How to Make Perfect Pita Bread Every Time

By Foodiewife

This is nothing like the mass-produced pita bread you find in the supermarket, which is usually dry and a little bit like cardboard. This bread is soft and chewy, and not at all dry. I’m going to be using the word soft a lot, I can tell, but that’s what I love about it. We will definitely experiment with whole grains eventually, but for this first recipe I’m sticking with all purpose flour, I think it makes a more appealing pita.

I used my stand mixer for the 5 minutes of kneading, and that made the whole process a breeze. That kneading turns a sticky blob into an elastic dough that rolls out easily. Use the same principle you would for pie dough; you want to start with a round disk, and roll from the center out, constantly shifting your rolling pin around the circle to keep it even. Don’t fret if you can’t get perfect circles, it doesn’t matter in the least.

The dough cooks right on the stove top, on a hot griddle or pan, in just a couple of minutes. Get the pan hot, at medium high heat, and leave it there. My gas burner goes from 1 to 7, and I kept it at mark 5. The dramatic puffing that you see above is a little unreliable…sometimes it puffs, sometimes it doesn’t, but the bread is great either way. The puffing is what makes the inner pocket, so that you can cut it and open it up, but I don’t generally use my pita that way, and I prefer the thicker, ‘pocketless’ version.


The minute they come off the heat you wrap them in a clean kitchen towel. The steam softens the bread and gives it the perfect texture. When they’re cool, store them in zip lock bags.

Ingredients

• 1 cup water, at about 100F, or warm but not hot to the touch
• 2 tsp (or 1 packet) active dry yeast
• 1 Tbsp olive oil (plus more for coating the dough and oiling the pan)
• 2 tsp salt
• 3 cups all purpose flour (fluff the flour before scooping and leveling)

Details

Servings 6
Preparation time 75mins
Cooking time 90mins
Adapted from theviewfromgreatisland.com

Preparation

Step 1

3 cups all purpose flour (fluff the flour before scooping and leveling)

Put the warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer (or a regular bowl if doing by hand) and sprinkle in the yeast. Let it sit for 5 minutes.

Blend in the oil and salt, and then mix in the flour. Once the flour is incorporated, knead for 5 minutes until the dough is soft and elastic.

Coat the dough lightly with oil and place in a clean bowl. Cover with plastic and then a clean kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm spot for an hour, it will double in bulk.

Heat a skillet or cast iron pan on medium high until it is hot. My gas range goes from 1 (low) to 7 (high) and I kept the heat at mark 5. Lightly oil the pan for the first piece of dough, but after that you should be fine without adding anything additional.

NOTES: The puffing can be a little bit capricious…if you really want it to puff and make an inner pocket, cut your dough into 8 instead of 6 pieces, and roll them on the thin side.  Make sure your pan is hot.  I prefer the thicker, softer rounds of bread, but it’s up to you.   These can be cooked in the oven, but again, I tried that and wasn’t happy with the results.  The pan gives you more control.