for buisness. Surprised she didn't bring any back. I have a head of savoy cabbage so I'm going to make my easy 'stuffed' cabbage casserole that I described above. It makes it so easy and quick which is just what we want on a Saturday night. Steam the cabbage briefly, layer it with dirty rice, pour some tomato juice mixed with onion and garlic powder between layers and on top and bake for about 40 minutes. I'll see if I can manage to take a picture. I seem to be terrible at that. The camera is always in the other room and it's a kind of big house and by the time I'm done cooking I'm not walking very well. LOL.. We will see. Oh btw, I always make two dishes of this because Christy gets burnt out on "red" since I always have something made with red sauce around I make her a version with just some broth on it. I do stuffed peppers for her the same way. No red. I do love the red on it but prefer tomato juice since it's nice and light although I'll just water down tomato sauce or puree with chicken stock/broth, if I don't have any handy.

I always love to share recipes for people with diet restrictions!