Soft, delicious, quick, and easy Homemade Pita Bread made with just 4 ingredients. Ready in a little over 1 hour! These puffy little pillows taste so much better than store-bought pita bread. Video tutorial included.
PREP TIME: 15 minutesminutes
COOK TIME: 5 minutesminutes
resting time 1 hourhour
TOTAL TIME: 1 hourhour20 minutesminutes
Servings: 8pita
Ingredients
2 cups (250 grams)all purpose flour, (strong white flour in the UK)
2 cups (250grams)wholewheat flour, or use the same amount of all-purpose flour for white pita
2½ teaspoons (7grams)instant yeast, sometimes labelled quick or fast action yeast
1½ teaspoons (7.5grams)sea salt
1tablespoonolive oil
About 1½ to 1⅔ cup (360 ml to 400ml)lukewarm water, amount needed will vary
INSTRUCTIONS
Add flour, salt, and yeast to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Give it a quick whisk then add the olive oil and water a little at a time until you have a soft, sticky dough and all the flour is incorporated. The amount of water you need will depend on the flour you are using, how you store it, the time of year, humidity, etc so you will need to use your judgment.
Knead the dough in your stand mixer for 5 minutes. If you don't have a stand mixer, scrape the mixture onto a clean surface that has been rubbed with olive oil. Don't use flour because you'll make the pita too dry. Oil works much better for kneading. Oil your hands too, and knead for 10 minutes. The dough will start out sticky but will become supple and moist as you knead.
Put the dough ball in a lightly oiled bowl (I use the one I mixed it in. No need to wash it). Give it a toss around so it is lightly coated in oil then cover the bowl. Leave to rest for 30 minutes.
Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Cut into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a ball, then with a rolling pin roll each one out into a circle or oval shape about 3 to 4mm (⅛ inch) thick. Place on a couple of lightly floured large baking sheets and cover gently with clean, damp dish towels. Leave to rest again for 30 minutes.
While you are waiting preheat your oven to 500 °F (260 °C). If your oven doesn't reach 500, set it to the highest temperature possible.
After 30 minutes uncover and place the trays in the hot oven. Bake for 5 - 6 minutes until puffy and swollen. Don't let them colour. They should stay pale.
Have a clean, dry, dish towel handy. Remove the pita bread from the oven and place them stacked up in the middle of the tea towel. Wrap them up and leave them in there until you serve, or until cool if you aren't eating them right away. The towel slows down the escape of the steam and makes the pita bread nice and soft.
NOTES
Keep the pitas wrapped in a clean dish towel until cool then store in a plastic bag or airtight container for up to 2 days. They can also be wrapped well and frozen for up to 3 months.To heat pita bread, or to soften up slightly stale pita bread, place on a baking tray and bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 5 minutes. You can even warm them straight from the freezer. Just add an extra minute or two to the reheat time. When you remove them from the oven immediately wrap them in a clean dish towel to trap steam and keep them soft until they are served.