5 Ingredient Homemade Pita Bread

5 from 3 votes

5 Ingredient Homemade Pita Bread

A reliable pita recipe that has all the elements of perfect pita bread – it makes the perfect pocket, with a lacy interior. The texture is soft and slightly chewy, perfect for pairing with a filling of your choice or a tasty dip.

Prep Time15

Cook Time10

Resting Time16

Total Time16 25

Course: Bread

Cuisine: Middle-Eastern

Diet: Kosher, Vegetarian

Servings: pita breads

Calories: 270kcal

Author: Candice Walker

Equipment

Ingredients

415 grams flour
2 ¼ tsp yeast
300 grams ice water
4 tsp honey
¼ cup olive oil
1 ¼ tsp sea salt

Instructions

Make the dough

Mix flour, yeast, ice water, honey, and olive oil for 1-2 minutes on the stir setting of your mixer fitted with the dough hook. Turn it off and let it sit for 10 minutes. Then, add 1 1/4 tsp salt.
Knead in the mixer for 6-8 minutes on medium speed. The dough is much tackier than other dough, so it will be sticking to the sides of the bowl.
Spray the countertop and hands with oil. Shape into a big dough ball, pulling edges to center to make it round. Then divide into eight even pieces.
For each, make sure to pull the edges of the dough to the center to help make them rounded. Place the dough ball dimple side down on the countertop, and move your hand in a circular motion to remove the dimple.
Put each dough ball on an oiled tray, spray oil over the top, then cover it with plastic wrap or a lid.
Place the dough in the fridge for 16-48 hours.

Bake the pita

Preheat oven to 500°F with a baking steel, stone, or baking sheet in the lowest position in oven.
Flour your workspace very generously. Using a bench scraper or spatula to avoid adding dimples to your dough, scoop up your first dough ball and transfer it to the flour.
Press each ball of pita dough into 5-inch rounds. Be gentle to make sure your fingers don’t penetrate through or create a tear or the full pocket, otherwise, the pocket won't form.
Then flip and use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a 7-inch round. Move it around so it doesn’t stick to your work surface.
Brush off the excess flour, and place in the oven top side down two at a time. Placing them bottom side down initially can prevent the full puff.
Once the pita puffs up like a balloon (2-4 minutes), roll each other over to brown the other side for just one more minute.
Transfer to a wire cooling rack, or cutting board. Cover with a towel. Let them rest for 10 minutes.
Continue until all 8 pita are baked.

Video

Notes

You can substitute up to 85 grams of whole wheat flour without compromising this recipe – doing this adds a bit more flavor to the dough.

I use olive oil spray but you can also just spread oil on the countertop with your hands.

If you have a dimple in the dough, that dimple will end up being a spot where the two sides of the pita pocket stick together.

When forming your dough, be sure to keep track of which side is the top and which is the bottom for each dough ball. The top of the pita bread is the prettier side, so I like to keep track of that side of the bread staying on top!

Nutrition