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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:
Pita Bread Makes 8 pitas 3 cups flour 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.
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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. 
Excellent recipe!
Turned out great! I thought pitas would be very difficult to make, but your guide was a breeze. Thanks!
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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)
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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!
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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.
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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???!!!
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sourdough pitas
Hi Andrew. Did you ever adapt these to sourdough? If so would you share the adaptation?
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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!
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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?
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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.
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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.
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Pitas
I have made pitas with just regular bread dough, and had no problem.
qahtan
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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
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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. :)
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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. :-)
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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.
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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
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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?
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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
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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?
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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
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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!
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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
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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!
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re: non-puffing
I made mine with 100% whole wheat and they hardly puffed. I guess you have to use at least 60% AP.
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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.
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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
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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:
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Nice
Those look great.
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Thanks!
Thank you! I'm looking forward to making this recipe again.
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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!
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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
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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
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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
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Oh My God!!!
What an amazingly accurate recipe!!!!
Congratulations, this is an EXCELLENT recipe!!!!
Wow!!!!
The Pitas came out incredible!!!!
Thumbs up to you!!!!
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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.
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what's not to like about pitas!!
Will you share you tsatziki recipe. Our family loves it! But we usually buy it. Thanks! Albert
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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
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Thank you!!!
Thanks so much Alison for the recipe. All the best to you and your family in the new year. Albert
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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!
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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.
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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)
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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
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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.
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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
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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!!
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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
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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
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Pita Bread
Awesome recipe...it turned out great...thanks for the extensive directions!
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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.
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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
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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.
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