This is a fantastic recipe for pita bread that I learned from a buddy who works at a fantastic Greek restaurant in my city. Pita can be split in half and filled with your preferred filling, or it can be sliced into wedges and fried in a little olive oil for dipping.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Additional Time: | 40 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 1 dozen pita breads |
Ingredients
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 1 ¼ cups warm water (100 to 110 degrees F/40 to 45 degrees C)
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour, or as needed – divided
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ¼ cup vegetable shortening
Instructions
- Sprinkle yeast over warm water in a mixing bowl and allow to stand until the yeast forms a creamy foam, about 5 minutes. Mix in 2 cups of flour, salt, and shortening; beat for 2 minutes with a fork. Stir in as much of the remaining 1 1/2 cup flour as needed.
- Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, kneading in more flour if dough is sticky. Form into a ball, cover with a kitchen towel, and let rest in a warm area for 15 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C).
- Divide dough into 12 equal portions; flour your hands and roll each piece into a ball. Cover dough balls with a kitchen towel and let rest for 10 minutes. Flatten the balls into rounds on a floured surface, cover with kitchen towel, and let rest 10 more minutes. Gently roll each dough ball into a circle about 6 inches in diameter on a floured surface. Place pita breads in a single layer on ungreased baking sheets.
- Bake in preheated oven until the pita breads puff up, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip breads over with a spatula, return to oven, and bake 2 more minutes. Let cool on wire racks before cutting pita breads in half and gently separating tops and bottoms to form pockets for filling.
Reviews
Great recipe. I used Bob’s Red Mill Artisan flour. I added 2 teaspoons sugar to the yeast to help activate and give the pita more flavor. I also added a little more sea salt for the same reason. I used 1 1/4 cups water and not quite 3 1/2 cups flour. I stopped adding flour and kneading the dough once all of the dough was climbing the dough hook and the bowl walls were cleaned. In trying to make 12ea separate balls I first weighed out each ball at 90gr. This only gave me 8ea balls. I then pulled pieces off to weigh each ball at 70 gr. This made 12ea balls at 70 gr and 1ea at 67gr. I used my KitchenAid Professional mixer to mix and knead. I used my Victoria tortilla press to shape the pita balls. I set the oven at 500 degrees and placed a pizza stone on the 2nd to the bottom rack. I started warming the oven before I started the recipe and let it warm for over an hour to make sure the pizza stone was warmed to the correct temperature. The 1st round I placed 3ea pita’s on the stone and cooked for 3 minutes. It browned the top perfectly. I then flipped them over and cooked for an additional 2 minutes. The 2nd round did not brown the same after 3 minutes so I flipped them over and cooked for 2 minutes and 15 seconds. The 3rd round and fourth round I cooked for 3 minutes and 15 seconds and the tops browned as they should. I then flipped over and cooked for 2 minutes and 15 seconds. I believe I had to change the cooking time due to loss of heat in the oven from opening and closing the door. I live in Arizona so this could also be the difference in cooking times and flour to water ratio. After cooling I sliced each pita just past halfway through on each side leaving a pocket at the bottom to help hold what ever I put inside. I love Allrecipes website and magazine. I am a subscriber to this magazine along with Food and Wine. I use recipes from both magazines often. If I am looking for a specific recipe I always turn to allrecipes.com to find what I like. There are always several recipes to choose from. I often combine things from various recipes to make things how I want it to taste.
Came out as pictured, not every one was fully puffed, but each had a nice pocket at least. Mine were a bit to cooked/thin so foldable, but still good!
Oh my gosh! These are so much better than store-bought pitas. This recipe will become a mainstay with my family from now on.
I was disappointed with this recipe. I did substitute 34 c. whole wheat flour for the white flour, but that’s not why I didn’t like them. I was relying on other reviewers complaints that a pocket never formed. I wanted flat pitas, not puffed. Half were flat, half were puffed, the puffed had an inconsistent bubble that was very fragile and easily crumbled. It would be hard pressed to be able to stuff these. I doubt if I’d make these again.
Who knew you could make pita bread at home in just a couple of hours?! I followed the recipe exactly and it worked out great… though I didn’t get the nice brown marks like in the picture. I did try to leave them in a little longer and that just made them crispy rather than pliable like the first batch I did at the recommended bake time. Will definitely do these again!
Loved it, came out perfect
This worked great. I used lard instead of shorting was out. I used a pizza stone and cooked them 3 at time. A pizza peal worked great to remove and place the dough. I live near Salt Lake City so I had to add 1 tablespoon of water for the altitude also added 1/2 teaspoon more salt.
Very good. Would be nice to know how flat to make them vs how round to make them. Great recipe
I made it exactly as instructed and I’ll never buy pitas again. Easy, soft, and delicious. Used them to make donairs.
The pitas were small, but delicious.
Great recipe. I have not changed a thing and it all turned out fantastic! Better served fresh since they tend to get brittle after a while.
I *almost feel bad giving this four stars because it does taste really good and would be great for dipping in hummus or tzatziki however, most of mine didn’t have a pocket which was a let down since I made them to fill with falafel. I’m going to continue hunting for a recipe with a better chance of success in the pocket area.
tasted really good, not all the pitas split though
My kids really loved them. They were easy to make. The only change I made was replacing vegetable shortening with lard because it’s the only thing I had.
It’s delicious, followed all the recipe and the suggestions of flattening by hand. I added onion powder to the flower and other bebe for flavor. Winner recipe!
This is a great recipe! I was so impressed by how the pitas turned out and so easy! My brother came home and saw them on the counter as asked if he could try one. He could not believe that I made them! Great recipe!
Great dough. I used 2 tbs of active dry yeast and added 1 tsp of sugar. I made them on the stovetop, on a hot oiled griddle. Taste it great.
This was so easy and so delicious. I will never buy this from the store again. Thank you so much for this recipe!!
The trick to puffing up is using your hands not the rolling pin! Don’t press them out with your fingers! They will not puff up.
I used 2 tbsp olive oil instead of the shortening, and “baked” the pita bread two at a time (to avoid running the oven in the summer), covered in my electric skillet for a couple minutes on each side till they got browned spots. They came out read good and disappeared in a day.
Super easy and a hit with the whole fam. I will definitely make these again!