Pita Bread

Last updated: Saturday July 10, 2021

Ingredients

2
-
Cups
 Unbleached high-gluten, bread, or all-purpose flour
-
1/2
Tsp
 Salt
2
-
Tsp
 Instant Dry Yeast 
-
3/4
Cups
 Warm Water
1
-
TBS
 Sugar (Optional)

 

Instructions

  1. Mix the yeast, sugar, and warm water together in a small bowl and leave to rest, until the mixture rises and foams. This can take a different amount of time depending on the temperature of your water, the room and more. 10-15 minutes should be enough. 
  2. In the meantime, mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Be careful not to put the salt in the yeast mixture, as this can harm the yeast growth. 
  3. Add the yeast mixture into the flour mixture and mix well, until a slightly sticky dough begins to form.
  4. Knead the dough on a clean surface for 15 mins until it's soft, smooth, elastic and pliable. Add a bit of flour if needed, to help with the dough sticking to your hands ( or use a floured work surface). * At the end, form into a ball. Your dough should be smooth and moist but not sticky at this point.
  5. Place the dough in a large bowl. With wet hands, moisten the top of the dough ( you can do this with water or olive oil), then cover it with a towel and set aside in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour. The dough should double in size, during this time.
  6. Once the dough has risen, cut it into 8 equal parts. You can even use a scale to be precise. Then, form into dough balls.
  7. Roll each dough piece with a rolling pin on a floured surface, till it's about 1/4 inch thickness.
  8. To make a perfect circle, you can use a bowl/plate to cut out the dough. Or leave as is, if you don't mind a more 'rustic' look. You can see how I did it on the video in the blog.
  9. Place the rolled out dough on a floured surface (such as a baking sheet). Cover it with a slightly damp cloth/towel and let it rest for a further 30 minutes.
  10. Place a baking tray/pan upside down in the oven. Then preheat the oven to 485º F.**
  11. Then, carefully place each rolled dough on the inverted pan for 3- 4 minutes.***The pita bread bakes quickly - it will puff up within minutes and then get a brownish/golden colour.
  12. As soon as you remove them from the oven, cover them with a dry cloth. This will keep them soft and will prevent them from crisping up.

* Alternatively, you can use a stand mixer and dough hook.
** The inverted tray needs to be inside the oven during preheating so that it heats up too.
***Depending on the size of your pita bread and the size of your baking tin, you might have to do this in batches. 
Freezing: The ready pita breads can be frozen for 2 months. 

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Proof Time: 1.5 Hours
Total Time: 2 Hours

Yield: 8 Small Pitas