The Best Pita Bread Recipe In The World

This homemade Pita Bread Recipe puffs up beautifully to form that perfect pocket inside. Watch the video tutorial and learn how to make Pita Bread in the oven or on the stovetop.

We love recreating our favorite Mediterranean recipes from Greek Salad to Tzatziki Sauce. If you are a fan of Mediterranean flavors, this Pita Recipe is a must-try!

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Flatbread Recipes From Around The World

Place 2 pieces of dough on the fully preheated pizza stone and bake at 500˚F 2 to 2 1/2 minutes or until puffed. Transfer to a rack for 5 minutes then cover with a dry towel so they don’t dry out. Repeat with remaining pitas.

Preheat a cast-iron skillet over medium/high heat and brush lightly with olive oil. Lay pita on the hot skillet for 30 seconds. As soon as you see bubbles, flip the pita and cook 1 minute – it will puff then flip and cook 1 minute.

After many batches (and a freezer packed with homemade pita bread), we identified all of the tips and tricks to get that mesmerizing puff and perfectly formed pocket in the center.

Sourdough Pita Bread (step By Step)

Pita bread is a lighter bread that is leavened with yeast, while flatbread is not. Naan usually has an egg and yogurt base.

Yes, you can just use all-purpose flour and the pita bread will still work great. Whole wheat is traditional and adds a little color and hint of nutty flavor.

To keep the dough from drying out, it must be covered with a damp kitchen towel after rolling into dough balls and into disks. Also, cover the pita bread with a dry kitchen towel 5 minutes after it is cooked or it will get dry.

Best Homemade Pita Bread

These easy bread recipes will make you feel like a pro. Enjoying a warm slice of homemade bread makes the process completely worthwhile.

Homemade Pita Bread is easy to make and puffs up to form a stuffable pocket inside. We included instructions for baking in the oven or cooking pita bread on the stovetop.

Welcome to my kitchen! I am Natasha, the blogger behind Natasha's Kitchen (since 2009). My husband and I run this blog together and share only our best, family approved and tested recipes with YOU. Thanks for stopping by! We are so happy you're here.Yvonne Ruperti is a food writer, recipe developer, former bakery owner, and cookbook author. She is also an adjust professor of baking at the Culinary Institute of America in Singapore.

Gluten Free Pita Bread

Staring through the oven door as pita bread bakes is the best part of making it at home. When I teach my baking class, the culinary students are always amazed as the pita breads blow up like balloons, seemingly about to pop. If they’re not made right, though, the pitas won't puff and get that big pocket in the middle—a key element of a successful pita.

Baking pitas at home is absolutely worth the effort. Freshly made ones are in a completely different league from the ones bought at the store in plastic bags. They're chewier and more delicate, and they have a delicious, yeasty aroma that wafts out when you open up the pocket. It's also not a major time commitment: Pitas can be baked and sandwich-stuffed in less than two hours.

So why does pita bread have a pocket, anyway? It's all about structure, moisture, and heat. When a thin disk of pita dough is placed on a hot surface in the oven, two things start to happen. First, the intense heat starts to dry and set the dough on the top and bottom. At the same time, it begins to turn moisture in the center of the pita to a blast of steam.

Homemade Pita Bread. This Simple Recipe, From Michael Solomonov's Zahav Cookbook, Makes The Best Pita Rounds I've Ever Eaten, Complete With That Perfect Pocket. No Special Equipment Required!

When enough steam is generated, it builds pressure, pushing the pita out from the center and inflating it. Because the exterior has already started to set, though, it's strong enough to resist rupturing, keeping that steam bubble trapped within.

I also like to use some whole wheat flour in my dough for flavor. Whole wheat can be tricky, though, because it doesn't generate gluten as well as all-purpose or bread flour—and we need that gluten to make the dough elastic enough to expand around that central air pocket.

I've found that using 20% whole wheat flour strikes the perfect balance, making the dough much more flavorful and nutty than one made with just all-purpose flour, while also not compromising its structure.

Healthy Whole Wheat Pita Bread Recipe

As with all yeasted breads, make sure that your liquid (in this case, water) is at the right temperature for the yeast to wake up and start doing its job of fermenting the dough and producing carbon dioxide. Go with a temperature of around 105°F (41°C), and don't let it get higher than 120°F (49°C), or the yeast will start to die, and that's just cruel.

Mix until it forms what we bakers call a shaggy mass. At this point, almost all of the flour is incorporated, and the mixture has almost become a dough, but is still rather ragged. When making pita bread, I like to knead the dough by hand. That's in part because I like the feel of the dough (what can I say?), but also so that I can sense how much gluten is being developed. We want a well-developed dough with plenty of gluten, so that it will stretch out as it puffs in the oven.

We also don't want the dough to be too dry, since it needs moisture to puff. If you knead the dough on a board, it'll seem very sticky, and you'll be tempted to add too much extra flour—which is not a good thing, since it will soak up and trap some of that necessary moisture.

How To Make Gluten Free Pita Bread (easy And Delicious)

The best way to do it, therefore, is to knead the dough directly in the mixing bowl. Make sure that your hands are clean!

To do that, lift up the top half of the shaggy mass, pull it toward you, then fold it over on itself. Next, use your fingers or the heel of your hand to push the dough away from you. Give the bowl a quarter turn, then repeat the process.

It's okay if the dough sticks to the bottom of the bowl, but if it sticks too much to the sides, you can use a plastic scraper to free it. Though it'll still feel tacky at this stage, you'll notice it becoming less so while you continue to knead, as the gluten develops and the flour becomes more hydrated from the liquid. Add only a very small amount of flour if the whole thing just seems too wet and sticky.

Quick & Easy Homemade Pita Bread

Keep kneading for about 10 minutes. What you're looking for is good gluten development: The dough should be soft but stretchy, yet not as tight as a wad of well-chewed gum. If you pull on the dough, you should feel some resistance.

Use a stand mixer instead, especially if you're doubling the batch. Use a dough hook and mix at low speed for eight minutes.

Roll out the pitas to no more than a quarter inch in thickness. This is one of the most important rules, since the dough needs to be thin enough that the heat can quickly penetrate to the center, creating that blast of steam and expanding the pocket

Pitta Bread Recipe

If the dough is too thick, it'll get overly firm before the heat of the oven can swell the center. The photo below shows what happens when the pita is too thick. No puff!

A very hot oven is a must in order to get that quick burst of steam inside. If the oven temperature is too low, steam won't puff the pitas, and you'll end up with duds. Turn the oven as high as it will go, and preheat the oven with a baking steel or stone, * which retains heat, thus aiding in the creation of steam.

This needs to happen quickly—in a mere two to three minutes—so don't go running off when the pitas are baking. As soon as they puff, they're done. Over-baking will leave them hard and dry.

Easy Pita Bread Recipe (how To Make Pita Bread)| The Mediterranean Dish

After rolling out the pitas, try not to tear the dough before baking. Doing so can create a weak point that may fail as the pita puffs, preventing it from fully expanding. Notice that the pita on the left here, which went into the oven with a slight tear, isn't puffing like the other:

Over the course of years of making pitas, I began to notice a tendency for the pita to end up with a much thinner top than bottom after it comes out of the oven. Eventually, I realized that this has to do with pockets of air rising to the surface of the dough during the final proofing step.

The solution: Flip the dough right before baking, and set it top side down on the baking stone. (This trick also guarantees an even distribution of air holes in ciabatta bread.)

The Best Authentic Homemade Pita Bread

You know those pitas that crack when you try to