Making pita bread feels like magic!  It is surprisingly easy to make and starts with a simple yeast dough baked in a hot oven. The heat activates the yeast and creates steam, which makes the dough puff up dramatically, forming its signature pocket. The pita will deflate when it cools, but the pocket remains.

note 

  • It is important that the temperature in the oven is very hot and stays hot.
  • A pizza stone is very helpful when making pita; however, preheating a baking tray works just as well.
  • To ensure a pocket, don’t roll your pita out too thin.
homemade pita

makes 8 medium pita

ingredients

1½ cups/320g warm water

2 tsp/8g dry yeast

1½ Tbsp/12g sugar

3 Tbsp/30g olive oil

3¾ cups/490g unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp/5g fine rock salt

preparation

  1. Grease a large bowl with oil or ghee. Set aside.
  2. In a bowl with a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or a large bowl (if mixing by hand), combine the water, yeast, and salt. Let it sit for 5 minutes, at which point the mixture should look foamy. Add the salt and oil, then gradually add the flour with the mixer running on low speed.
  3. Knead the dough for 5 minutes, it will look a bit shaggy at first but as it continues to knead, it will come together. After 5 minutes, if the dough is still sticking to the bowl, add a tablespoon of flour at a time so that the dough no longer sticks to the bowl. Do not add too much flour. The dough should be smooth and slightly sticky.
  4. Using oiled hands or a bread scraper, place the dough in the oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth or a beeswax sheet to rest at room temperature until doubled in size, 1 – 2 hours.
  1. Using an oiled bread scraper or a knife, turn the dough onto a well-floured work surface and divide it into 8 equal portions, each approximately 105g.
  2.   Flour your hands and mould each into a ball by stretching the top and tucking the edges under, achieving a round shape with a smooth top. This is a great video demonstrating how to do this – jump to 3:00 mins.
  3. Place the balls 1 inch apart on a well-floured board, cover them with an oiled sheet of plastic wrap and let them rise for 30 minutes.
  4. While the pita rounds are resting, preheat the oven with the baking stone inside to 250C/480F.
  1. Use a rolling pin to lightly roll out the balls of dough into circles, ¼-inch thick (for thinner pita bread) or ½-inch thick (for thicker, puffy pita bread) and approximately 5 – 6 inches in diameter. You don’t want to press out all the air and make them too thin. Do your best to keep an even thickness.
  1. If using a pizza stone, gently lift a pita with your fingers and flip it onto the hot baking stone (if your stone is large enough, place three more pita onto the baking stone). Bake for 5 minutes or until cooked through and puffy. You don’t want them to brown.
  2. Take out of the oven and repeat with the remaining four. Cool on a rack. Fill with homemade hummus and salad, or the next day, cut into triangles, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with za’atar, and toast in the oven to serve with your favourite guacamole.

    tips

    If using a baking tray, preheat it when resting the pita rounds. When sufficiently hot, flip the pita onto the tray and bake as above.

    variation

    For a whole wheat variety, replace some of the all-purpose flour with 1¾ cups/230g of whole wheat flour.