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.

sally2 & lpinkmountain - sally2 - We've been doing a little traveling and it's the beginning of gardening season, so I haven't been spending much time on the computer. I should have added, if you mill your own flour, be sure to sift out any large chunks of bran from your flour when using it for fine cakes, like chiffon or angel food. And you must have a mill that will mill a very fine flour to use it for "cake" flour. A coarse grind of flour won't get the job done. I agree about avoiding bleached flour, but saying that, I brought home my 1 bag-for-the-year of White Lily flour I always purchase when we go to Tennessee (LOL). lpinkmountain - I've never tried wholegrain cake flour with barley flour, but I'm going to bet it's sweet taste would be an asset. Barley does have some gluten, although it's very low in gluten. Barley flour is an odd flour when you mill it yourself. It's really light and airy. You can mill 3/4 c. barley and it will innitially measure 1-1/2 c. of flour, but after several days storage, it compresses to 1 c. of flour. Barley is the exception to the "stir before measuring" rule. You need to tap the container a few times to settle the contents before measuring. I like to mill pearled barley into flour and use it in baked goods. Pearled barley has the bran removed so the flour is very starchy and soft to the touch. If you use barley in a yeast bread the crusts tend to harden after the bread is cooled and the crumb of the bread may be more crumbly, but nice and moist. Barley flour works well in lots of baking. It's one of those under-used flours, like rye. People only think of barley as a flour for a flatbread and there are LOTS of recipes using it for bannocks, pancakes (and other quick breads), pie crust... -Grainlady

I have a dozen different substitute flours from a holiday experiment. Not a single favorite tried-n-true recipe responded well despite the package claim. I just needed to fuss it a bit. AND write down what i was doing, lol. "it worked!...now what did i do?" hmmm DH is the baker in the home and got totally fed up. I carried on and sort of enjoyed it. The only thing that seemed to help was to add a gluten-free purchased 'mix' offered by so many now. Just a 1/2 cup to anything i was attempting. Not really a good answer to your need but what worked for me. Though Eincorn does contain gluten and is a wheat like your recipe requires, it should do well unlike other substitute 'flours'. To give it an honorable tolerance test it should be used alone me thinks. All our bread baking is done in a heavy lidded enameled cast iron or the french loaf crockery thing. Gives the heavier grains a chance to 'loft' and retain moisture.

Wow, you folks are awesome, thanks so much for taking the time to post ideas and recipes, I really appreciate it. I'm going to ask tonight if eggs/egg whites are on the OK list because those macaroons are a great idea (and are a favorite of DH as well). Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. It's also found in spelt, I've just learned. So all of those products are out, along with a laundry list of other foods that seem to cause her stomach to cramp up. I love to bake - bread a couple of times/week, cakes, cookies, pies, etc. I feel badly for my neighbor as she's basically given up on all baked goods, which is why I thought I'd see if there were any possibilities for her that she might have overlooked. publickman I've brought quinoa salad a couple of times and am not a huge fan, but it's a good fallback. bons thanks so much for the recipes. The brownies and macaroons look great (assuming eggs are ok, I'd have to leave out the nuts) but the 3rd recipe won't work as was pointed out (milk). mom4j47 yes, this is pretty drastic and not by choice but for health reasons. My neighbor gets very very sick when she eats something not on her OK list. All veggies and some fruits are always welcome so I often bring those. Annie I'll check out the cornbread recipes (and ask her if cornmeal is ok). The meringue cookies look good although no nuts. dcarch thanks for the hint about Asian groceries, I've got one nearby. I have no idea how to use these flours though - anything you can share about them? Wild rice is a grass and as such it's on her OK list. I haven't seen wild rice flour (if it even exists) but I've got a really good recipe for a wild rice salad (includes dried cranberries and almonds) that I could bring sometime, with the almonds on the side. cloud_swift the cholo tiki recipe looks delicious - I know DH would love to try that. Teresa yes, rice just an additional food she is sensitive to, which makes things difficult since it's often an ingredient in gluten-free flours and foods. tami_ohio thanks for pointing out www.diningdownloads. I have a Kindle and will check it out. chi83 I'll have to check with her on coconut milk. I'm assuming almond milk is not going to work. I didn't know that coconut cream whips. compumom thanks, I'll see if meringues will work for her. Becky thanks for the recipe! Jessica thanks as well, I'll ask about corn meal because your recipe looks great. cynic I'm going to see her tonight and so will ask about all the ingredients I'm not sure of. I didn't realize flour residue hangs around. She loves the gewurztraminer that DH brings on occasion, so arriving with baked goods is not really all that critical. Her basic approach is to make a soup that she knows she can eat and assume that any other contributions from guests are not going to be something she'll be able to have. If the contributions fit her diet, it's a bonus. This has been a real education for me, both in getting to know this neighbor and in all the posts here. Thanks again to all who commented.