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Homemade Pita Bread
Updated Nov. 21, 2023
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- Total Time
- About 2 hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 2teaspoons active dry yeast
- ½teaspoon granulated sugar
- 35grams whole-wheat flour (¼ cup), preferably freshly milled
- 310grams unbleached all-purposed flour (2½ cups)
- 1teaspoon kosher salt
- 2tablespoons olive oil
Preparation
- Step 1
Make sponge: Put 1 cup lukewarm water in a large mixing bowl. Add yeast and sugar. Stir to dissolve. Add the whole-wheat flour and ¼ cup all-purpose flour and whisk together. Put bowl in a warm (not hot) place, uncovered, until mixture is frothy and bubbling, about 15 minutes.
- Step 2
Add salt, olive oil and nearly all remaining all-purpose flour (reserve ½ cup). With a wooden spoon or a pair of chopsticks, stir until mixture forms a shaggy mass. Dust with a little reserved flour, then knead in bowl for 1 minute, incorporating any stray bits of dry dough.
- Step 3
Turn dough onto work surface. Knead lightly for 2 minutes, until smooth. Cover and let rest 10 minutes, then knead again for 2 minutes. Try not to add too much reserved flour; the dough should be soft and a bit moist. (At this point, dough may refrigerated in a large zippered plastic bag for several hours or overnight. Bring dough back to room temperature, knead into a ball and proceed with recipe.)
- Step 4
Clean the mixing bowl and put dough back in it. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap, then cover with a towel. Put bowl in a warm (not hot) place. Leave until dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Step 5
Heat oven to 475 degrees. On bottom shelf of oven, place a heavy-duty baking sheet, large cast-iron pan or ceramic baking tile. Punch down dough and divide into 8 pieces of equal size. Form each piece into a little ball. Place dough balls on work surface, cover with a damp towel and leave for 10 minutes.
- Step 6
Remove 1 ball (keeping others covered) and press into a flat disk with rolling pin. Roll to a 6-inch circle, then to an 8-inch diameter, about ⅛ inch thick, dusting with flour if necessary. (The dough will shrink a bit while baking.)
- Step 7
Carefully lift the dough circle and place quickly on hot baking sheet. After 2 minutes the dough should be nicely puffed. Turn over with tongs or spatula and bake 1 minute more. The pita should be pale, with only a few brown speckles. Transfer warm pita to a napkin-lined basket and cover so bread stays soft. Repeat with the rest of the dough balls.
- Some measurements for dry ingredients are given by weight for greater accuracy. The equivalent measurements by volume are approximate.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Though I make mine slightly differently, there are a couple of things that should help you keep the "pocket." First, don't roll the dough too thin. Between the 1/8" here and the 1/4" I usually end up with is probably going to be better for pocketing.
Don't overbake; they should be puffed and looking a little "dry" but not really browned.
Then, as soon as you remove the pitas from the oven, tuck them under a towel until completely cool.
The pan you cook these on has to be very hot when you place the dough or it won't puff properly. Give the pan about a minute in the oven by itself to re-heat between pitas.
Hello everyone! Along with not rolling too thin, if you want perfect pockets you should fill a spray bottle with water to mist them. When you toss one into the oven, just spray it once or twice. This will ensure even and consistent puffing of the bread. Additionally, if you lay tin foil on the inside of your warming towel it will allow your bread to remain as soft as possible because it traps in the steam from each.
Another rising tip: I was having a hard time getting mine to rise in the oven - they'd kind of half pop then give up - then I tweaked my rolling technique. Instead of flipping the dough occasionally while rolling, I kept the bottom on the bottom and just rotated the dough. Maybe obvious, but that seemed to help!
People always say you should let dough rise in a warm place. Newsflash-dough will rise even in the fridge. I put mine in the fridge & let it rise overnight. Slow rise brings out richer flavor. Not necessary to "punch down dough" & I'm not being politically correct. Just put the dough on the counter & divide it. Note that no one ever explains why punching is nec., bc it's not.
I did not have ww flour, so used all unbleached flour and these turned out perfectly beautiful. Very delicious, too. Very easy on the hands for those that may suffer from arthritis.
Stove top baking: Pinch off 3 oz of dough and roll out between oiled parchment paper almost to the edges. Cut off parchment paper to 1/4 inch. Heat lightly oiled cast iron skillet until just smoking, take off the top parchment paper and put dough in pan still on bottom parchment. Quickly mist with water and put on a lid. Wait 20 seconds, mist, & cover. In a minute, turn the pita, take off the parchment, mist & cover. Quick & easy. Dough will keep for a week or more.
The punch down/ steps associated with kneading and shaping all contribute to gluten development and the size/ shape of the air pockets you develop in the dough, which is this particular bread the pocket is a pretty big deal. Many explain why letting the gas out (punching) is necessary, because it is. You can accomplish shaping and creating consistent or airy crumb in a number of ways though-- feel free to not call it punching down.
Love love love. This makes a great accompaniment to Sam Sifton’s Chicken Shawarma recipe. Sometimes I add cilantro, paprika, black pepper or other herbs to the pita dough before shaping and cooking. For cooking, I use a cast iron skillet that I pre-heat in the oven. I then place it on the stovetop and when the skillet cools, I just turn on the burner (low) and continue cooking. It’s much more efficient and I get great results every time. This is my staple pita recipe!
