Homemade Pita Bread
If you’ve never made homemade Pita Bread, you’ll be surprised how easy they are to make. It’s quite something to watch the flat round of dough puff up like a balloon in the oven. Because this dough only needs to rise one time, it’s one of the fastest yeast bread recipes you can make.
If you’ve got a sourdough starter, you can make Sourdough Pita Bread instead of this yeasted pita bread recipe.
If you don’t have a starter I can show you how to make one, and in the meantime you can start with this super easy and quick recipe.
Pita Bread Ingredients
- Water – Use warm water to activate the dry yeast
- Yeast – I prefer dry active yeast to rapid rise yeast for a slower rise time and better flavor.
- Bread Flour – High protein bread flour will develop enough gluten to allow the pita to puff up in the heat of the oven.
- Salt – For flavor.
- Sugar – For flavor and browning.
- Olive Oil – To enrich the bread and add flavor.
How to make Pita Bread
- Mix the ingredients.
- Knead for 5 minutes until the dough gathers on the hook.
- Turn the dough out of the bowl. It will be a bit sticky at this point.
- Knead the dough into a smooth ball.
- Set the dough aside to rise until doubled in size.
- Divide the dough into 8 pieces and roll each piece into a tight ball.
- Roll each piece to a 6″-7″ round.
- Bake the pitas, 2 at a time, on a preheated pan, baking steel or baking stone.
- Bake until the pitas are fully-puffed and lightly browned on the bottom.
- Wrap the pitas in a towel as they come out of the oven.
FAQs about making Homemade Pita Bread:
No, after the first rise, you can refrigerate the dough for up to 2 days.
If your oven is not hot enough the pita may not puff properly. If the sheet pan or baking stone is not pre-heated the pitas won’t puff. If the bread is rolled too thin in spots it may not puff properly.
The bread is best eaten the day it is made and even better while it’s still warm.
Yes! Store the pita rounds in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.
Wrap the pita in foil and place in a 200°F oven until warm.
Here are some other great yeasted bread recipes you should try: Soft White Sandwich Bread, Milk & Honey Whole Wheat Bread, Hamburger Buns Crusty Semolina Bread and Hoagie Rolls.
If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a 5-star review.
Pita Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 12 ounces warm water (1 ½ cups)
- 2 ¼ teaspoons dry yeast (1 packet)
- 1 ounce olive oil (2 tablespoons)
- 1/2 ounce granulated sugar (1 tablespoon)
- 1 ½ teaspoons table salt
- 15 ounces bread flour (3 cups (see note))
Instructions
- Combine the water, yeast, oil, sugar, salt and 1 ½ cups (7 ½ oz, 212g) of the bread flour in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix until it forms a thick batter. Switch to the dough hook. If mixing by hand add flour until you can no longer stir, then turn the dough out onto a floured surface to finish by hand.12 ounces warm water, 2 ¼ teaspoons dry yeast, 1 ounce olive oil, 1/2 ounce granulated sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons table salt
- With the mixer running on low, add the remaining flour until the dough begins to clean the bottom of the bowl and form a ball around the hook.The dough will be a little sticky. You can sprinkle in a little extra flour if the dough is extremely sticky. Knead for 5 minutes.
- Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turn once to coat the dough and cover the bowl. Rise for 1 – 1 ½ hours or until doubled in size. (The dough can also rise in the refrigerator overnight). Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece of dough under your cupped hand to form a tight ball. Cover the dough balls and let them rest for 10 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 450°F450 °F. If you have a baking stone or steel place it in the oven. If you don’t have a baking stone, place a baking sheet in the middle rack of the oven to preheat. If you have a dark colored baking sheet use that. A dark pan will absorb heat better than a light-colored pan, so the bread will puff better.
- Roll each piece of dough to 6-7” around. Roll two pitas and immediately place them on the preheated baking stone or baking sheet in the oven. Bake until they are puffed and the bottom is lightly browned, about 3-5 minutes. You don’t need to flip the bread. Remove the baked breads and wrap them in a clean kitchen towel while you continue rolling and baking the pitas.
- The pitas are best the day they are made, but they also freeze very well.
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