Then knead it for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Add the sugar, olive oil and 210ml of lukewarm water and whisk to dissolve the yeast. Crumble the yeast into a large bowl.
In the United Kingdom, the term is used for pocket versions such as the Greek pita, used for barbecues as a souvlaki wrap. Pita bread is best enjoyed fresh, and because it's so easy to make, it's worth making it right when you want it. The full list of ingredients and instructions can be found in the recipe below.
- There is evidence from about 14,500 years ago, during the Stone Age, that the Natufian people in what is now Jordan made a kind of flatbread from wild cereal grains.
- The enduring appeal of pita lies in its simplicity, versatility and the way it seamlessly integrates into various cuisines.
- We start with high-protein bread flour, which encourages pocket formation and increases the pita’s chew.
- Or for an easy lunch I stuff my pita with this smashed chickpea salad.
- We prefer King Arthur bread flour for this recipe for its high protein content.
- A hot oven is the secret to getting that pocket.
Since 2009, we’ve been dedicated to creating trusted, easy recipes to help home cooks feel confident and excited in the kitchen. 2 ¼ cups (295g) bread flour or all-purpose flour Bake them for perfect pita pockets. Thanks to that pita pocket, you can also stuff almost anything into your homemade pita. Lightly flour the squares of parchment paper and place the pita rounds onto them. If you do not have one, place a baking sheet into the oven while preheating to mimic the baking steel.
Easy Homemade Pita Recipe (Step-by-Step)
For a quicker recipe without yeast, see our easy flatbread recipe, which calls for baking powder instead of yeast. This homemade pita bread recipe guarantees soft, fluffy pita way better than anything you can buy at the store! The ovens used in commercial baking are much hotter than traditional clay ovens—430–480 °C (800–900 °F)—so each pita is baked only for one minute. If it’s too wet, add a little bit of flour at a time, but do this sparingly—you don’t want your dough to be too dry.
Ingredients
A hot oven is the secret to getting that pocket. Stir in your flour, then cover with a towel to rise for about an hour (or until it doubles). I’ll walk you through everything you need to make pita gyros king bread from scratch. In Cyprus, pita is typically rounder, fluffier and baked on a cast-iron skillet.
The skillet pita is soft and fluffy, while the oven-baked pita has a pocket in the middle, perfect for making sandwiches. Modern commercial pita bread is prepared on advanced automatic production lines, processing 45,000-kilogram (100,000 lb) silos of flour at a time and producing thousands of pitas per hour. When removed from the oven, the layers of baked dough remain separated inside the deflated pita, which allows the bread to be opened to form a pocket. Most pita breads are baked at high temperatures (230–245 °C or 450–475 °F), which turns the water in the dough into steam, thus causing the pita to puff up and form a pocket.
If using another bread flour, reduce the amount of water in the dough by 2 tablespoons (1 ounce). We prefer King Arthur bread flour for this recipe for its high protein content. This pita bread beats anything you can buy at the store. For baking pita, squares of parchment paper help move them to and from the oven.
Thick Pita Bread
Some say that English borrowed the word directly from Modern Hebrew, which had revived the Aramaic term in the preceding decades. The first mention of the word in English cited in the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1936.
However, there is no record of the steam-puffed, two-layer "pocket pita" in the ancient texts, or in any of the medieval Arab cookbooks, and according to food historians such as Charles Perry and Gil Marks it was likely a later development. To keep the finished stack warm, cover with a kitchen towel and continue on. Cover with a towel, and let rest 10 minutes so the gluten can relax a bit before we move onto the rolling process.
Pita bread is perfect for dipping. I use my fingers to flatten the dough to preserve as many air bubbles as possible. Once your dough has doubled, divide it into six equally sized portions.
Arepas (Venezuelan Cornmeal Flatbreads)
If your dough starts to stick, add more flour to your rolling pin. Punch out your dough, then add it to your floured work space, dividing it into 8 equal pieces. After your dough has doubled in size, turn on your oven to a blasting 500° F, and place your pizza stone or cast iron skillet inside the oven to preheat it. You can do this on a nicely floured surface, or work directly in the same bowl, adding a little bit of flour at a time as you see fit.
It can be made with or without an interior pocket. I cook traditional dishes from around the world that happen to be vegan. Meanwhile, preheat the oven along with a tray to 250°C (230°C fan). You want to create a smooth surface across the dough. Return the dough to the work surface and divide it into 8 pieces (80-85g each). Shape the dough into a large ball, grease a clean bowl with a little oil and place the dough inside.