This is a great recipe! I used a cast iron griddle in the oven, preheating it with the oven, and it worked beautifully. The bread puffed up like magic, and it was delicious.
In case anyone is intimidated, don't be! I mixed all of the ingredients at first so missed the step of letting yeast get frothy. I let it rise in the fridge for 48 hrs. I didn't let it come to room temperature or rise again before rolling out, but I still had large fluffy pockets! I did warm up the baking sheet with the oven and baked exactly as instructed, three minutes each, and I didn't over knead. Happy baking!
They come out perfectly every time! I put my pizza stone on the grill, crank it up to high, and the pitas are done in no time. Keeps the heat out of the house, too, and easier than trying to flop the dough inside a burning oven.
This recipe worked out great. I used a cast iron skillet to cook the pitas, instead of the cookie sheet that was suggested. I also added a small tray of cold water (ice works even better) to the oven while preheating/cooking to ensure my oven was steamy, which helped the pitas puff up beautifully!
I am a bit confused about this recipe. If you were to exclude the 1/2 cup reserved flour, the dough will be ~83% hydration. Do you mean it to be this wet? At 83% hydration kneading becomes quite difficult. My calculations are based off the weights you listed.
Surprisingly easy to make, and lots of fun to see it puff. Warning . . . follow directions not to brown pita . . . and don't roll too thin . . . easy to overbake, then it becomes crispy, and not soft and flexible as it should be.
Did anybody else struggle with this being the stickiest, hardest to work with dough?! I couldn't knead it, roll it... a horrible experience from start to finish
Great recipe and what a treat to have such tender fresh pita bread! Followed the recipe given but baked in my Ooni pizza oven at 600+ degrees. Was very easy and fast! I saved 2 fully baked ones and froze them for 1 month in a ziplock just to see how they would hold up and they were great thawed. Only thing is to make sure they come to room temperature completely or warm them or they will be stiff like they are stale if served cold.
I've commented before I had experience with making pita, but now that its on regular rotation I can share some learnings. For me, the key to a good puff is heat. I have read other suggestions like not flipping the dough while rolling, or spritzing with water before baking; none of which worked for me. I put a cast iron skillet in the oven and warm it up to 485F. After 2 minutes it puffs like a balloon, then I flip it for 1 minute more.
I struggled a bit with the transfer from work surface to stone, so I rolled out each pita on a piece of parchment, shook the excess flour off the paper and carried the pita with the parchment to the oven. Then I slid both onto the stone. Just remember to take the paper out of the oven when you remove the pita. I refrigerated my dough per instructions and it didn't really double in size final rise, but they turned out great anyhow.
I just finished baking these. It was fun to watch them puff! I had tried pita a few years ago - with a different recipe. This one was easier and results were much better - some puffing on all eight pitas, and some puffed up almost as much as poori. Next time I'll try the suggestion of not flipping the disks as I roll them and see if that makes a difference. I also used a cast iron skillet, so I was able to cook two at a time. They'll be great with the babaganoush my husband is making!
Superior results: 140 g local whole wheat ground at home; 105 g bread flour and 105 g AP flour. 1 1/4 cups water and with instant yeast, no need for sugar to proof. Thank you to everyone for encouraging an overnight rise. I might wish to increase the salt a wee bit and after this 2nd time, plan to increase %age of whole wheat. 3rd loaf onward ballooned like puff fish, so rest balls longer. Great recipe!
I cooked these in my Ooni pizza oven. I found the recipe measurements a bit frustrating to work with, I wish it provided the grams and cups for everything instead of the weird flip flop. My dough seemed much wetter than I would have expected, even after adding all of the reserved flour. I would definitely abide by the covering with a damp towel (I didn’t). Though I found a spritz of water before going in the oven improved my second batch
I rushed this recipe omitting the several hour rest in the fridge. Used a standmixer. Found it a bit moist and used most of the reserve flour. Made 4 pitas not 8 rolled them thin but did not overwork it. Used a pizza stone 2 minute flip 1.5. They puffed up nice but clearly lacked the slow cold rise. We were using them as wraps instead of stuffing. I was leary of them drying out and brushed them with olive oil upon exit. Will absolutely make again!
These were fabulous. Used Artisan Bread Flour. Such a wonderful recipe. The two of us ate 2 pitas each with our meal of Shawarma chicken. I woke up in the middle of the night and scarfed another one down and wanted more!
Needed to add almost all the extra flour. Would make them thinner -- were slightly undercooked. Did it on stovetop with preheated cast iron pan with laser thermometer
I use a baking stone. After rolling out the dough, I place it on a floured pizza peel & bake it at 500F for 6 min. No need to turn it over. Pitas come out lightly browned & puffy.
Not sure what happened to mine but it didn’t puff much, resembles a naan more than a pita. Thoughts?
Cooked my second batch on my egg bbq, direct on grill after rest of items were pretty much done, lid down. Lovely lovely.
Good results, loved the puff, but I couldn't roll to 8 inches and keep thick enough,
So- it says to reserve 1/2 cup of flour, but then never ends up using the reserved 1/2 cup of flour? How much flour has everyone used?
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