|
|
|
|
|
SearchUser loginBread BooksFavorite Recipes
|
Pita Bread
Flat breads can be made in dozens of different ways. They can be made from grains other than wheat, such as corn in corn tortillas. They can be made with no leavening, such as matzo or flour tortillas, with chemical leavening (baking soda or baking powder) such as pancakes or crepes, or with yeast, such as naan or pita bread. They can also be made from a starter. And they can be baked (pitas), fried (fry bread), grilled (zebra bread), and, I would imagine even steamed (I'm drawing a blank... anyone?). Flat breads of some sort exist in just about every culture on the globe. Anyone who grew up in a household where flat breads are an essential part of every meal knows will attest that they are a hundred times better when baked fresh than when bought from the store wrapped in plastic and already two or three days old. I wasn't brought up in such a house, actually, but a year or two ago I started going to a local Lebanese restaurant solely for the fresh pita bread that they baked. After draining my wallet by eating lunch there every day for a week, I realized pita bread must be pretty simple to make at home. So I tried it and was extremely pleased with the results. I still visit the Lebanese restaurant for their pitas every few weeks, but I've cut back and saved myself a ton of money. About The Ingredients There are only 6 ingredients in this recipe for pita bread, and you even have quite a bit of flexibility in choosing which of those to include. I'll go through the ingredients one-by-one:
If you are using active dry yeast, follow the instructions on the packet to active it (see the note on yeast above). Otherwise, mix the yeast in with the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the olive oil and 1 1/4 cup water and stir together with a wooden spoon. All of the ingredients should form a ball. If some of the flour will not stick to the ball, add more water (I had to add an extra 1/4 cup). Once all of the ingredients form a ball, place the ball on a work surface, such as a cutting board, and knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes (or until your hands get tired). If you are using an electric mixer, mix it at low speed for 10 minutes. (The purpose of kneading is to thoroughly combine the ingredients and to break down the flour so that the dough will become stretchy and elastic and rise well in the oven. A simple hand kneading technique is to firmly press down on the dough with the palm of your hand, fold the dough in half toward you like you are closing an envelope, rotate the dough 90 degrees and then repeat these steps, but whatever technique you are comfortable using should work.) When you are done kneading the dough, place it in a bowl that has been lightly coated with oil. I use canola spray oil, but you can also just pour a teaspoon of oil into the bowl and rub it around with your fingers. Form a ball out of the dough and place it into the bowl, rolling the ball of dough around in the bowl so that it has a light coat of oil on all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and set aside to rise until it has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes. When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes. This step allows the dough to relax so that it'll be easier to shape.
While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to preheat as well. If you do not have a baking stone, turn a cookie sheet upside down and place it on the middle rack of the oven while you are preheating the oven. This will be the surface on which you bake your pitas. After the dough has relaxed for 20 minutes, spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough. You should be able to roll it out to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. If the dough does not stretch sufficiently you can cover it with the damp towel and let it rest 5 to 10 minutes before trying again.
If you have a spray bottle in the kitchen, spray a light mist of water onto your baking surface and close the oven for 30 seconds. Supposedly this step reduces the blistering on the outside of your pitas. I've skipped it many times in the past and still been pleased with my breads, so if you don't have a bottle handy it isn't a big deal.
Open the oven and place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes. If you want your pitas to be crispy and brown you can bake them for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, but it isn't necessary (in the batch pictured here I removed them at 3 minutes).
That's it. They should keep pretty well, but we almost always eat them as soon as they come out of the oven.
If you have any tips on baking pitas or have a recipe you'd like to share, please add a comment below.
Filed under:
|
ALSO ON |
Pita bread is a great bread for beginning bakers or for making with kids. The entire process of making them only takes about two hours too, so it is also a great one for people on a tight schedule. 
del.icio.us
Twitter
Facebook
Google Buzz
StumbleUpon
Favorite
Excellent recipe!
Turned out great! I thought pitas would be very difficult to make, but your guide was a breeze. Thanks!
work in progress
Hey this has been a fun one to do with the kids,will try some wheat flour next time,about to put them in the oven,can't wait to try'em!
Pita
I just made a few pitas today for the first time. Followed the technique here, but did a wholewheat version [30%]. :) Though the 1st one was a bit too fat and oven wasn't heated up that nicely yet. It was real fun and certainly, quick! Sometimes i just love making flatbreads cause the results are known almost instantaneously after shaping..hehe
This goes with homemade tsatziki (of which my parents didn't like because they dun like any greek style food)
Tips please?
Hello
I have a few questions, seen in bold below.
I tried this recipe for the first time. I followed a different recipe but it was basically the same with small changes to same ingredients.
I used the kind of dry yeast that you add straight to the flour.
I used 2 cups AP flour and 1 cup Whole Wheat flour, and only third WW flour because from my experience, when I make bread using WW flour, the result is much less tasty than when I make bread with only AP flour. Still the pitas had distinct WW taste and color.
On to my questions; I prepared the dough which was feeling great while kneading, nice and smooth, a little sticky.
After 20 minutes I kneaded it I felt was enough and put it to rest and double in size.
Does it matter if I knead it a lot (20 minutes was surely a bit excessive) or less? Will it affect the texture/whatnot of the bread?
After it doubled in size I punched the dough, kneaded for a minute then let it rest for 20 minutes for it to rise (since then it was about the size of the dough before the 1st rise, is this normal?).
After it raised a bit I divided the dough to 8 pieces.
Now the cut pieces were not round, I had to shape them to a small ball shape in order for me to roll it to a circle shape. Here I ran into a problem, I shaped each piece to a ball, but the dough wouldn't 'heal' like it does during first knead, instead it would still be round but like in two pieces, is this normal and is there any way for it to shape nicely to a small, even ball (no seams)?
I could still flat them, but it did not look as nice as it could have been. Here I ran into another problem, I used a rolling pin to roll each dough/ball piece, but the dough always retracts; I move the dough forward with the rolling pin, the dough comes back. This makes it very hard to roll it into a desired circle shape, as well as to make it in an even thickness. Of course the end result suffered because of this. Did I do something wrong? Why did it act like this?
Due to this I had trouble handling the pitas.
Still, some of my pitas rose nicely, they puffed up so much and it was very nice, I think those that had even thickness. Some simply were too thin and did not rise and burned in the middle. And a few had several pockets of air instead of one largeer.
btw accidentally responded to a comment instead of to the main article.
I hope you can give me tips for the next time I try these.
I am new to bread baking but so far have successfully made tasty rolls.
try parchment paper
When I make pizza I roll it out on parchment paper. The dough sticks to the parchment and doesn't spring back. Then I just slide the dough and parchment paper on to the preheated baking stone. It works beautifully. Perhaps this method would work with pita bread too.
EricaVee
If this happens, it usually means the gluten is overexcited; let the dough rest for a few minutes and the gluten should relax. The 20-minute kneading period might have exacerbated the problem by making the gluten strands too strong.
Other Grains
These are *amazing*. I've always utterly failed at making flatbread, but these were perfect. I did an experiment and tried some alternate grains. All of these were pillowy and soft and tasted great, with only a hint of difference between them:
(all are 1/2 regular flour and with olive oil)
1/2 millet flour - hint of perhaps a corn-like flavor
1/2 barley flour - distinct buttery biscuit flavor
1/2 whole grain spelt flour - country bread flavor
all regular flour - least favorite, doughy and bland in comparison to the rest.
These were so light and tasty with 50% whole grain flour, I'm going to try upping the whole grain amount and see how they do.
Thanks for a great recipe!
whole WHEAT flour?
the measurement for whole grian spelt flour - is this the same as for whole wheat flour? Shouldnt these be in weight measurement?
thanks
- lauren
My Blog: Organic Skincare
The only time that I have had
The only time that I have had flat breads fail is when I rolled the dough too thick ...it does not puff up properly if you do that. Go a bit thinner and voila! Pillows in the oven (or on a hot iron frying pan.)!
Brian
This has happened to me in
This has happened to me in the past a few times. The trick is to not let the dough get too thick. Plus it takes longer to cook and doesn't turn out right when it's too thick as well.
whole grain pittas
I agree with you Hudson about flavours, especially for flatbreads.
I use 100% wholemeal spelt flour and it works really well for pittas and chapattis.
For those that only like white bread, unbleached white spelt flour is a good substitute for ordinary white all purpose/bread flour because it still has some flavour.
These look great and I shall
These look great and I shall certainly be trying them! With yeast first, then I'll (try to) adapt them for sourdough.
My oven is in celsius - is 220° celsius anything like 400° farenheit???!!!
sourdough pitas
Hi Andrew. Did you ever adapt these to sourdough? If so would you share the adaptation?
nice recipe!
Great recipe! Followed exactly as written and we had exactly eight nice sized pitas! I love that they can be made so quickly. The kids marveled at the puffing in the oven. We had ours with a homemade hummus, VERY GOOD!
Thanks!
Mine didn't puff
Mine did not puff either. I'm definitely not anywhere near being a baker, so I'm looking for tips regarding this recipe, not complaining. :) Does anyone know what types of things cause them not to puff?
puffless pitas
The two most likely causes would be an oven or surface that isn't hot enough or the dough not being thin enough. Roll your dough real thin and place them on a hot surface and it is hard to go wrong.
what makes pitas puff..
The thing that makes the pitas puff is heat.
Very high temperatures have a shock-like effect on the yeast and this causes it to "puff". It is really that simple. Turn your oven to its highest possible heat and your pitas will definitely puff.
try 500 v 400 degrees
another sites pita recipe calls for 500 degrees (because pitas, in their natural middle east 'state' are cooked in VERY hot brick ovens) try this or the highest you can get outta your oven and 3 and 2 minutes per side. bing-bang-boom... PUFF.
Pitas
I have made pitas with just regular bread dough, and had no problem.
qahtan
Great Recipe
I looked online at alot of recipes for pita breads before deciding this was the best one to try. I've never made bread before. I liked it's flexibility, its simplicity, it's clear directions and photo steps and it's ease of use. I made my first batch yesterday and the first two weren't off the pan before they were being consumed. I managed to grab a photo but i don't have a place to upload it right now. I made mine with 1 cup whole wheat and 2 cups bread flour and they all turned out perfect. I never measure exact so i can also say this was a very flexible and forgiving recipe. I used a little bit of honey and a bit of sugar.
My only complaint is that my husband now said he's going to quit buying arabic bread from the store and i have to make it all.... We usually go through 10-15 a day here as a family! I said Yikes that doesn't sound like it will be much fun. Which brings me to my second question. Can this be doubled? Or is it better to make two seperate batches at the same time? I was thinking it might get hard to knead it if it was too big. Also has anyone tried making the pitas smaller? I liked the size but i was thinking smaller might last a little longer around here. Thank you so much for the recipe. We love it.
Kristy
Doubling the pitas
This recipe can certainly be doubled, but, yes, managing the logistics of it does get harder: more kneading, more shaping, more loading and unloading the oven. But if you have enough mouths to feed, go for it.
You can make the pitas smaller. They'll turn out well, but I wouldn't get my hopes up that they'll last any longer. :)
Smaller loaves
I typically make my loaves about 60 grams (a little bigger than a golf ball); a great size, 'cause they fit in sandwitch-sized ziplock bags for lunches! I didn't change anything in the recipe at all, and still bake them about 3 minutes. The only change is that I make more of them.
They freeze pretty well too.
Thicker Pitas
Here in Israel, pitas are usually a bit thicker. Moist on the inside and with a hint of color on the outside. Perfect for filling up with unreasonable amounts of houmous, veggies and falafel... or with just butter and honey, when it's right out of the oven. Yum!
I have tried it several times at home and found it works fine with any light white bread dough. I also gave it a shot with whole wheat flour (100%) and it was a no no... very dry and heavy and the pocket just didnt come out right. Maybe the dough didn't have the needed elasticity to expand properly...
After I roll down the dough to it's final shape, I place the pitas on a thin metal oven grid, leave it to rise 10 minutes, just to get a bit of puffiness and throw a batch in the oven at at least 230 degrees celcius. As soon as there's an little colour, off it goes. :-)
Shalom! so if i follow this
Shalom!
so if i follow this recepit with your tips I'll make pita as in Israel?
Fabrizio, Rome
I lived in israel, and know
I lived in israel, and know what you're talking aobut. when I tried to bake them thicker, they didn't get a pouch. whatsoever. but my temp was a bit low, which might have been the problem.
Different recipe to try
My recipe is similar to this one, but not exact. I change up the flour all the time. If I replace more than 1/4 of the flour with whole grain flour, I don't get a good pocket. Also, I bake at 500F. Once my pitas are cooked, I cool them between damp tea towels to soften them. I don't like dry pitas... Mine are thicker than in the picture also.
5 cups flour
2 cups warm water
1 packet yeast
1/4 cup oil
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
I like to replace 1 cup of the flour with fresh ground whole wheat, spelt, rye, or kamut.
This makes 8 large pitas or 16 small (4 inch ) pitas.
Tried recipe
I experimented with this recipe. Half of the pitas I made I rolled too thin and they turned into saltine crackers. The other half turned out great. I think the key is to have the width consistent from edge to edge.
Pressing them out by hand makes it very hard to get them right. Rolling pin is a must in my opinion.
rolling pin
if, like me, you don't own a rolling pin, use a wine bottle wrapped in plastic. works great!
tried recipe
I made pita bread following this recipe and it turned out very well. Thank you
I have posted it here http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com/2007/01/pita-bread.html
mmm pita!
this is indeed an enjoyable and tastey recipe. i also had some puffing issues. some of mine half-puffed, while others puffed fully. (by half-puff i mean, it has 2 or 3 medium sized bubbles inside of it, but not continuously through) i made these twice, first time being a complete novice, second time i experimented with rolling widths. i had the same results as my first batch even though i rolled them out much thinner. next time i try it i will test oven temperature.
i had it at 400 both times, by how much do you think i should increase the temerature?
Try letting them proof for a
Try letting them proof for a little while after they are rolled out but before going into the oven. Keep a moist towel or plastic over them to keep them from drying out. I've found about 10 - 20 minutes of post shaping proofing will lead to a full pocket, rather then several small ones.
pita on the stove top
Hello all,
I'm new to the site, though I've thoroughly enjoyed lurking for a couple of months now and have, thanks to you all, finally learned to make eadible sourdough. It's got a long way to go to make me really happy, but it's come a long way from the paving stones I produced without fail several years ago!
Floyd, your pitas look wonderful; I learned to make it from a recipe very close to yours, but they are cooked on a skillet on the stove top. The puffing isn't completely reliable (sometimes you just end up with flat bread), but the hot skillet also gives the pita a flavor that reminds me of the lebanese bakery I grew up frequenting. The pita cooks briefly on one side, then gets flipped right before bubbles appear. Puffing happens on the second side.
Thank you all for sharing your knowledge so generously!
edh
edh - I like the idea of
edh - I like the idea of using a skillet. Do the breads get crispy or are they still soft?
I was so surprised that
I was so surprised that these worked for me :)
They were so delicious.
I put a mixture of Wholewheat, Wholespelt and rye flours into these and they tasted looovely. I might try other flours experimented with. Barley flours sound delish! (I love barley pancakes)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34851581@N00/425773347/
thegreenbaker
puff.
i've made this recipe 3 times, and i do love it. at first i had some issues with getting them to puff up well, so i read all the responses and the next two times i decided to experiment with higher temperatures and rolling them out thinner.
sadly i still can't get them to puff up fully. i get a good sized half bubble (one half of the pita bread puffs up while the other stays flat).
so i was wondering if anyone knew what i am doing wrong.
they still taste delicious, it's just slightly annoying to have to cut half of the pita so the opening goes all the way through.
thanks!
re; puff
pompeii,
It's not a sure fix because, as I said, I don't get a completely reliable puff on the stove top, but the recipe that I've used calls for letting the dough rest not only in the individual balls before rolling out, but also for 10-15 minutes after rolling out. I've found that leaving that step out seems to affect the puff to some extent.
Good luck!
edh
Non-puffing pita
I made the pitas this weekend with half graham flour and they only sorta puffed. After the first two, I increased the oven temp to 450, left them in 6 minutes, then flipped them for another 2. Even at higher heat and longer time they never colored, but I think they puffed a bit more. I'm assuming the whole wheat flour is what prevented the full puffing, so I want to try again with AP flour.
