homemade pita

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!

Simple 4-ingredient homemade pita bread - Miles better than store-bought versions, with just 4 ingredients to make fluffy, pillowy pita pockets every time.

How to Make Homemade Pita Bread

white flour (250 grams)

dry yeast (7 grams)

tsp salt

water

tBsp sugar (optional)

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. 

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. 

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

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. 

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. 

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.

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

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.

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. 

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

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. 

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. 

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

This is a recipe for a simple homemade pita bread. Everyone can make fluffy, pillowy pita pockets every time!

The Best Authentic Homemade Pita Bread

Homemade pita bread, how to make pita bread at home. Step by step pictures and full video recipe.

Homemade pita bread

all purpose flour

tsp Instant yeast

tsp sugar

salt

tsp baking powder (optional)

olive oil

water (refer notes)

Take flour, yeast, sugar, salt, baking powder in a mixing bowl.

Give it a mix.  Make a dent in the middle, add luke warm water and a tsp of oil.

Gather and knead well for 10 mins. I used my bread maker to knead, but you can knead with hands until smooth.

Keep the dough in a greased mixing bowl. Oil the surface of the dough too. Cover with a damp towel (without touching dough) or clingwrap the mouth of the bowl. Set aside for 1 hour.

After 1 hr, it will double in volume. Punch down and knead to make it smooth again. Dust the surface generously, to avoid sticking.

Divide into 8 equal sized balls. Keep the dough and balls covered all the time to prevent drying.

Roll each ball with dusting the surface generously. I rolled roughly around 6 inch roughly.Preheat oven to it's highest 250 deg C. Use the tray inverted. Over which dust slightly. I place 3 per batch.

Insert the tray to top rack (I used top second) and bake for 2-3 mins. It should puff up within this.

Do not bake for longer as it can make it crisp or chewy.

Take out and cool over wire rack or wrap in a clean kitchen towel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA7CF97FGi8

Homemade pita bread - fresh homemade pita bread in oven.
I have used instant yeast, if using active dry yeast, you have to dissolve in the water and add to the dough to knead. Also proofing is recommended if using active dry yeast.
Instant yeast 1 tsp, active dry yeast means 1 tbsp for this recipe.
This goes well with the baba ganoush I posted earlier. And with Hummus.

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp Instant yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking powder optional
1 tbsp olive oil
165-170 ml water approx
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Homemade pita bread, pita bread in oven

Looking for the perfect bread to make your shawarma sandwiches, dip in hummus, and make pita pockets? This Authentic Lebanese Pita Bread recipe will give you all the tips and tricks to make warm and soft pita bread - so good that you’ll never buy pita from the store again!

Soft Authentic Lebanese Pita Bread

Cups all-purpose flour (377 g)

whole wheat flour (100 g)

Cups water

Tbsp yeast

Tbsp olive oil, as needed (15 mL)

See how to make the best authentic Arabic pita breads for shawarmas at home with this easy recipe! You will learn how to make soft Lebanese pita bread in the oven and pita bread over the stove. This easy pita bread recipe will give tips and tricks on how to get excellent flavour and how to prevent pita bread from drying out.

Top 5 homemade pita recipes from across the web

The most viewed homemade pita recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Top Tags

Homemade Pita Bread

How to Make Homemade Pita Bread

Homemade pita bread

Soft Authentic Lebanese Pita Bread

Soft Authentic Lebanese Pita Bread

Top 5 homemade pita recipes from across the web

The most viewed homemade pita recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Homemade Pita Bread

How to Make Homemade Pita Bread

Homemade pita bread

Soft Authentic Lebanese Pita Bread

Soft Authentic Lebanese Pita Bread

The most viewed homemade pita recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine