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Stack of homemade golden pita breads on a rustic wooden board with garlic, herbs and olive oil, styled for a food blog

Pita Bread

Soft, fluffy homemade pita breads that puff beautifully in the oven and taste miles better than store-bought. Perfect for stuffing, dipping or tearing into your favourite Mediterranean dishes.
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Prep Time:20 minutes
Cook Time:30 minutes
Course: Bread
Cuisine: Mediterranean, Middle Eastern
Keyword: Homemade pita, Mediterranean bread, Middle Eastern bread, pita bread, Pocket bread
Servings: 6
Calories: 58kcal
Author: Kate Brodhurst

Ingredients

  • 90g lukewarm whole milk
  • 90g lukewarm water
  • ½ teaspoon caster sugar
  • 7g sachet dry yeast (or 2 teaspoons Instant Dried Yeast)
  • 250g bread flour (you can also use regular plain flour/AP flour)
  • 50g wholemeal plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

  • Place the milk, water and sugar into a jug or small bowl. Add the yeast and stir to combine. Allow to sit for 10 minutes to "bloom" or until mixture is foamy.
  • Combine flours and salt in a large bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer, making a well in the centre. Add the yeast mixture and olive oil, then mix to form a shaggy dough.
  • If using a stand mixer, attach your dough hook and knead on low speed for 5-6 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic or if kneading by hand, knead for 8-10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic.
  • Place dough ball into a large, lightly oiled bowl and cover with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place and allow it to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
  • Lightly dust your work surface with flour. Knock the air out of the dough and divide dough into 6 equal pieces. Roll each into a ball and keep covered with a clean tea towel.
  • Lightly flour your work surface then working with one dough ball at a time, flatten it out with the palm of your hand. Using a rolling pin, roll out dough in a circular motion to approximately 15cm in diameter. Set aside and allow to rise to rise again for 20-30 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough balls.
  • While dough is resting, preheat your oven with a pizza stone or baking steel to the highest temperature it will go. If you have neither of these, you can use a flat oven tray upside down instead.
  • Working with one pita bread at a time, transfer to the stone or tray in the oven and cook for approximately 3-5 minutes or until the bread has puffed up and is lightly golden in colour. (See Note 2). Carefully remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack or clean tea towel. Cover to keep warm if desired. Repeat process with remaining 5 pita breads. Serve.

Notes

  1. COOKS NOTES:
    Oven Temps:     Oven temperatures are for conventional, if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C.
    Measurements: We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon = 5 ml, 1 tablespoon = 20 ml & 1 cup =  250 ml.
    Herbs: All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed.
    Vegetables: All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified.
    Eggs: We use extra-large size and eggs are 55-60 g each, unless specified.
  2. COOKING THE PITAS
    You need to make sure you preheat your oven with the stone, steel or baking tray inside of it at the highest temp it will go. This is usually around the 230C-250C mark.
    You can cook more pitas at once if desired but as they don't take long to cook, I find working with one a time easier and less chance to overcook them. I find also, they puff up quicker and brown more evenly cooking one a time.