greek pita bread

Nothing compares to freshly baked, quick and easy homemade pita bread. It's soft and puffy, with a perfect pocket. It takes just 15 minutes of actual prep.

Homemade Pita Bread

all-purpose flour (3 + 1/2 cups)

instant yeast (1 + 1/2 teaspoons)

salt (1 teaspoon)

sugar (1 teaspoon)

water (1 + 1/3 cups)

olive oil (2 tablespoons)

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, instant yeast, salt and sugar and mix evenly.

Add water and olive oil. Mix well with a spatula to combine until a shaggy dough ball is formed. Make sure to scrape off any dry flour on the sides of the bowl.

Prepare the Dough

Transfer the dough onto a clean and dry surface. Apply a small amount of oil in your hands to prevent the dough from sticking. If the dough sticks to the work surface, use a bench scraper to clear it off.

Knead the dough by pushing it down and outward using the palms of your hands. Fold the dough in half toward you and press down. Repeat this motion for 5 minutes by pushing the dough down and outward, and then folding over towards you. You can also pick up the dough and slap it down onto the counter and fold over towards you. (A kneading technique known as slap and fold).

Cover the dough with a large bowl, upside down on top, and let it rest for 5 minutes. Resting allows gluten in dough to relax and further build more gluten strength. It’s very similar to how sleeping aids in muscle repair and new muscle growth in human body.

Then knead the dough again for about 2-3 minutes until the dough ball is smooth and supple. It will be pliable and non-sticky. A well kneaded dough is smooth and can hold its shape. To check if the dough is well-kneaded, give the dough ball a firm poke with your finger. The indentation should bounce right back. If it doesn’t bounce back and stays like a dimple, knead for a few more minutes.

Cover and let the dough rest in a large bowl for 1 hour or until it doubles in size. You can apply a little bit of oil on the surface of the dough ball to prevent it from losing moisture.

Knead the Dough

Transfer dough onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a log and divide it into 10 equal pieces with a knife or bench scraper. Cover the dough with a damp cloth or cling wrap to prevent dough from drying. When the dough loses moisture, it tends to form hard skin around its surface, which creates a crust when baking.

Take one piece at a time and shape each piece into a smooth ball. Flatten each dough, fold and press all edges into the centre. Turn it over and cup the dough in your palm, making circular motions. It should take less than 30 seconds to roll each piece into a smooth ball.

Cover and let them rest for 30 minutes. The resting period helps the gluten in the dough relax and re-distributes air bubbles evenly inside the dough.

Use a rolling pin to flatten each ball into a 6-inch circle (approximately). Sprinkle some flour if needed to prevent sticking. Set on a lightly floured surface, cover with a towel and let pitas rest for about 10 minutes.

Shape and Divide the Dough

To bake in the oven

Preheat the baking tray inside the oven at 450 F. Bake the pitas (4 pitas at a time) for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and repeat with remaining pitas.

To cook on a pan

Brush some olive oil on a skillet and preheat on medium high heat for 3 minutes. Place one pita at a time onto the hot pan and cook for 3 minutes until the pita begins to puff up and the bottom has brown spots and blisters. Flip the pita and cook for 2 more minutes. Pita bread will begin to puff up on the other side too and fill with hot air. This is caused by the moisture inside the pita turning into steam from the heat.

Transfer the pitas onto a wire cooling rack and allow them to cool down for 10 minutes. 

Cook the Pitas

So good,  we all loved them in this house, so soft and perfect served straight from the oven. I thought I would have some left over for lunch tomorrow but they all went between 6 of us! Will definitely be making them again soon!

I'm so excited about this pita bread recipe.  I am making chicken gyros tonight, and didn't really want to do store-bought pitas, and this recipe sounded PERFECT for my gyros! These pitas are delicious and quick, and I will never go back to the store-bought version again!

I have to give this recipe a try. I love pita bread sandwiches.

Finally a Pita recipe that actually rises when cooking and forms the perfect pocket! Not to mention how taste and soft they are. My go to pita recipe from now on!

Making homemade pita bread is easier than you might expect. Once you try making this bread at home, you may never go back to store-bought!

Homemade Pita Bread Recipe

all purpose flour

instant yeast

sugar

salt

olive oil (extra virgin)

water

Put flour and yeast and sugar and salt in a stand mixer and mix.&nbsp;

Then add olive oil and water. Mix until the dough is formed. It can be a little sticky. Add a little flour if needed.&nbsp;

Cover and rest for 1 hour so the dough is doubled in size. Do not punch the dough down.&nbsp;

Preheat the oven and a pizza stone to 500F.&nbsp;

Divide the dough into eight pieces and cover for 15 minutes to rise.&nbsp;

Take one dough ball and keep the rest covered.&nbsp;

Use your fingers to shape the dough into a disk and don't let the air out. Gently roll out the dough using a rolling pin. The disk shouldn't be thicker than 1/4 inch.&nbsp;

Place the rolled disk on the hot pizza stone (or baking sheet) and close the oven door. Let it bake for two minutes, it will puff.&nbsp;

Flip the bread and bake for another two minutes.&nbsp;

Place the baked pita bread on a plate and cover with a towel.&nbsp;

Continue baking the remaining pita breads.&nbsp;

Store tightly in a plastic bag.&nbsp;

Homemade Pita Bread is so easy to make! Perfectly pillowy and just the right amount of chewy, these pita loaves will become your new favorite sandwich bread.

dry active yeast

olive oil

all-purpose flour (divided)

Whisk together the sugar and yeast in a large bowl, then stir in the warm water. Let the yeast activate for about 5 minutes, or until frothy.

