This Greek pita bread is fluffy, soft, and delicious. After you will make these pitas, you will never want to buy store-bought pita bread.
This pita bread requires only a few simple ingredients that you probably have lying around in your kitchen.
This is perfect for freezing, perfect for making ahead of time. Make sure that you follow our instructions and step-by-step recipe.
If you like making homemade bread recipes, you should check out our no knead focaccia bread, homemade pita bread, and our 3 ingredient naan bread.
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Why this recipe works
- Ease-Â this easy pita bread is super easy to make and is made with simple ingredients.
- Better than store-bought- these taste a million times better than store-bought pita bread.
- Simple-Â All you will need is simple ingredients that you can find in any grocery store.
- Affordable- the ingredients of this recipe are super affordable and basic like flour, water, yeast, sugar, and salt.
- Freezer friendly-Â these pitas freeze amazingly! Every time you want fresh pita bread, remove one from the freezer, defrost it in the microwave, and then reheat it in the oven!
Ingredients
Before you start to make this recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the cooking process will go smoothly and easily.
Flour- we use all-purpose flour for this recipe. Bread flour will work great as well for this recipe.
Yeast- we used instant yeast for this recipe. make sure that your yeast isn’t expired. Instant yeast doesn't require the activation step, you can mix it into the dough right away.
That's why we love using instant yeast. If you don't have instant yeast, simply replace it with the yeast that you do have and activate it if needed.
Granulated sugar- granulated sugar works best for this recipe, caster sugar can work as well.
Olive oil- use extra virgin olive oil for this recipe.
Salt– We used kosher salt for this recipe. we love using kosher salt in baking because it's super easy to measure, and we like that the grains of the salt are small in size.
Water- use room temperature water.
Instructions
In a bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour, dry yeast, and sugar. Mix with a spoon until combined. Add the salt, and mix until combined.
Add the olive oil and room temperature water, and start mixing on low until the dough forms.
Increase the speed to medium and keep mixing for at least 8 minutes or until the dough is smooth and silky.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature for 1-2 hours or until it’s doubled in size.
Punch down the dough and transfer it to a clean floured surface. Roll the dough into a roll and divide it into 8 equal pieces (we suggest weighing the dough).
Roll each dough piece into a ball (see in the video) and place 8 dough balls onto a floured surface. Cover with a clean towel and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
Using a rolling pin, roll each dough ball into a thin circle. Try to roll out the dough to the thinnest thickness without ripping it (if your dough sticks too much to the surface, simply sprinkle some flour).
Repeat with the other pieces of dough.
Cooking pita bread on the stovetop
Heat a cast iron pan (or a regular pan) over medium to high heat, you can drizzle some olive oil if you want, and carefully place the pita bread dough on the pan.
Cook the pita bread for 1-2 minutes on each side, until bubbles start to form, checking constantly that the pita doesn't burn from the high heat.
Baking pita bread in the oven
To bake pita bread in the oven, you will need to reheat your oven to its highest temperature.
Pita bread needs very high heat to form a pocket if that's what you are looking for. Greek pita bread doesn't have a pocket, so it's okay to reheat the oven to 250c (480f).
Place a pizza stone or an oven tray and reheat the oven to 250c (480f). Carefully transfer the pita dough onto the preheated tray and bake for 3-4 minutes. Keep an eye on the pita so it won't burn.
Expert Tips
- Make sure that your yeast isn't expired. You can check if your yeast is expired by mixing a teaspoon of dry yeast with ¼ cup of room temperature water, waiting 10 minutes, and if the yeast has bubbles in it and it puffed a bit, your yeast is alive and good, if there are no bubbles in your yeast mixture, your yeast is probably expired.
- Be patient! Let the dough rise at least until it doubles its size.
- Use bread flour! We like to use either all-purpose flour or bread flour for making bread. Bread flour contains more gluten, which makes the dough more stretchy and easy to work with.
- Make sure that your ingredients are fresh! Make sure that your flour and yeast are fresh and not expired. This step ensures that you will have a great dough to work with.
Faq's
The pita bread will last for about 3 days at room temperature, stored in an airtight container.
