Homemade Pita Bread

After tasting fresh baked,  homemade pita bread it’s nearly impossible for me to eat the stuff I find in stores. Pita is fun to make and not difficult at all. We made fresh pita in a bread baking class last night. I think most of my students were  surprised at how easy they were to make.

Although the recipe calls for placing the rolled out dough directly on the oven rack, we placed the dough on baking sheets in the oven. Just a little easier and neater.

If the pita doesn’t puff up, it will still taste wonderful. Most of ours puffed up last night. The more careful you are when rolling out the dough- the better your odds of a good puff.

You can add some whole wheat flour, if you like. The dough pictured is a batch I made for home. I added about 2 cups of whole wheat flour to the dough, in place of some of the white flour.

Pita Bread

 4 ½- 4 ¾ c. flour

1 pkt. Active dry yeast

1 ½ t. sugar

1 ½ t. salt

1 ¾ c. water

2 T. oil

In large bowl combine 2 cups of the flour with other dry ingredients. Heat water and oil to 120-130 degrees (warm) and add to flour mixture in bowl beating until smooth. Beat three minutes then begin stirring in enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead on floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Cover dough with plastic wrap and then a towel and let rest on board 20 minutes. Punch dough down and divide into 12 pieces. Shape each into a smooth ball and place on board, allowing space in between. Cover and let rise 30 minutes. Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees. Roll dough balls into circles. Place 3 circles at a time directly on oven rack. They will puff up and brown in about three minutes. Remove to rack to cool and repeat with remaining dough. Makes 12.