They tasted good, just more like the roll-up flatbread kind of pita than the pocket pita. I have them in a plastic bag on the counter--it sure is nice not to have to go the store for pita!
re: non-puffing
I made mine with 100% whole wheat and they hardly puffed. I guess you have to use at least 60% AP.
Lisa - did you increase the
Lisa - did you increase the water somewhat to account for the graham flour? And how was your batch with the AP flour? I've planned some pitas for tomorrow, so am re-reading the threads here.
Whole grain pita success!
So I tried whole wheat pitas again--I used all whole wheat and then probably 1/2 C of rye because I ran out of wheat. I tried to handle them minimally and use as little flour as possible when rolling them out. Success! This time they almost all puffed completely. The 2 that didn't were a little over-rolled. I kept the temp at 400 and only left them in for 3 minutes.
Pita, pita, pita
I just made these for dinner tonight. Very easy and much tastier than storebought! I baked them two at a time and only figured out how to get full puff-ed-ness on the last set. The others were partially puffed. The thinner the better, it seems.
I baked them for 5 minutes, and I think I'll even go a minute or two longer next time.
Sue
Easy and delicious!
I have been wanting to make my own pita for a while, but it wasn't until this recipe was linked in a livejournal.com community that I got around to it. I really appreciated the step-by-step instructions with pictures. I used active dry yeast (and activated it in warm water), and 1 c. whole wheat flour + 2 c. all-purpose flour. I noticed that my dough was very sticky after adding the 1/4 c. water/yeast mixture and 1 c. water, so I probably added another 1/4-1/3 c. flour. My pita did not puff up as much as I expected, but after reading the comments, I think that leaving the rolled dough to rest for 15-20 minutes before baking would make a difference. The pita I baked last puffed more than that which I baked first. Anyway, I will never buy pita in the store again. I can't believe I ever condescended to eat store-bought pita when I can make it easily and it tastes MUCH better. Thanks for the recipe!
P.S. Here's a picture of my pita:
Nice
Those look great.
Thanks!
Thank you! I'm looking forward to making this recipe again.
Mmm
My girlfriend and I have had this for dinnerthe last two nights with homemade hummus and feta cheese, I have to say that it's probably the most delicious better-for-me-than-most foods that I've eaten at all. It's incredibly easy to make, and I'll probably start serving it with all kinds of dinner. Thank you!
Pita puffing hint
I just made these for the third time, and every one puffed completely! I started the oven at 450F instead of 400, and let it heat for about 30 minutes before starting to bake. I figured so much heat is lost each time you open the door to switch batches, I would crank it up to see if it helped.
Of course, everyone's oven is just different enough to make you nuts, but I found a higher initial temperature made it work for me. All the pitas had puffed fully after about 2 minutes, and I left them in the oven for another 2 after that.
Sue
Perfect!
I've made pitas before, but this recipe has turned out the best. I doubled the recipe using 50/50 whole wheat to AP and mixed it in the Bosch. I rolled out most of them before beginning to bake so they would have a little rise time, and they turned out nice and puffy and soft! Half of the pitas I poked overall with a fork, so they would be flat; my kids like these for making individual pizzas. I got 18 pieces from doubling.
On the non-puffing problems, they mostly seem to be related to whole wheat, I'm wondering if there has not been enough gluten development. Maybe the addition of vital wheat gluten might help? Or just more kneading. Just a thought, I didn't need it, but I know my wheat has a good protein% and I mill it myself.
Thanks for a good recipe and nice instructions!
Dana
pita bread makes with whole wheat, oat bran, and flaxseed?
I want to make pita bread, but I try to avoid all purpose flour due to health. If anyone know how much of whole wheat, oat bran, and flaxseed I need to make 8 pita breads, please let me know. Or if anyone has any suggestion or idea, please let me know also.
Thank you.
Anhp
Oh My God!!!
What an amazingly accurate recipe!!!!
Congratulations, this is an EXCELLENT recipe!!!!
Wow!!!!
The Pitas came out incredible!!!!
Thumbs up to you!!!!
Anhp, As for a whole wheat
Anhp,
As for a whole wheat recipe, I would recommend using maybe 50/50 with whole wheat and spelt, or whole wheat and whole wheat pastry flours, and then just adding maybe a teaspoon or two of vital wheat gluten to the mixture and maybe a little more liquids. You gotta experiment with it though, as it's never exact. Hope this helps! (I'm in the same boat you are with the avoiding-white-flour-at-all-costs-for-my-health)
Celestia
And this, above all: To Thine Own Self Be True.
what's not to like about pitas!!
Will you share you tsatziki recipe. Our family loves it! But we usually buy it. Thanks! Albert
Tsatziki recipe
Hi Albert- my simple recipe for Tsatziki is
Start wih one carton of whole milk yogert- put in lined strainer for approx 1 hour to drain whey
peel, deseed and finely grate one cucumber- remove as much moisture as possible (I prefer the hand method of repeatedly squeezing small handfulls until I can't get anymore juice from the cuc
mix with drained yogert
to this add- 4 cloves crushed or finely minced garlic, 1t vinegar or lemon juice, 2T olive oil, salt and pepper to taste- adjust acid and oil to your liking
thats it! Store in fridge until ready to use- adjust ingred. to your families personal likings- we happen to be garlic lovers and I actually use 6 cloves per batch!
ENJOY
Happy Holiday to all,
Alison
Thank you!!!
Thanks so much Alison for the recipe. All the best to you and your family in the new year. Albert
Great Recipe!
I have lived in the middle east for almost 23 years and thoroughly enjoyed their cusine including pita bread, falafel,hummus and not to forget the ever so delicious shawarma.Pita bread was a regular in our home.Howeve since I have migrated to Canada we missd pita bread the most. Not anymore thanks to this great recipe of yours.They turned out wonderful!Each one puffed up so perfectly and my kids enjoyed watching them puff up.
However, there were a few things which needed correction....for example...
*mine got very crisp in the center where they browned. Do they have to brown up before being removed or I can remove them shortly after they puff up?
*I used clarified butter which gave a somewhat greasy look...can I omit oil/fat/butter/shortening?
*I rolled them out VERY thin...so thin tht u cud almost see through them.Is tht why they got so crispy in the center.
The pitas tht we got in Dubai were VERY soft AND CHEWY. Probably coz they were using all of the AP flour. I used 1 part of whole wheat and other 2 AP. I make our regular chapatis with the whole wheat and even they get crispy if not had immediately after removing from the skillet. Is the whole wheat flour the culprit, as we dont like the quality of the whole wheat we get here. Infact it saya 'durum atta' on the bag. What's the difference?
I have mentioned all tht I think might be making it crisp in the center and hence is unedible if u have a gravy or similar things to eat with.
Please tell me wht's wrong ?
Overall I think the recipe is GREAT!
Pita tips
I rolled them out VERY thin...so thin tht u cud almost see through them.Is tht why they got so crispy in the center?
Yes, I think so. It sounds like you made them more like crackers.
Do they have to brown up before being removed or I can remove them shortly after they puff up?
You can remove them earlier.
Can I omit oil/fat/butter/shortening?
Most pita recipes contain some kind of fat (typically olive oil), but you certainly could try it fat free.
shawarma
oh, yes, the shawarma! I miss it the most. everytime I go to visit, I eat shawarma almost every other day. they just don't get it out here.
there it is.... slow roasted for HOURS, with onions and all the fat on top, which drizzles down on it. then they kind of grate off the meat and put it in a pita usually with veggies, hummus or tahina, and sometimes amba. amba is also one of the things I really miss... it's originally from India, and is a condiment made from mangos and peppers. In Turkey, they have the best shawarma. they roast it with a real flame, not a slow-roasting machine like that. I couldn't find a picture.
Pitas always remind me of this.... :(
shawarma :(
I was such a little idiot when i was 8, and i never got around to trying beef shawarma when i was in dubai. I used to only like chicken shawarma with fries in it, no salad. i had no taste. i wanna go back and redeem myself :(((
Durum Atta
From what I've heard, durum atta is whole wheat flour, but milled extremely fine, unlike the regular whole wheat flour found in the USA.
How Much Oat Bran?
I consume 2 oat bran pitas a day for my lunch. With prices going up I think I'll just make them myself. I saw the question asked before, but about how much oatbran should I use in the recipe posted here. Do I need to add extra liquid in the recipe? Thanks for any help you can provide.
Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.
James Beard American chef (1903-1985)
Alison
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I have now made these twice. So very good! Tonight I added wheat bran and germ to the AP flour. I used my tortilla press (for corn tortilla) to shape these puppies. Best idea I have had yet! They were perfectly round, as when I use a rolling pin they took on a tear drop shape.Also the thickness was more consistant. I let them rest for approx. 30 min before baking. This time all of them puffed up beautifully! We snarffed them before I remembered to take a picture- oops. Thanks again, Alison
Rolling evenly
Cool! I didn't realise there was a recipe here for Pitas.
I made them the other day sans recipe with some spare sourdough starter and they turned out very nice - but I learned something very important from it. Half of my pitas didn't puff up correctly. Why?
From what I can tell, Pitas won't rise and expand properly unless you roll the dough out as evenly as possible.
Stretching by hand gave me a great approximation of a Naan bread but the steam/gas did not form a 'pocket' like Pitas should.
Re: fat/oil - I didn't use any oil and the pitas were still great the next day. I will definitely consider adding sugar next time to see if it yields a browner result.
A great recipe
Thanks for this recipe, I had hunted high and low on a way that worked to make pita.
They didn't come out quite right on the first try, think I had the measurements slightly out. But second time they were great
Thanks
Carl
these were fantastic!
this is the first time i've made pita bread and it was spot on for a first-timer.
normally I cook with cast iron, except when something needs to be on a larger surface, in which i use glass or thin cookie sheets. I did these on the cookie sheets, they puffed up a little, but not that much and not on the full surface, i took them out thinking they'd be done, but they were a little light all over, so I reheated on my cast iron skillet.
I saved one dough for the cast iron as a test. on the stovetop with my cast iron skillet the pitas puffed up PERFECTLY. so next time I'll do it this way.
still, even with them not being puffed all the way in the oven, they were just super tasty and easy and fairly quick - really really great!
thanks!!
pita baking tip
This recipe is almost identical to the one I have used for years to make pita (beginning in a commune thirty-some years ago). I highly recommend it to all you pita lovers.
A modern tip I can add is that I use parchment paper under all breads that I bake directly on a stone, including pita. I tear a piece of parchment to fit an upside-down sheet pan, place my formed pitas, loaves, rolls, pizza, whatever, on it, and cover with Pam®-sprayed plastic wrap for proofing. Then, using the sheet pan like a peel, just slide the dough, parchment and all, off onto the hot stone. The parchment will get dark brown with long baking times, but it doesn't ever burn, and it doesn't affect the bread in any way that I've ever noticed. This works especially well with pizza; with a traditional peel, it seems that for me, at least, pizza always sticks, deforms, or ends up part way off the stone no matter how much cornmeal I use, and I don't much care for the flavor and texture that corn meal imparts anyway.
I hope this helps.
--Rich
Super pita bread
All I have to say is that its a fab recipe. Being half arab and living in different arabic countries, I sure ate alot of it. Making it at home just reminded me of my youth. Bravo
Pita Bread
Awesome recipe...it turned out great...thanks for the extensive directions!
Really good and easy recipe,
Really good and easy recipe, no more store bought pitas for us.
The key to getting the pita to puff up is to roll the dough evenly. A good way to check this is to just run your hand over the pita, and you will feel any uneveness - a trick i learnt from making chapatis.
pita variations
I get a very wholesome and tasy pita bread by adding 25% chick peas (boiled and then put through blender - with water) and genoerous amounst of powdered cumin and corrainader - yum! Vinod
Oatmeal pitas
I had a little leftover oatmeal bread dough and decided to experiment one day; rolled it out quite thin and baked them in a very hot oven, et voila! Oatmeal pitas.
Avocado Pitas
I use a smashed avocado for the fat. There is hardly any green color ;) but the pitas seem to stay "soft and fluffy" longer.
mmmmm pita
I can't wait to try this, does anyone have a good falaffel recipie they would like to share?
thanks
nice falafel recipe and very adaptable
This is from NYT's Mark Bittman. It has good instructions on how to deep-fry them:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9401E7D81F30F937A35757C0A9619C8B63
Abby
puffed pitas
HI all,
I'm a bread novice and I have tried out this recipe several times and I've gotten no puff, and by trying over and over again I have made the following discoveries:
1.using 000 flour doesn't really give you a bready flavour or taste nor does 100% wholewheat flour. I used 650 flour and was so impressed, it tasted just like the larger pitas ( known Khubz).
2. to get a great puff place your stone as close to your heat source as possible. I have a gas oven and no stone, so I use the underside of my oven tray and place it on the lowest rack in my oven.
3. Using fresh yeast yields a nice and soft dough, very much like a thick pizza dough and they taste just as great and fresh even the next day.
Hope these help you next time.
Ashanti.
Pasta roller for pita?
Has anybody tried rolling pita with a pasta roller?
The pita would be small (or rectangular), but the dough would be thin and even.
Too thin?
I never expect my pitas to exactly the same or even perfectly round, but I wouldn't use a pasta machine; they'd be too thin.
Not so.
Setting 2 or 3 on my Kenwood pasta roller attachment is perfect for pitta.
I've made pitta with a pasta roller for years.
Love
John
Puffing remedy
Here is what has been working for me with a rate of 80 to 100% complete puffing. It is fun to watch them puff like a balloon. I have experimented for almost a month and kept records before I came up with the following conclusions:
1. Knead the dough until elastic, smooth, moist and not sticky.
2. Let dough rise covered for about 1.5 to 2 hours (should double in size.)
3. Divide the dough and roll into balls and let rest covered for 10 minutes.
4. Roll the balls flat with a rolling pin or some other flattening implement. Flattened dough must not be much thicker than 1/8" and I find that 1/4" is way too thick. The distance between marks on the inches side of a ruler can give an idea of how thick is 1/8". On most rulers, the inch is divided into 16 equal subdivisions so the distance between 2 subdivision marks is the desired thickness. I use two O-rings at the ends of a marble rolling pin where the O-rings are about 1/8" thick. I purchased the O-rings at an Ace hardware store. The I.D of the O-ring is slightly smaller than the O.D of the rolling pin so that it will fit snug. After I made mine I found a place on the Internet where they sell a rolling pin with a set of flat rings for rolling dough to different thicknesses.
5. Set each flattened loaf on a lightly floured surface for easy removal later. Repeat the same for the rest of the balls and let rest covered for 15 minutes. Do not stack on top of each other. I use 4 identical lightly floured 12"x17"x1" pans that I stack staggered and I set 2 flats in each pan and cover the top pan with a towel.
6. Now you need to get a good baking surface which has high heat capacity and set it so that the top of it is about 4.5" below the BRIOLER. Turn the oven to BROIL and let preheat for 15 minutes. For a baking surface, I use a couple of seasoned 10" cast iron pans that I turn upside down. I assume that one could use a baking stone, but I have never tried it (if you do, make sure that the stone will not crack).
7. Place the dough flats on the baking surface in the oven two at a time and watch them puff up in less than a minute. I broil them for a total of 1 minute and they are done.
Note: the dough will not puff very well if it sticks to the baking surface. If this is the case, then the bottom of the flattened dough which will come in contact with the baking surface must be lightly floured after rolling.
I have used these procedures for baking pita bread made with: 100% Bread flour, 50% Bread flour and 50% whole wheat flour, 1/3 bread flour and 2/3 whole wheat, and 100% whole wheat flour. Each time I had 80% to 100% complete puffing. I also noticed that the bread opens up into two almost equal thickness and uniform layers.
My wife, kids and I have been enjoying fresh baked pita ever since. I hope you will enjoy it too and I hope your pita puffs every time.
-Elie-
Steamed Bread
I know it's been a while since this was posted, but I noticed while reading this that you didn't know what kind(s) of bread were steamed, and would like that information. So without further delay:
Right off the top of my head I can think of one bread/bun that is steamed: Bao. Not really a loaf of bread per se, but it fulfills all the "prerequisites" of bread. It has flour, water, yeast, and salt in it (sugar too), it's kneaded and bulk fermented, and it's shaped at the end before being allowed a final rise and then cooked (steamed).
I eat these little lovlies on a fairly frequent basis... at leats once every two weeks, more often if I can gather the ambition to make them. There is also a less traditional baked varient of Bao, but many purists don't recognize this as being a legitimate bao bun. Rather, they see this as an Americanized meat filled bun. I've had both, and they are quite different (although both are very good.)
There are many other forms of chinese bread/buns/rolls that are similarly cooked with steaming, but other than "buns" I don't know their names, and am too lazy to look them up right now ^^.
Cheers,
Taco
Confusion is a state of mind... or is it?
And what's in the bowl?
Thank you for the great recipe. I'll be making these as soon as I stop typing this message. Please excuse my ignorance though, but what is that delicious looking filling in the blue and white bowl in your last picture?
Thanks
-Chris-
delicious whole wheat pitas
I made these pitas with whole wheat flour and they were delicious, though only one or two of them puffed up in the middle. They all still had a pocket inside, so how important is that part of the baking?
I'm still very happy with the recipe. I even posted my pictures of the project (yes, it was a bit of a project) on my blog and linked back to this site.
Lael (onehungrysoul.blogspot.com)
100% Whole Wheat
The first time I made these they were great; I used 1/2 whole wheat white flour. Tonight I wanted 100% whole wheat, so I used:
3 cups whole wheat pastry flour, 1 tsp sea salt, 1 tbsp gluten (just in case), 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 1/4 cups water, 1 tbsp yeast, 1 tsp sugar.
Then I baked them for 2 min at 500 degrees (3 was a little crispy). Turned out even better than the first batch, HUGE pockets, very healthy, light nutty flavor.
Funny, this is basically my pizza crust recipe, but the step by step instructions were great. I never would have guessed pita could be so easy!
great puffing
For a first time is great! eventhough I made them at 1/4" and they didn't puff well. next ones i made thicker and it was a success!
Gonna eat with lentils and broccoli- Little curly baby boy Caspar loves also! bearing in mind he stills hate lumps and chewable stuff!
Thanks for the great recipe...
Observation of the 'puff'
I have made these prob;y for times in the last two months the are awesome the first time i made theme i noticed i had a no puff policy that i didn't agree to. I did get one or two to puff but only about 50%.
So the next time i made them i tried something that nobody here mentioned, instead of rolling the dough into balls and letting them rest 20 minutes i shaped them like you would a larger free-form loaf, by making the OK (that's index finger touching tip of thumb and other three fingers up out of the way) sign with one hand (OK so i can't use one hand to make a larger loaf but you get the idea) to pull the skin of each ball tight and pinch it at the bottom. this gave me very pretty uniform balls i let them rest until nearly doubled then rolled them out probably a 1/4 inch. the end result was beautiful fully puffed balloon like pita's.
9 of 10 were 100% puffed like an angry toad and the 10th was 80%, but i had done it stove top in an iron skillet just to see what would happen.
I'd also like to take this moment to say hello to everybody and thank all that have posted recipes and helpful tips, that I've used almost daily (my family isn't as happy, apparently they can't eat loaves faster than i can bake them unfortunately) I've been exploring this site for several months and now joined in to try to give back to those who have helped me in my search for enleavenment.
I'd also like to apologize for babbling incoherently if i have at all i just got back from the hospital for a kidney stone and am still rather drugged from the lovely ER IV and the prescription they sent me home with.
Pita
Thanks so much for the pita recipe. I can't believe how easy it is and will have a very hard time buying store bought pita ever again. My pitas do not puff up like pictured, but I have yet to experiment more to get it just right. Puff or no puff they are delicious.
baking pitas in your barbecue
When it's hot out, I like to bake pitas outside. To see some photos, click on this link http://flavorsoftheumpqua.blogspot.com/2008/05/whole-wheat-pita-bread.html
Puff trouble shooting
Reading through, I've noticed a lot of puffing problems. I have never made this exact pita recipe, but I make one very similar to it on a regular basis. (All the same ingredients in about the same proportions). I, however, cook mine on a hot stone in a convection oven that is at 500 degrees. Also, I find I have better 'pockets' if I let the bread proof after shaping for about 10 to 20 mintutes, covered. I always end up with a little browning, but not the bitter kind.
One other tip. When cooling the pitas I take them out of the oven and immediately place them on a cooling rack lined with moist towels, then I cover them completely with more moist towels. I leave them to cool like this and they manage to stay very soft and fresh for the rest of the morning, which is as long as they ever seem to last.
No puff
My pitas still are not puffing. This is my third attempt. I've successfully yet accidentally made naan, but I'd really like some pita bread. Can anyone give me more tips?
extremly sticky dough?
ive been making it all morning and it said to mix witha wooden sppon so i did that and it was so sticky i had to add a cup if not more of flur just to knead it and it was stuck to my hands did i do something wrong? i am very excited to see the final results though,,
It's probably because you are using volume measurements
Probably your dough is sticky because you are using volume rather than weight measurements. I think it is fine that you added more flour.
--Pamela
dough
Can you make the dough and store it overnight for baking in the morning?
lovely and delicious
I made these for the first time this morning. They are easy and delicious. I do recommend adding the water little by little because yesterday I tried and my dough was far too sticky so I tossed it. Most of mine puffed up nicely but I did let them rest for about 15 minutes after I rolled them out.
pita made with yogurt?
Does anyone know how to make pita bread with yogurt instead of yeast? My grandmother was from Samos Island Greece and made them this way and would fry them in olive oil. They were awesome, but no one actually learned her recipe, unfortunately.
With yogurt and yeast
I've heard of making pita with yogurt instead of water and yeast. I think this is called naan.
--Pamela
re: naan dough to make pita
When we make naan, we don't usually roll them out into rounds like we do pita. But I can't think of any reason why one shouldn't. I bet the naan dough would make terrific pita bread.
We've never fried the bread in olive oil to bake it though....
Here are the recipes I use:
-Elizabeth
this recipe is 100 % perfect
this recipe is 100 % perfect .. i just tried it now and it turned great .
ive been trying to make pita since the last 6 months , finally it worked.. i just used 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of wheat .
thank you so much
Whole wheat flour
I tried this recipe using 2 cups ww flour, doing a presoak to see if I couldn't get more gluten (last time I tried it with ww flour they didn;t puff) and I baked them at 450. My two toddlers have been talking about the "bubble bread" for a week now! So, I am going to try 100 % ww flour and a presoak and see if I can't get it to puff right...
Love the recipe! Funny that it is (like someone mentioned above) almost exactly like my pizza dough recipe :) Shows that good, different things can come from the same ingredients. Kinda like my two boys...
Pita bread
The recipe above was great.
I also use a combination of white(375g), whole wheat(35g) and semolina(15g) yogurt (10g) If you use regular yogurt no additional oil is needed Water (260g), salt (3-6g) and yeast (3g).
Very nice texture. We like it for pizza as well as pita cooked in brick oven or on stone in regular oven.
these look great
and since I have found an awesome red pepper hummus recipe, I'm totally hooked!
If anyone is interested in the hummus, you can find it here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spiced-Sweet-Roasted-Red-Pepper-Hummus/Detail.aspx
I switched out the cayenne pepper for pepper flakes- just under a 1/2 tsp
Excellent pita
All of mine have puffed up perfectly!
BTW, Boston brown bread is steamed...
Try baking pita on the stove top
You can bake your pita in a cast iron frying pan on top of the stove! Heat the pan and when it is real hot place your pita in the pan. As soon as you see small "bubbles" on the surface flip your pita. Wait until you see some "blisters" on the surface and flip it again. When the bread has puffed about 50% flip again. It will now develope a complete pocket. This happens fast and you don't have to heat up your stove. Makes the kitchen smell great and is fun to watch. Any questions, please write.
I'm going to try that next
I'm going to try that next time!
I made this recipe and the
I made this recipe and the bread didn't turn out light and poofy like yours. It doesn't taste bad, but doesn't have the texture or lightness I'd prefer. I used locally milled organic flour that was more moist than my usual store-bought flour, and a bit more granular, perhaps. Should I have used the window pane test? Should I have rolled them out more thinly?
Well, I appear to be the only
Well, I appear to be the only one extending this thread, but that's ok. I think I've figured out the trick to making the pocket in my skillet-"baked" pita. If I have the skillet at medium/medium high rather than high, flip the pitas constantly, and keep them over the heat for a long enough time, the pocket forms. Previously, I was using too high a heat, so I never left it on long enough for the pocket to form. I'd only get individual bubbles.
I certainly agree to extending threads!
It's not only "OK," it makes things easier to find and keep stuff together. Thanks for not starting a new thread. I sometimes think the search engine is too far upper left. it should be smack in the middle of the front page! Rest assured, you won't be the last to extend it. (hehehe)
In references to heat... Everyone's "high" setting can also be different, nothing like experimenting and reporting the results, that's the wonder of this site... everyone learns something and shares.
Mini
Pita Unconventional
For those of you who do not want to heat your kitchen in the summer, try baking your pita in a barbecue grill. With the door closed, my grill reaches about 500 degrees. I preheated the grill with a very heavy flat baking sheet. The pita puffed up perfectly in 3 minutes.
Also, after shaping 12 round balls of dough, I used my tortilla press to quickly and easily press out perfectly round pitas ;-) I was so impressed, that I decided to buy an 8" tortilla press for larger pitas.
Diane
Thanks!
Thank you for the great recipe. My pitas turned out very yummy, though they were a little bland. Could this be due to the fact that I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour and two cups of white?
100% whole wheat-no oven method
I am a COMPLETE NOVICE and these turned out beautifully on the first try! I followed the suggestions listed by BLM (100% Whole Wheat) and edh (pita on the stove top). The gluten, which you can buy in any grocery store, worked to make them puff right up. I actually added about another 1/2 cup of water becuase my dough was really dry, but it still worked. I suggest if you do this on the stove top to set the heat at med./high and flip the pita as soon as you see the first bubble. It will completely puff on the second side after about 1 minute or less. Even my little girls can do this. We had so much FUN...now we get to eat them! Our little country store doesn't even sell pita so I'm really glad to know how to do this, especially without the AP flour!
Friends to thanks for next
Friends to thanks
for next very tasty recipe, at me all family
in delight
yummy whole grain pita
I tried this and it was awesome - I used all whole wheat flour, a handful of roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds and a handful of old fashioned rolled oats.
Out of the oven with some honey and butter. I need to make twice as many- yum!
Thanks!
puffing pita
I have always let the pita proof about 10 minutes after rolling them out and then carefully turn them top side down onto the stone when putting them in the oven. Sometimes difficult but helps with the puffing for me.
my pita is not that elastic after 1 day
i tried not to put oil in my procedure,
is that the reason why my pita bread is not that elastic after 1 day.
i put them in sealed plastic bags. in a colder than room temp.
and what could be the cause if the dough is not well rested and or over rested?
thanks in advance,
what a wonderfull forum here.
thin top of the pocket
I tried these for the first time last night, and I got fabulous puffs!! My kids (ages 5 & 3) were watching, and we were all giggling at how marvellously it worked out!
My question is this: I rolled my pockets to just over 1/8" thick, and stuck them in the oven. They started pillowing around 2 1/2 minutes, finishing about a minute or so later.
But, the top of the pocket is SO thin compared to the bottom of the pita. Is there any way to get the top and the bottom a little more uniform? Or is it normal to have it thinner on the top than the bottom?
Regardless - everyone loved them and they didn't last long in my house at all! Thank you!
thin top - there's a trick
When I started making these, I had the same experience! I found that the pockets are a little more consistent when I let the 8 balls of dough rest longer. Like, at least twice as long. See if that helps.
water bagels
How does the amount of time bagels are in the water affect the crust. Longer time equals more crispy crust ? I know it could be anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes but what does the boiling water actually do to the crust
Try this thread
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/9923/boiling-bagels-what-are-we-trying-achieve-here
other flour
Taking a cue from Hudson in an early comment, I tried using 50% whole wheat and 50% barley flour. I also added gluten flour that I found at a health food store (per the package instructions, I added one teaspoon of gluten flour per cup of flour used for the recipe). Beautiful results.
Thank you for the very clear instructions and photos to this lovely recipe.
I am new to baking and was hosting a party that required volumes and volumes of pita. It was cost effective to bake my own. Guests were pleased and impressed, too.
It started off just ok....
...by the time I finished the batch of 8 I found some sauce and cheese that I had laying around and they started to look like this:
Thanks!!
Steamed bread
I think the most popular steamed bread would be Boston Brown Bread. So rich and yummy! The classic accompaniment to Boston Baked Beans.
So yummy
I made them a few days ago and they turned out great, I was really surprised, and the pockets were great.
Thanks for this great recipe!!
yay
I just made these and they were perfect. I used 1 cup white whole wheat flour too. I have made pita's about 3 or 4 times before with some success but usually they don't puff or only a few will. For Christmas I got a baking stone... and I am sure that is what made the difference this time. I put the pita's on the stone and in 2 minutes they puffed-all 8! I was amazed... so if you can't get them too puff make sure they are super thin and bake them on a preheated stone or even try a preheated baking sheet turned upside down.
Perfect!
Hard to talk, my mouth is full (of Pita Bread). Okay, so I have tried other recipes for Pita, but this is absolutely the best. I used half Whole Wheat flour, omitted the oil and baked them on a stone. They are perfect - I spent several years in the Middle east and these are as close to what I got there as you can get. Thanks!
I made pitas with leftover
I made pitas with leftover pizza dough, the recipe is more or less the same. Super easy and really good! thanks!
Timing for Baking Pita Bread
I made few times with different recipe but the prodcedure are a bit different.
Some of them requires to rest for 10mins before send to oven after rolled flat. However, some of them tell you to send to oven as soon as you finish the rolling step.
Any comment ?
Kitchen Man
FINALLY got it right
I have been using this recipe as the basis for trying to make 100% whole wheat pita for about two years now. And always, my results were inconsistent. If I was making 8 pita loaves, maybe just under or over half of them would puff up correctly. Couldn't figure it out. And then, by accident, I nailed it. So, here's what I've learned about making whole wheat pita:
1) Add vital/essential wheat gluten if you're using 100% whole wheat flour
2) White whole wheat flour (a softer whole grain flour made by King Arthur and Trader Joes) works better than other whole wheat flours
3) If you're using a whole wheat recipe, that RESTING step is critical - and will take longer. Like TWICE as long. That was the bit I recognized by accident (got caught up in email when I left the dough resting)
Thank you SO much for publishing this recipe - there is really only one problem with it now: Once my family tasted home made pita, the store bougt stuff was permanently off limits!
Whole Wheat Pitas
Thanks! I'll try this. I made 50/50 wheat pitas and they came out perfect, but when I tried 100% whole wheat, none of them would puff. I did add gluten and lecithin, so I wasn't sure if the lecithin made them too heavy.
I'll try letting them rest more after the first rise, and after I shape them into discs.
Pita
Thanks for the recipe. They were very good,easy to make. It's a keeper.
-Jonathan
I never thought that it's so
I never thought that it's so easy to cook pita bread. The recipe is amazing! Thank you:) Btw, it's very tasty to eat pita bread with red caviar, letuce and fresh cucumbers.
Teona
Toaster Oven
I am making these in a toaster oven right now. Works great. On broil on highest rack setting. 3 minutes to puff, and then turn over for another 2.
Delish!
This is my first recipe off this awesome website and they turned out great!
I used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 2 cups AP flour. My first one didn't puff up, so I rolled them much thinner and upped the temp to 500F. That did the trick! I also sprayed water for each batch. I baked each one for 4 minutes for a little tasty char :) YUM. Thanks again, super easy!
Love making these!
I spend some of my childhood in Israel and love fresh pita but it is near impossible to find in my area. I started making my own pita and everyone loves it. It so much better when it is fresh. I bake on a stone at 450 degress for 4 minutes using half whole wheat flour and half unbleached all purpose.
My kids love to watch them puff.....
These were awesome...for the most part!