This recipe makes about 8-10 pita bread, depending on the size. You can make them smaller or bigger.
Yes, simply preheat an oven to its highest temperature, and bake the pita for 3-5 minutes. Keep an eye on the pita to see that it doesn't burn.
Pita bread and Greek pitas are actually quite different. Greek pitas are similar to flatbread while pita bread is more fluffy and puffy and has a pocket inside of it.
Storing
Store the leftover pita bread at room temperature in an airtight container or an airtight ziplock bag for up to 3 days.
If you have leftovers for more than 3 days, I recommend freezing the pitas to keep them fresh when you reheat them.
Freezing
After baking the pitas, let them cool completely and freeze them in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
When ready to use, defrost at room temperature for 30 minutes and reheat in a toaster oven for 2-3 minutes.
Reheating tips
Reheat this in the microwave for 30 seconds or in the toaster oven or oven that is preheated to 180c (350f) for 3-5 minutes until it's warm and soft.
Substitutions
Whole wheat- To make pitas with wholewheat flour, simply replace ½ of the flour with wholewheat flour. We suggest not making these pitas with %100 wholewheat flour, because the pita will turn out dense and not fluffy.
Serving ideas
- Tzatziki sauce
- Tahini sauce
- Gyros chicken
- Hungarian bean goulash
- Hummus
- Chicken shawarma
- Kebab
- Grilled chicken
- Grilled meat
Serving tips
There are so many options to enjoy pita bread. Some people like to serve it as is with homemade hummus, or tzatziki sauce, some like to enjoy it as falafel, and some like to enjoy it as a sandwich with salads, eggs, kebabs, or even chocolate spread!
Tools
More yeasted dough recipes
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Best homemade cinnamon rolls- These homemade cinnamon rolls are soft, gooey, incredibly light, and fluffy. They are filled with a cinnamon filling and are topped with cream cheese glaze.
Strawberry cinnamon rolls- These strawberry cinnamon rolls are soft and gooey and are made with homemade strawberry filling and topped with strawberry cream cheese icing.
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📖 Recipe
Greek Pita Bread
Ingredients
- 800 g Flour
- 2 teaspoon Sugar
- 1 tablespoon Dried yeast
- 2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 2 tablespoon Olive oil
- 2 ½ cups Water
Instructions
- In a bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour, dry yeast, and sugar. Mix with a spoon until combined.
- Add the salt, and mix until combined.
- Add the olive oil and room temperature water, and start mixing on low until the dough forms.
- Increase the speed to medium and keep mixing for at least 8 minutes or until the dough is smooth and silky.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature for 1-2 hours or until it’s doubled in size.
- Punch down the dough and transfer it to a clean floured surface. Roll the dough into a roll and divide it into 8 equal pieces (we suggest weighing the dough).
- Roll each dough piece into a ball (see in the video) and place 8 dough balls onto a floured surface. Cover with a clean towel and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- Using a rolling pin, roll each dough ball into a thin circle. Try to roll out the dough into the thinnest thickness without ripping it (if your dough sticks too much to the surface, simply sprinkle some flour). Repeat with the other pieces of the dough.
Cooking pita bread on the stovetop
- Heat a castiron pan (or a regular pan) over medium to high heat, you can drizzle some olive oil if you want, and carefully place the pita bread dough on the pan.
- Cook the pita bread for 1-2 minutes on each side, until bubbles start to form, checking constantly that the pita doesn't burn from the high heat (been there done that).
Make it in the oven
- To bake pita bread in the oven, you will need to reheat your oven to its highest temperature.
- Pita bread needs very high heat to form a pocket if that's what you are looking for. Greek pita bread doesn't have a pocket, so it's okay to reheat the oven to 250c (480f).
- Place a pizza stone or an oven tray and reheat the oven to 250c (480f). Carefully transfer the pita dough onto the preheated tray and bake for 3-4 minutes. Keep an eye on the pita so it won't burn.
Arla Bevan
This is the best pita bread I've ever had! Thank you for this excellent recipe.
Keri Nims
What kind of yeast? Rapid-rise?
RichandDelish
Hi! you will need active dry yeast.
Rita
So delicious and easy! Will make it again.