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How to Make Fluffy Pita Bread
Jul 6, 2024
This easy recipe renders the most delicious, fluffy pita bread. Pita is great for sandwiches or for ripping and dipping into hummus and other spreads. These homemade pita also freeze beautifully.
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0:00
Hi, I'm going to show you how to make the best, fluffiest, easiest homemade pita
0:06
We're going to start by adding to a mixing bowl all the ingredients except the salt
0:11
That is the flour, oil, sugar, yeast, and the water. I like to first mix it a bit on my own just to get it going and then put it into the mixer
0:30
Let the dough knead for several minutes. You might need to stop the mixer just to scrape down the sides of the bowl a little bit as it's kneading
0:42
You'll see that the dough is sticking a bit to the bowl. That's okay
0:47
That's because this is a high hydration recipe, meaning that there's a lot of water in it
0:53
You want that moisture to make a really fluffy pita. After the dough has been kneading for several minutes and the ingredients are well mixed together and starting to look smooth
1:06
slowly add the salt in while the dough is kneading. Once the salt has been added, let it continue kneading for several more minutes
1:22
You'll see that the dough is no longer sticking too much to the sides or bottom of the bowl
1:35
You'll know the dough is ready because it will look very smooth and even a little bit fluffy
1:41
It should be very tacky to the point of being almost a bit too sticky
1:47
You can do the windowpane test to make sure the dough has fully developed its gluten
1:53
Take a small piece of dough and spread it between your fingers
1:57
It should get translucent without ripping too much. Then just shape the dough into a mound in the center of the bowl
2:06
Cover it and let it bulk ferment for about an hour. It should double in size in that time
2:17
After an hour, the dough should have doubled in size and be very puffy
2:23
If you want to weigh it and then divide by 8, you'll have the exact number of grams to use for each pita
2:30
It should come to approximately 95 grams per pita. Be sure to lightly dust your surface because the pita is going to be very sticky
2:46
It's a good idea to fold the dough onto itself to pop any air bubbles that are in there and to redistribute the yeast within the dough
3:02
As you weigh out each portion of dough, you want to shape them into a ball
3:07
You can start pulling the sides up over itself and then take a little bit of flour on the top but not the bottom
3:14
and cup your hand around the dough to shape it into a ball
3:18
You want the bottom to be sticky so it will stick to the surface of your countertop
3:23
but you want a little bit of flour on top so it will not stick to your hand
3:27
Once you've shaped it into a ball, you can put it to the side and cover it with some plastic wrap and continue on
3:34
Alternatively, you can use a tea towel to cover the dough. Make sure there's a little bit of flour on top so it doesn't stick to the plastic or a tea towel
3:45
Continue portioning and shaping each portion of dough. Once they're fully portioned and covered, let them sit for 15 minutes to rest the gluten a little bit
4:02
At the end of the 15 minute rest, it's time to preheat your oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit and make sure your rack is on the lower third of the oven
4:10
This is great to make on a pizza stone or a piece of steel, so make sure that's in your oven on the bottom third rack
4:17
At the end of the 15 minute rest, take one of the balls of dough and put it on a lightly floured surface and sprinkle a little flour on top
4:27
You're going to roll the ball out into approximately a six inch diameter circle and the dough should be about a quarter of an inch in thickness
4:37
Start in the middle and roll upwards and then go to the middle and roll downwards
4:42
Then alternate the side and sort of like in an X formation
4:46
That should help maintain a circular form. Be careful not to press down too much
4:52
You don't want to pop all the air bubbles out, but you want to get it up to approximately a quarter of an inch
4:58
Somewhere between an eighth of an inch and a quarter of an inch in thickness
5:02
Do not go less than an eighth of an inch or the pita will not properly rise when it gets baked
5:08
If the dough is sticking at all to the countertop, this is a great time to use your bench scraper to peel the dough up
5:34
Here you can see that this circle is approximately six inches in diameter and about a quarter of an inch in thickness
5:46
Lightly flour the countertop where you're going to place this rolled out pita
5:53
And gently use your bench scraper to get the dough off the countertop if it's sticking
6:00
You can even spread it out a little bit more because you will have lost some of the length when you pulled it up
6:08
Place it on the floured countertop and then cover it with plastic wrap
6:12
You should also sprinkle a little bit of flour on top so it doesn't stick to the plastic wrap
6:17
Then continue doing the same thing with the remainder of the dough balls
6:22
If your counter surface is not too large, it's a good idea to place them onto a sheet pan or a cookie sheet of some sort
6:31
Just put some parchment paper down on it, lightly sprinkle it with flour and you can put it on the baking sheet as you roll out each one
6:41
You want to make sure you have enough room on your countertop to roll this out without damaging any of the other dough balls
6:52
Once they're all rolled out and they have a little sprinkle of flour on top and they're covered with plastic wrap or a tea towel, let them sit for 30 minutes
7:08
They will puff up very nicely in this time. At the end of the 30 minutes, lightly flour a cutting board or some other flat surface and then place two pitas at a time on the cutting board
7:25
Again, use your bench scraper to pull up the pita dough from the countertop
7:30
It should be a little bit sticky, but make sure it's lightly floured to avoid it from sticking
7:36
Once you get them onto the floured cutting board or whatever surface you're using, give it a little shake just to make sure they move
7:44
If they move, then they'll be able to launch easily into the oven
7:48
Then you'll launch them onto your baking steel or pizza stone, whatever you have in your oven, and let it bake for three minutes
7:56
At that time, they will puff up just like this. Flip them over and let them bake for an additional minute
8:07
At the end of that final minute, remove the pita from the oven and place it on a tea towel and cover with another tea towel
8:14
This will help make sure the pitas remain soft because the steam will create moisture under the tea towel and keep it very moist and super delicious and fluffy
8:27
Here is a very hot pita just out of the oven, but you can see the steam and just how fluffy it is inside and that nice pocket. Enjoy
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