How to make Pita bread
Recipe for homemade pita bread, plus a simple trick to make it with or without pockets. Pita bread from scratch requires simple ingredients and can also be used for pita chips or pizzas.
Servings: 8
Calories: 207kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup (245 grams) lukewarm water
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons dry yeast
- 2 ½ cups (330 grams) all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- about ½ cup of flour for kneading
- olive oil for kneading and cooking about 2-3 tablespoons
Instructions
- Proof the yeast: Transfer the water, the sugar, the yeast and a little bit of flour to a bowl. Mix well and wait for some foam to appear. This will show you that the yeast is active.
- Make the dough: Add the salt and the rest of the flour to the dough and knead well until a smooth ball of dough is formed. You can do this by hand or use a stand mixer.
- Rest the dough in a warm place until doubled in volume.
- Form the pitas: Divide the dough into 8 equal sized pieces and roll them out into ¼-1/8 inches thick (about 0.5 cm) discs.
- Cook: For Greek-style pitas, preheat a cast iron pan over high heat and grease it with olive oil. Cook the pitas about two minutes from each side. If you notice that they're puffing up, press them down with a spatula.For pitas with pockets let the discs rest for 30 minutes and then cook them for two minutes each side.
Video
Notes
- You can replace half of the flour with whole wheat flour.
- Both fresh yeast and dry yeast will do. I've used dry yeast for this recipe because it's easier to find and to store but if you can find fresh yeast the flavor will be better (1 teaspoon of dry yeast equals 0.3 ounces / 8 grams of fresh yeast).
- When you roll out Greek pitas it's best to use olive oil. When you roll out pitas with pockets it's best to use extra flour.
- Grease the pan with olive oil before cooking each pita bread.
- To bake the pitas in the oven: Preheat your oven to 475 °F (245 °C) and bake on the lower rack for about 4 minutes (2 minutes each side) or until golden brown.
Nutrition
Calories: 207kcal
