Pita Bread Recipe

pita bread filled with lettuce and tomatoes on a plate

4.43 from 7 reviews

If you’ve never baked Pita Bread at home, you’ll probably be surprised how easy they are to make. Because this dough only needs to rise one time, it’s one of the fastest bread recipes you can make.

Prep Time20

Bake Time20

Rising Time2

Total Time2 40

Servings:8 pitas

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.
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.

Notes

If measuring the flour by volume use the “dip & sweep” method. That is, dip the measuring cup into the flour bin, overfill it, then sweep away the excess.

To make whole wheat pita bread, use 1 cup of whole wheat flour in place of the bread flour.

Nutrition