How to Make Homemade Pita Bread

Step 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.

Step 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.

Step 3

Add the yeast mixture into the flour one and mix well, until a slightly sticky dough begins to form.

Step 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.

Step 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.

Step 6

Once the dough has risen, cut it into 4 equal parts. You can even use a scale to be precise. Then, form into dough balls.

Step 7

Roll each dough piece with a rolling pin on a floured surface, till it's about 1/4 inch thickness.

Step 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.

Step 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.

Step 10

Place a baking tray/pan upside down in the oven. Then preheat the oven to 250ºC.**

Step 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.

Step 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.