Add the salt and olive oil, and then using a wooden spoon, add 2 ½ cups of flour.

Continue stirring and add a tablespoon of flour at a time until the dough starts to pull away from the sides.

Dust a counter with some of the remaining flour. Turn the dough out onto the counter and knead it for 15 minutes. If you have a stand mixer with a kneading attachment then you’ll only need to knead for 10 minutes.  Add a dust of flour as it gets too sticky to handle, but don’t overdo it or the dough will become hard. The dough should be tacky but not too sticky to knead.

Tuck in the edges of the dough then coat the same bowl with olive oil that you used before. Add the dough and roll it around in the bowl to coat it in the olive oil.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a tea towel and let it rise for about an hour, until it has doubled in size.

Remove the dough from the bowl and cut it into 10 equal pieces that weigh about 2 ounces each.Tuck in the edges of each of the pieces to form balls then cover them with a towel and let them rest for 20 minutes.

Roll one of the dough balls out into a ¼ inch thick disk that’s about 6 inches across. (These do not have to be perfect, just form the best circle or oval that you can.)

Let the uncooked pita rest for five minutes as you heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Lightly coat the pan in some olive oil then place one of the uncooked pitas in the pan.

Cook for 20 to 30 seconds or until you see 4-5 bubbles start to form, then flip the pita over and cook for another 20 seconds then flip it again and cook for 1 minute and allow the bread to puff up.

Flip it again and let it puff up more then remove it from the pan and cover with a towel to trap the steam and keep them soft. (Not all of the pitas will puff up, but they should all form large bubbles.)

Repeat the process with the remaining uncooked pitas, then serve!

Hi Jessica, Thank you for your reply. I printed out the recipe as it was, then realized I needed to make a little more so I scaled it up to 10 and printed. Then I thought 5 cups of flour may make too much so I scaled it back down to maybe 8? I can't remember, but it changed to 3 tablespoons of sugar and 4.5 cups of flour. I actually ended up making 12 pitas with that recipe. They were a decent size for us to stuff with your chicken slouvaki recipe. I also used your recipes for Greek seasoning, Greek salad dressing and Greek salad for a Greek themed birthday dinner for my son. Everything was great. The pita dough was beautiful to work with.

The yield states 6-7 pitas but the instructions say divide into 10 pieces. Could you give an idea of the size differences if I were to divide into 6 vs 10 balls of dough? I have been searching for a pita recipe like the ones used at OPA restaurants. I know they are a "fast food" type restaurant so they may not be particularly authentic but I love how fluffy and chewy their pitas are compared to the drier pocket type pitas available in grocery stores.

Delicious taste and easy to make. Thanks for the recipe!!

Just made this recipe and ummmmmm it’s amazing!!!! So so easy to make, I will be making another batch tomorrow :)

I replace the water with milk simply because I prefer it that way but absolutely love these. They’re amazing and it’s so simple

This homemade Pita Bread recipe is soft, fresh, and will be the star of your next meal! It&#039;s quick and easy to make, and all you need are basic pantry ingredients.

Pita Bread

instant yeast ((1 packet)*)

fine sea salt

all-purpose flour

Make Dough: Mix water, yeast, sugar, salt, olive oil and 1 cup of flour together. Add more flour, a little at a time, until the dough comes together but is still a little sticky. Flour your hands and knead it in the bowl for a minute or so until it’s smooth. The dough should be very soft and not overly sticky.

Rest: Place dough in a well-greased bowl, cover, and rest for 40 minutes (or refrigerate until ready to use).

Divide dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece into a very thin circle.

Cook: Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium high heat. (See notes for oven instructions, if desired). Once the pan is hot, lightly grease the pan with oil and lay pitas flat. Cook for 2 minutes, or until lightly golden on the bottom. Flip and cook for another minute or so, then remove from heat and place inside a clean, dry kitchen towel to keep warm while you cook remaining pitas.

These were delicious and I enjoyed making them. They disappeared quickly:)

It seems to be too much water for the amount of flour. My dough was too sticky and unmanageable, despite everything being measured exactly. I ended up adding about 50 more grams of flour.

Best pita recipe ever! I doubled the recipe for my family of eight and they came out literally perfect.

Hi!  I've made these pitas twice and each time they have been amazing!  Would this dough also be able to be used to make individual pizzas?

I hadn't even thought to make pitas! I've been looking for whole wheat pitas here and can barely find regular ones! I'm going to modify it a bit for whole wheat. Thanks so much, Lauren!

Delicious! I substituted the olive oil for sesame oil, as that is simply our household oil preference as it has more flavor, and I lightly salted both sides of the pita bread as I was frying each in the skillet. They turned out so wonderful! We ate this alongside with Lauren's chicken tikka masala recipe, which I served atop jasmine rice cooked in an instapot, and the meal as a whole was just incredible.

https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/pmIfncPv.mp4

It’s incredibly quick and easy to make homemade Pita Bread and once do, you’ll never go back to store-bought. Homemade pitas are soft, fresh, and will be the star of your next meal.

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Top 4 greek pita bread recipes from across the web

The most viewed greek pita bread recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

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Homemade Pita Bread

Homemade Pita Bread Recipe

Homemade Pita Bread Recipe

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The most viewed greek pita bread recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine