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Homemade Pita Bread with Pockets

5.0(7)

Traditional homemade pita bread with pockets. So easy to make at home and they freeze beautifully!

·published 2020-04-29

Open original recipe

InternationalSnacks

Servings

['6', '6 pitas']

Total time

2h 45m

prep 15 min

Calories / serving

274 kcal

Ingredients (6)

serves

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (or *see Note 1 for other options)
Pinch sugarsugar
1 cup warm water (110-115F)water
2 Tablespoons olive oil (or vegetable oil)
1 1/4 teaspoons fine saltsalt
3 cups all purpose flour (approximately *see Note 2)flour

Instructions (6 steps)

01Add the warm water and a pinch of sugar to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a kneading hook. Scatter the yeast over-top of the water. Stir and let stand a few minutes. Add the oil and salt and 1 cup of the flour. Mix to combine well. Add the 2nd cup of flour and knead in well. Begin adding the 3rd cup of flour gradually, kneading in well between additions. Continue adding flour until you have a moist dough that wraps around the kneading hook and cleans the bowl in spots. Add as much flour as you need to get to that point.
02Remove the dough to a floured surface and knead for a minute or so, adding a bit more flour only if the dough is too sticky to knead. When you have a nice smooth dough form into a ball. Place dough into a greased bowl or measuring cup. Cover the bowl and let rise until doubled, about 60-90 minutes.
03Remove dough to a floured surface and gently deflate. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Divide the dough into 6 equal portions. (*I like to use my scale for this. First weight the entire dough ball, then divide that number by 6, to get the weight for each ball. Weigh out 6 equal sized balls). Form pieces into balls. Cover with a clean towel and let rest for 30 minutes.

04Working with 1 ball at a time, roll on a lightly floured surface until very thin (*think flour tortilla thin). Your round should be 7-8 inches in diameter. Dust a large baking sheet with cornmeal. Place the first 2 rolled rounds onto the prepared baking sheet. Continue rolling all the rounds, but leave the last 4 on your rolling surface, covered with a clean towel. Let all the rounds rest for 30 minutes.

06After the 30 minutes rest, bake the two rounds on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Do not open the oven door before the 5 minutes is up! After 5 minutes, remove from the oven, then using tongs, remove them to your sheet of foil and immediately cover them with another sheet of foil. Add a bit more cornmeal to the baking sheet, then transfer the next 2 rounds to the baking sheet and bake them in the same way. Again, immediately transfer to the foil and cover. Re-dust the baking sheet again with a bit more cornmeal and transfer/bake the last two rounds. Transfer to the foil and cover with foil. Allow the pitas to cool under the foil until completely cooled. Enjoy immediately, stored in an airtight container or well-wrapped and stored at room temperature or wrap well and freeze up to 1 month. Frozen pitas will reheat in a moderate oven in 10-15 minutes.