Is homemade better? When it comes to pita bread, the answer is absolutely! Our Homemade Pita Bread recipe is one you have to try!
Once you’ve experienced the taste of homemade pita bread, you will have a very hard time going back to store bought! What a better way to impress your family and friends, than to serve this freshly made, warm and delicious bread!
Our homemade pita bread recipe is very easy to make and tastes so much better than the dried out, store bought pita bread. A few simple ingredients of water, flour, yeast, sugar, salt and olive oil are all that is needed. You can serve this pita bread with our Chicken Gyro Recipe or you can cut up the pita bread into triangles and serve as an appetizer with our Red Pepper Feta Dip.
Kali Orexi!
HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE PITA BREAD
- Add warm water, yeast and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and mix well. Allow mixture to stand for about five minutes or until the yeast mixture begins to form small bubbles.
- While waiting for the yeast mixture to activate, sift 3 cups of all-purpose flour.
- Add sea salt and olive oil to yeast mixture. Using the dough hook attachment of your stand mixer and turn on to medium speed. Begin to slowly add 2 1/2 cups of the sifted all-purpose flour to the bowl.
- Add additional flour until the dough has a smooth texture. The goal is to have a smooth dough that easily pulls away from the bowl and looks like this.
- Spread 2 tsp of extra virgin olive oil into a glass or metal bowl that is large enough for the dough to double in size. Place the dough into the bowl, cover with a clean, thick kitchen towel and set in a warm place to rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. (We use our oven but be careful no one turns it on!)
- Your dough will look like this after it is fully risen.
- Once the dough has risen, turn it over onto a floured surface and divide the dough into 8 even sections. We weigh each piece to ensure they are as equal as possible. Form 8 small dough balls. Let them sit for about 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle a small amount of flour onto your work surface, and with a rolling pin, roll each ball out into a 7-8 inch round that is about 1/4 inch thick.
- Warm a cast iron skillet under medium heat. Brush some extra virgin olive oil to the bottom of the skillet and place one of the rolled out pitas onto the skillet to cook. After 30 seconds, the pita will begin to form bubbles on top.
- Flip the pita bread to the other side and cook for 2 minutes, watching carefully not to burn. Turn once more and cook for about 1 minute, watching carefully not to burn the pita.
- Place cooked pitas on a rack to cool.
I DON’T HAVE A CAST IRON PAN. WHAT ELSE CAN I USE TO COOK THE PITAS?
If you don’t have a cast iron pan, you can use any nonstick surface. We have made these on our pancake griddle too at a temperature of 375 degrees F. This allows you to make more than one at a time as well.
WHY DO I NEED TO USE A COOLING RACK?
We like to use a cooling rack to cool off our pitas so that they don’t get soggy. As soon as they cool down, you can stack them.
CAN I MAKE MY PITAS AHEAD OF TIME?
We actually prefer to make our pitas ahead of time. You can make your pitas up to a week ahead of time, store them in the refrigerator and warm them in the oven right before serving.
Homemade Pita Bread Recipe
Homemade Pita Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 1/2-3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil for, for rising process
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil for cooking process
Instructions
- Add warm water, yeast and sugar into the bowel of a stand mixer and mix well. Allow mixture to stand for about five minutes or until the yeast mixture begins to form small bubbles.
- While waiting for the yeast mixture to activate, sift 3 cups of all-purpose flour.
- Add sea salt and olive oil to yeast mixture. Using the dough hook attachment of your stand mixer and turn on to medium speed. Begin to slowly add 2 1/2 cups of the sifted all-purpose flour to the bowl until you have a smooth dough that easily pulls away from the bowl.
- Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and form a large ball. Spread 2 tsp of extra virgin olive oil to a glass or metal bowl that is large enough for the dough to double in size. Place the dough into the bowl, cover with a clean, thick kitchen towel and set in a warm place to rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. (We use our oven but be careful no one turns it on!)
- Once the dough has risen, turn it over onto a floured surface and divide the dough into 8 even sections. We weigh each piece to ensure they are as equal as possible. Form 8 small dough balls. Let them sit for about 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle a small amount of flour onto your work surface, and with a rolling pin, roll each ball out into a 7-8 inch round that is about 1/4 inch thick.
- Warm a cast iron skillet under medium heat. Brush some extra virgin olive oil to the bottom of the skillet and place one of the rolled out pitas onto the skillet to cook. After 30 seconds, the pita will begin to form bubbles on top.
- Flip the pita bread to the other side and cook for 2 minutes, watching carefully not to burn. Turn once more and cook for about 1 minute, watching carefully not to burn the pita.
- Place cooked pitas on a rack to cool.
- Repeat until all dough balls are cooked.
These were absolutely amazing!!! I have never had better!