Bhojan Daily

Here’s one of my favorite flatbreads from Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine – Pita Bread. It’s a soft, leavened bread made with all-purpose flour, yeast, salt, water and sometimes with a hint of olive oil or sugar. What I love about it is how easy and versatile it is – you can cook it on a skillet or bake it in the oven. This vegan Pita Bread Recipe yields perfectly puffed, soft flatbreads that pair beautifully with Middle Eastern dips or even Indian curries and lentils.

About Pita Bread Recipe

Pita Bread is a popular Middle Eastern/Mediterranean leavened flatbread made with simple basic ingredients – flour, salt, water and yeast. It puffs up when baked creating an air pocket in the middle.

As it cools, it deflates and flattens, but the pocket remains. Then, when you cut it into halves, each half has its own pocket. This flatbread looks simple, but is unique in its formation.

A classic and traditional pita bread is made with all-purpose flour. However, I make mine with whole wheat flour.

Even though this Pita Bread recipe is made with whole wheat flour (atta), it yields a lovely soft and light texture. It also has the trademark pita pocket perfect for stuffing with tahini, Hummus, Falafel, Muhammara or anything else you’d like!

Pita Bread is one of the easiest breads to make. It is versatile and the uses are so much more than a pocket to put yummy things in. You can toast it to make pita chips or even use it flat to make a quick and easy pita pizza.

All you require for this Pita Bread Recipe is a  handful of ingredients like whole wheat flour, extra virgin olive oil, salt, sugar, yeast (instant or dry active) and water.

Then, follow the recipe to make the dough, keep it to leaven, shape the breads out of it and cook in the oven or stovetop.

I used my stovetop to make the Pita Bread for the first time at home decades back. It was thrilling to watch the bread puffing up.

Then later, I started making these flatbreads in the oven and found that this caused it to puff up even further.

As compared to making the bread on a pan or skillet, baking in the oven is better. It prevents the bread from browning too much. However, I like a slight more browning because I prefer my bread well baked.

This Pita Bread Recipe is adapted from one of my favorite bread cookbooks “The Bread Bible: 300 Favorite Recipes” by Beth Hensperger. I can tell you from a lot of experience that this is a really good recipe for making Pita Bread.

Step-by-Step Guide

How to make Pita Bread

Make Dough

1. Firstly, take 1 teaspoon instant yeast and 1 pinch sugar in a stand mixer bowl or in any bowl in which you will knead the dough.

2. Pour 1 to 1.25 cups water and mix very well with a spoon. Depending on the quality of flour, you may add 1 to 1.25 cups water.

Slightly coarse and grainy wheat flour will need 1.25 cups water.

3. Add 3 cups whole wheat flour, 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and 1 teaspoon salt.

4. Mix everything with wooden spoon.

5. Then, using the hook attachment, begin to knead.

6. Initially, you will find the dough sticky. Continue to knead and you will see the flour absorbing the extra water.

The stickiness will also go away like this. If the dough looks very sticky even after kneading well, then add 3 to 4 tablespoons whole wheat flour.

7. Knead to a smooth, supple and soft dough.

8. Rub or brush some water or olive oil all over the dough.

9. Keep it in the same bowl covered loosely with a kitchen towel for 45 minutes or 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in volume and size.

10. This is the photo of the dough after 1 hour.

11. Deflate the dough gently and knead lightly.

Assemble, Shape & Roll Dough

12. Make into a log shape and cut equal portions from the dough. Keep these covered again for 10 minutes. Keep the dough balls covered all the time so that they don’t dry out.

13. Meanwhile, place a baking tray in the oven. Then, preheat oven at 230 degrees C (446 degrees F) for 20 minutes.

14. Take each dough portion and shape into a ball. Keep it on the work surface and sprinkle some flour on it as well as on the dough ball.

15. Roll evenly into a 5 or 6 inches round shape. You can also make them oval shaped, if you want. For puffing, it is very important to roll evenly.

So, dust with slightly more flour. When you roll the dough with the rolling pin, the bread disc should also move clockwise while rolling.

16. Keep the bread a little thick while rolling.

17. Keep these rolled discs covered loosely for 10 minutes.

Bake Pita Bread in oven

18. Carefully remove the baking tray from the oven with mittens. Sprinkle some flour and place the rolled discs in the tray.

Use oven mittens when removing and placing the baking tray from the oven.

