Making your own pita bread will make you wonder why you haven’t always done it. Nothing and I mean nothing can compare. It does take a little planning ahead, but it’s so worth it.
Pita Bread
This delicious recipe uses a little bit of whole wheat flour to give the pita more depth of flavor.
Ingredients
- 1 pkg Active Dry Yeast (make sure you get this kind and not the Instant kind)
- 1 teaspoon Sugar
- 1 1/2 cups Warm Water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups Bread Flour
- 1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
Instructions
In the bowl that you use for your electric mixer, add the yeast, sugar, and warm water. Stir them together with a spoon until the yeast is dissolved completely.
Let the mixture sit for about 5-8 minutes until it gets foamy.
Add the salt, this is important, don't forget this step.
Add the dough hook attachment to your mixer
Once your mixer is ready to go with the dough hook, turn your mixer is on the lowest speed and then add the whole wheat flour.
Then start to add the bread flour a little at a time, until all of the flour has been incorporated and the dough gathers into one ball.
Plop the dough ball onto a floured surface and knead by hand until it's smooth. (About 8 minutes.) When you pat the dough, it should feel like you are patting a baby's butt.
Grease a large bowl with olive oil.
Put the smooth dough into the oiled bowl and cover it with a damp towel.
Put the covered bowl in a warm spot and let it rise until double in size, should take about 1 1/2 hours.
Take the dough out of the bowl and place it back on the flat surface.
Divide the dough evenly into 10 pieces, and make each piece into a ball and line them up in rows on the flat surface.
Cover all 10 balls with a damp towel and let them rest for about 15 minutes.
Roll each dough ball into a 6-inch circle that is 1/4-inch thick with a rolling pin.
Cover the circles with the damp towel after you make them.
Heat a cast iron pan to medium high on your stove top.
Cook each pita dough circle, one at a time on the cast iron pan.
Let the pita cook for about 3 minutes and then flip over and cook for another 1-2 minutes. The bread should puff up while on the pan. It will deflate when you take it off the heat.
As each pita is done cooking, put them in a bowl or basket that is lined with a towel and put another towel on top of the bowl to cover it and keep the pitas warm.