I finally got around to making these tonight and for the most part, these turned out great. I used 2.5 cups of AP flour and 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour. This recipe was easy to throw together, and due to the hotter days, the rise time was short! 20 minutes! Yikes! For the most part, these tasted pretty good...except that I had forgotten to add the salt when assembling the dough initially! Oops! I did notice one thing in regard to puff though...these definitely need to rest for 150-20 minutes before baking, or else they will not rise. I'm going to try this again soon, hopefully I'll remember the salt this time! Thanks for the great recipe!
How sticky is the dough
How sticky is the dough supposed to be? Because mine is still rather wet and incredibly sticky. It's sticking to the sides of my mixing bowl. :(
Not terribly
Not terribly, usually, but I made a batch this last weekend that was pretty wet, too wet to handle under normal circumstances. I put a ton of flour on the rolling pin and the sheet I was rolling it out on and they cooked up just as good as normal though.
Wonderful
This is the first time I tried making pitas...turned out great !! I used 1/3 whole wheat flour and they turned out very good. I do not have a pizza stone and thought the cookie sheet would be too flimsy and not hold the heat well. I simply put my cast iron skillet in the oven and baked them on it...turned out great !! ( I will add a liitle more salt next time)
Pita Bread Recipe
I did a lot of research on the web before attempting to follow any recipe. I was particularly interested in why some bakers' attempts at making pita bread failed. I wanted to avoid the same mistakes. So, after all of the research, I placed my pizza stone on the very bottom rack of the oven, cranked the oven up to 500, yes 500 degrees, and preheated it for a full thirty minutes. I rolled the dough to a 1/8 inch thickness, allowed these 'rounds' to rest 15 minutes, and then placed two rounds on the stone at a time. By two minutes they had puffed into perfect pillows (no blisters), and I removed them at the end of three minutes. I did not flip them over to bake on the other side. When they cooled enough so that I could handle them, I pressed on them with the palm of my hand until most of the interior air had escaped. These things are (were) perfect. Only one problem--they vanish! One of my neighbors couldn't believe that such a professionally looking pita could be baked at home. I'll never purchase commercially made pitas again.
amount of water
I made this about a year ago and I remember it turning out great. I'm making it again and I'm bit confused by the amount of water. 1.25 to 1.5 cups of water for 3 cups of flour seems like a lot. That's 10 to 12 ounces of water, for about 13 ounces of flour. That's over 80%. Seems like it'd end up very sticky. I used about 9 ounces of water and that seems to be good, about like a pizza dough.
Since no weight guidelines
Since no weight guidelines are given, a cup of flour here could very well equate to 5-5.5 oz, or more. Just add flour, or water, to build dough to required consistency. See Floyd's most recent post, just a few posts up.
great even on a tight schedule
I made these tonight for us and our neighbors (they made italian beef which goes great inside of pita bread with cheese on top). I decided to try and whip these out, and they rocked it. Here is my experience.
They, apparently, wanted to eat around 8. I started making the bread at 6:30. When making the bread I lost count of how many 1/2 cups of flower i put in. I just kept adding until the dough started to come together on the dough hook (I'm using a KitchenAid mixer). When I put too much in, I added a bit more water. I estimate that I used about 4 cups of flour when all was said and done (next time, I'm going to measure out the flower FIRST haha). I also forgot the oil, I just didn't see it in the recipe when reading through it.
I also didn't let it rise the full 90 minutes. The next time I make these (because there will be a next time) I will let them rise the full 90 to see what the difference is. I let them sit for 30 minutes before rolling them into circles and baking. The first few I didn't roll thin enough. They still tasted great, more like Laffa bread than pita, but still yummy. The next 8 or 9 I rolled really thin and they rose like a charm, no problems what-so-ever. I did end up turning my oven up in order to speed the process and that worked great. I think the final temp was 450, though I don't have an oven thermometer so I don't know what the real temp was.
Even though I strayed from the recipe, they managed to puff up nice, yield a great texture and flavor. I, too, like so many fellow commenters, will never buy commercial pita bread again. This bread was so easy to make that it hurt. It hurt BIG TIME. But was oh-so-delicious, especially when paired with beef that had been crocking with pepperoncinis and beer. YUM!
pita bread
Pita bread is a round flat bread that has derived from Eastern countries. It is used to dip food with, not only for dips such as hummus or baba ghannough, but any dish is prepared in the household. It is also used in sandwiches where it is cut in half and filled with all kinds of fililngs such as falafel, cheese sandwiches, shawerma sandwiches or any other vegetables.
Got this one from http://www.foodista.com/food/LS5PBRFS/pita-bread
Hope this helps for an additional information about pita bread.
uniform thickness
I used my homemade tortilla press to get them all to the same thickness. since I didn't roll them or press them out by hand, they didn't have to rest so long before baking
Wow!
Thank you so much for this recipe! And this website is an excellent source of baking information! I have never tried to bake, other than silly boxed cake mixes or biscuits, and decided it was high time I did. I've been researching yeast for weeks, trying to figure out how to use it.. As for the recipe, it was very easy to follow and I had very little trouble executing the whole process.. The only thing I need to pay closer attention to is the amount of water. I did reduce accordingly for the yeast, but I ended up having to add a lot more flour (with dough-covered hands.) But my pitas turned out beautiful and very tasty! I really like the flavor and texture added by using whole wheat flour. I will be making these regularly (my husband and I are hummus addicts!) Thanks again so much! My new favorite website! :)
add milk
Thanks for the recipe. Looks great and it's very similar to my moms with the exception of MILK...This is how i make my pita (learned it from my mom who grew up making bread in her hometown). Normally my mom eyeballs all of this...but yesterday I measured a few of the items...then she started dumping stuff lol.
3 cups of wheat flour
1 cup of white flour
1/4 flaxseed powder (she grinds fresh flaxseeds)
1 tbls of honey
1 or 2 tsp of yeast (we eyeball it)
1 or 2 tsp of salt (we eyeball it)
1 cup of milk
2 cups of water (but use as much as you need to make the dough sticky or else you will have to add more flour)
Mix all the ingredients together, water being last and use as much as you need to make a sticky dough...leave for 8 hrs or overnight in the oven with a cloth covering it. Roll out like directions above and bake for 5 or 7 min or till you see ready.
The extra dough I make into balls (flour it of course cause remember it's sticky dough) and wrap it in brown natural wax paper put it in a container or ziploc bag and refrigerate to use through out the day or next day. This just takes a few minutes to make.
Salam! (peace)
Thank you!
This was my first attempt making pitas. They were delicious! Thank you for the recipe. I wrote up my experience at my blog. I will definitely check out more of your posts.
Btw, love the Drupal site! I'm a Drupal developer myself and was excited to see you using it :)
~Bri
Pita success
It's almost magical how the heat of the oven makes the breads inflate off of the baking stone. It was also such an easy recipe to follow. I like to use Peter Reinhart's recipe and sometimes add whole wheat flour to the mix. I like the more complex and depth of flavour whole wheat flour brings to the pitas.
Thanks for sharing!
http://theavidbaker.wordpress.com
pockets thinner on top
Is there a way to get an even pita pocket? The breads are rising fine, but the tops (puffed part) of mine are much thinner than the bottoms, so that it is hard to fill and hold the pita as a sandwich without falling apart.
Thinner top pockets
My pitas turn out like that too every time and I've made them 4 times since finding this recipe on this site. I mainly eat pitas with hummus and roasted red peppers recipes so they haven't really been a problem for me.
Wow
Thank you very good recipe .
Chantal
Great recipe
I love this recipe! I've never made pita bread before, and it worked out really well first time. I tweaked the measurements to make them metric/weight based, and it was fine. I blogged about it here: http://pencilandfork.net/2011/01/pita-bread-white/
Thanks so much!
Did anyone weigh your flour
Did anyone weigh your flour before adding it?
I made this dough today and had to add a ton more flour than the recipe called for - which meant I had to mix it longer so I am worried that the extra mixing will act like extra kneading and will affect the texture of the finished pita.
So, does anyone have this (or another) pita recipe using weights?
Hi
I do not weigh the flour for flatbreads in general but I remember back then using 1 1/2 C of water by mistake...added about 1/2 C of Bread flour to 'fix' that and let the KA mix for a minute longer or so w/o problems.
Since then; I've played with this recipe quite a bit. For a long time we baked them at 445F in a Convection oven for about 2.5 minutes. It worked like a charm- kids loved keeping track of time!
Far from being an expert, but I do know now that letting the dough rise until it has doubled is as important as letting the balls rest for 30 minutes [covered]. Once you have done that -dough won't fight you.
We recently quadrupled this recipe for Dh's BBQ party, a thicker and pliable pita to hold souvlaki and toppings was desired so we used 50/50 AP flour/Bread Flour and replaced the 1/4C water for plain yogurt per batch. I thought weighing the balls [3.5oz for 6" rounds] would yield uniform/same size pitas.....Nope, it depends who's rolling, between my helper and I, we had two different sizes and thicknesses. Still a Great Pita =-)
We gave up on baking them quite soon, ended up using a grill pan and a wide skillet:
Rolling styles:
Mine and Hers:
Comparison pic...convection vs stove top, same batch:
Thanks For Sharing Floyd!
gotta try that!
Love the browning on the stove-top ones, gotta try that!
pita by weight
Yum! thanks for sharing this recipe. My results posted on my TFL blog here. I rewrote the recipe slightly based on weight.
HI!
Time to say hi to all!
I made this recipe with a bit of plain yogurt, they turned out tender and so wonderful, DD couldn't stop eating from the pile! I wanted mine to look bubbly/golden like the ones posted so we borrowed my sil's griddle to bake two at a time on the stove. Resting might be key as every single one balooned.
Thank you for the recipe and all those inspiring pictures!
Your Pita Bread Recipe
A few years ago I attempted a few times to make pita bread. It wasn't successful. I ended up with these giant hamburger buns. Recently I decided to give it another go and found your website and I followed your recipe to the letter. The pitas were fantastic and everyone of them puffed and pocketed and I've got no complaints at all! I felt such a sense of accomplishment and I have to tell you I can never buy commercial pita bread again. The quality and taste is no where near the same as homemade. My family particularly enjoys the pitas with the homemade Roasted Red Pepper and regular Hummus recipes I make. They too are insisting that I never buy pitas from a store again! Where I went wrong before was not letting the little dough balls rest; not rolling out the dough balls thin enough and my oven was not hot enough nor did I preheat my baking sheet. All these things are crucial to successfully making pita bread. What I do now when I make pita is that I double your recipe. For all the effort that goes into making pitas, eight is not enough with the way my family and friends go through them. Also, I have frozen extras in air tight bags and they taste very fresh when thawed and warmed. Thanks for your recipe and the detailed instructions you gave.
Pita Bread
First time making it myself, and growing up half arabic on my fathers side, I can tell you this was a main staple in our home. My attempt following theses instructions to the letter did not come out right at all. I ended with giant fluffy no split in the middle all to pale pieces of bread, I must say they are great for soup dipping though.
Not at all like grandma and auntie used to make. :-(
Bread Machine
Made this today and got the Bread machine to do the mixing for me .. like other machines liquids all in first then the dry, cooked on a pizza stone at 450, threw in some herbs , worked like a charm , the moist towel trick is a must as well
Whole Wheat-- No puff.
Thank you
Thanks for the nice recipe. I tried it and it came out just perfect. Some of the pitas didnt puff up, but I guess it was because they didnt have the same thickness all around. The ones that were of uniform thickness, puffed up fine.
Thanks again for sharing a very nice and easy recipe.
Made these with 1 cup WW and
Made these with 1 cup WW and 2 cups AP flour and baked on a pizza stone at 475F. The first half were a little misshapen, and didn't rise completely, but the second half turned out wonderfully.
This was my first time making pita bread and I am very happy with the results. I just hope that the whole batch will rise when I make more later this week. Thank you for the recipe! :)
Wet dough
I followed the recipe exactly, but my dough was VERY wet. Should I add more flour or decrease the water? I live in a very hot & humid Florida.
Thanks!
Yes
Yes, either one would do the trick. Or roll them out on a well-floured surface so they pick more flour up.
One very serious problem
I followed this recipe to a 'T' this afternoon and came up with one VERY SERIOUS problem. I baked them in twos on a pizza stone, and by the time a set was done, my wife and I had eaten the previous set....
Intervention #1: Don't make the Hummus before completing the Pitas.
Intervention #2: double the batch.
Pita Success
I tried this recipe last night for the first time with excellent results. The breadmaker took all the effort out of dough mixing and kneading (pizza dough setting took 1 hour and 50 minutes to produce a dough ready for dividing and rolling into flatbreads). The other innovation I tried was to use my small, free-standing electric pizza maker to cook the pita. This really works well. You just need to warm it up, on Setting 2, for about five minutes and then cook the pitas for about 1 minute each side (or as long as it takes to get them how you want them: white and soft, or brown through to crisp. You just need to remember to prick the pitas with a fork. Otherwise the pockets develop so well that the top of the pita hits the top element of the pizza maker and gets a burn mark!
We used some of the pita immediately to make yiros: lamb, hummous, tzatziki, tomato, lettuce and shallots. DELICIOUS!!
Pita Chips?
If I want to make pita chips, can I make them straight from the dough, or do I need to make an actual pita first?
dough too wet?
I followed the recipe (3 cups flour to 1-1/4 cups of water) and the dough came out like batter. I don't see how I can possibly knead this!
I guess I need to add more flour.
I weighed my flour: 4.5 oz = 1 cup.
Hot & Humid
Hello! Thanks for the excellent recipe. I've tried it twice already, the third try is currently resting and about to be popped in the oven. Thought I'd share two tips:
1) My first batch was 2/3 plain flour 1/3 whole wheat. I reversed this the second time round. I found the whole wheat heavy versions very hard to pop! Seems like others have the same issue.
2)I live near the equator where it's hot and VERY humid. First two tries - dough was too wet and had to add a lot (almost 1/2 cup) more flour. Third try - I used only one cup water, and did away with the bread machine which I used the first two times. Even then it felt a teensy bit wet, so I added almost 1/8 - 1/4 cup flour. Dough looks and feels perfect! Instead of 90 minutes to double in size, it took 45 minutes or less!
pitta
Hi i have just become a member to thank you for this recepies, i have been making bread and kneading with my dough hook and mixer, i have now experienced the magic of hand kneeding and how much you can feel through the proccess you can tell when its ready, i have never been as exited as when my batch of pittas started to rise it was a goo day, thanks
Gary
pita chips
Do you have a recipe to make pita chips? Is there a way to make pita chips from this finished recipe?
I cut my pitas into 8 wedges,
I cut my pitas into 8 wedges, then split each wedge into 2 wedges. I spread them on a cookie sheet and spray them with olive oil, or you could toss them in it, and bake them at 375 for about 5 minutes then I sprinkle them with a little, fine popcorn salt. Sometimes it use sea salt and pepper and oregano. Other times I sprinkle with a little curry. The sky is the limit for seasoning. I then put them back in the oven until slightly browned. They crisp as they cool.
Watch them closely at the end because they don't all get done at the same time. Terry
too wet, but everything worked out in the end
Thanks for the recipe, after years of making these thus far this one has worked the best. I just need to remember adjust the water next time and have hummus on hand.
Should they stay puffed up and crispy?
Great tutorial! I tried pitas for the first time end they turn out wonderful!
But how do you manage that they flatten? Mine stays puffed up (as on the photo in the oven) and crispy.
Thanks
zdenka
As my pitas finish baking, I
As my pitas finish baking, I put them in a round casserole with a lid on it. This way they stay warm and moist and they deflate under the weight of eachother. Last time I made them I had to put them on a plate and covered them with a towel. They got crunchy :(
using whole wheat flour
I used a 50/50 of whole wheat and all-purpose white flour mixture, and kept adding water to it. The end result was a bit denser than I wanted, but the taste is wonderful. Love this web site and all the advice.
pita bread recipe
This bread is fantastic! My kids could not stop raving about it! It reminded us of naan almost more than pita, but sooo delicious! We grilled on the outdoor grill with some chicken and it took our meal to new heights! Super easy, great directions and pictures - thank you!
Greek Pita bread
Hi
Can anyone please tell me where I can buy Greek pitta bread in the UK. Thanks
gluten free help?
has anyone tried to make these gluten free? I'd like to make these for my wife who's missing having bread sort of things, and these might help. At least, they'll make a sandwitch of sorts for work lunches.
Thanks for any replys.
bf