19. Place the tray back in the oven. Bake at 230 degrees C for 7 to 10 minutes. Mine took 7 minutes to cook and 1 minute to brown. Heat both the top and bottom heating rods of the oven.

If using a convection oven, then preheat as well as bake at 200 or 210 degrees C (392 to 410 degrees F).

Note that the baking time will vary from oven to oven.

20. The Pita Bread will nicely puff up in the oven. Once they are puffed up and have a pale golden color, remove the tray.

With a spatula remove, them and place on a wired rack.

Cook on a skillet (Stovetop Method)

21. Heat a cast iron skillet or a frying pan on medium-high flame. Sprinkle some flour on the pan and it should get browned. This means that the pan is hot.

Before you place the rolled dough on the pan, brush off the browned flour or using a cotton kitchen napkin remove the browned flour from the pan.

Use a heavy pan so that the Pita Bread does not get burnt from the bottom. Place the rolled dough on the pan or skillet.

22. As soon as you keep the rolled dough on the pan you will see it getting puffed up.

23. Cover with lid for 1 to 2 minutes.

24. Here is the Pita Bread nicely puffed up.

25. Turn over and cook for 1 to 2 minutes more or until the Pita Bread is cooked well and has brown spots appearing on both sides. Roast all the breads this way.

26. Stack and store them in a kitchen towel or bread box. Slice the Pita Bread into 2 and you will see the pockets.

Stuff the pockets with a filling of your choice and your Pita sandwich is ready. You can make Pita sandwiches with falafel, hummus, tahini and pickles or salad.

Serving Suggestions

Once you have made your homemade Pita Bread Recipe, you can get creative and come up with different sandwich combinations and fillings.

Falafel is a traditional filling. However, you can really stuff it with anything you like. Any type of mixed salad and dressing works well as the bread allows the taste of the salad to come through while also turning it into a filling meal.

For a more authentic Indian or Middle Eastern experience, fill your Pita Bread with some spiced sautéed vegetables or mushrooms, potatoes or Chole Masala.

Add some onion rings, tomato slices, mint chutney and tamarind chutney. Or make some Vegetable Kababs or pan-fried Vegetable Cutlet and add some classic Indian chutneys.

If you enjoy clean and fresh flavors, this Mediterranean-style Chickpea Salad makes a delicious and wholesome filling for your pita pockets.

For a flavorful fusion twist, try a Paneer Shawarma wrap—tucked inside warm pita and topped with crunchy vegetable salad and tangy pickles.

You can also toast the pita to make crispy Pita Wedges; with or without cheese, and season them with your favorite blend of spices and herbs. So many options!

Reheating: When reheating or warming the Pita Bread, place the bread of a hot pan or skillet. Keep it for 10 to 12 seconds on medium heat or until lightly hot on both sides.

Expert Tips

1. Using dry active yeast: Make sure to activate and proof the dry active yeast, if using. If not done so, then your dough will not leaven properly. This will result in a hard bread. Ensure that the water used for the yeast is lukewarm. Not hot or cool.
2. Dough: The dough has to be kneaded with the apt quantity of water. Less water results in a hard or dense dough. With this, your pita won’t puff up. Add more or less water based on the quality and type of the whole wheat flour used. You should have a well kneaded, smooth, supple and soft dough.
3. Kneading with hands: You can easily the knead the dough with your hands. This has to be done for about 10 to 12 minutes. If, after kneading well, the dough looks sticky, then add some more flour, mix and knead till desired consistency is achieved.
4. Rolling: Your Pita won’t puff well, if you haven’t rolled the dough evenly. The quintessential pockets will also be missing in this case and there’ll be puffing at some areas and flatness on others on the bread.
5. Heating the oven: Make sure that your oven is very hot. If your oven is not well preheated or hot enough, then it will result in flat breads.
6. Storing: You can store the breads in a zip lock bag or steel box. Then, put in a refrigerator or freeze.
7. Substitutes: Use all-purpose flour (maida) in place of whole wheat flour (atta); use dairy or vegan milk in place of water; use dry active yeast in place of fresh yeast.
8. Scaling: This Pita Bread Recipe can easily be halved or doubled as per your requirements.

FAQs

More Bread Recipes To Try!

Please be sure to rate the recipe in the recipe card or leave a comment below if you have made it. For more vegetarian inspirations, Sign Up for my emails or follow me on Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter.

Pita Bread recipe from the archives was first published on July 2012.