This homemade pita bread recipe is super easy to make, made with simple ingredients, and creates fluffy and pillowy pita pockets that you can fill with anything!
Pita bread is one of our favorite bread to bake, in this post I'm sharing my dad's tips and tricks for making real and fluffy pitas. Making your own homemade pitas is easy, inexpensive, simple, and delicious.
Whether you're making falafel or hummus, pitas are one of the best ways to enjoy sandwiches. This recipe makes you soft, fluffy, and flavorful pitas that go with anything, grilled cheese, sloppy joes, kebab, salads, etc.
If you like making homemade bread recipes, you should check out our no knead focaccia bread, greek pita bread, dinner rolls, and our 3 ingredient naan bread.
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Why this recipe works
- Super easy to make.
- Made with simple ingredients.
- All you will need is simple ingredients, a big mixing bowl, a wooden spoon, and a towel.
- You can fill these with anything! Make a sandwich, use it with dips, or make french toast!
Ingredients
Before you start to make this pita pocket 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 well.
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– we like to use granulated sugar, also the most common sugar used in baking. Caster sugar will work great as well.
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.
Step by step instructions
Step 1: In a big mixing bowl, sift the flour. Add in the dry yeast, and sugar and mix well. Add the salt and mix, then add the water.
Step 2: Mix for about 8 minutes until you get a soft dough.
Step 3: Let the dough rise and cover with a towel for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Step 4: Punch down the risen dough and transfer the dough onto a floured surface.
Step 5: Stretch the dough into a log, and divide it into 10-12 equal pieces.
Step 6: Shape each piece into a ball. Cover with a towel for 30 minutes. Preheat an oven to its highest temperature.
Step 7: Sprinkle a small amount of flour on a work surface and roll each piece into a circle using a floured rolling pin.
Step 8: Bake in a preheated oven with a baking sheet for 3-5 minutes or until bread begins to puff up and create a pocket, and the bottom has brown spots.
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.
- When rolling the dough balls, be generous with the flour because the dough is pretty sticky. Sticky dough is the secret to fluffy pitas!
- 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
Yes! pita pocket is made with simple ingredients that are vegan! All you will need to make pitas is plain flour, yeast, granulated sugar, kosher salt, and water.
The pitas will last for about 3 days at room temperature, stored in an airtight container. Or freeze up to 3 months.
Yes. 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).
This recipe makes about 10-12 pitas, depending on the size. You can make them smaller or bigger.
To bake pitas 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.
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.
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.
Serving tips
There are many options to enjoy pitas. Some people like to serve it as is with homemade hummus, some like to enjoy it with fresh homemade falafel (link), and some like to enjoy it as a sandwich with salads, eggs, kebabs, or even chocolate spread!
Tools
More bread recipes:
Super Soft Dinner Rolls- Soft, airy, and fluffy dinner rolls are impossible to resist.
With only a few ingredients, you can achieve the most perfect no-fail addition to any main dish.
Greek pita bread- This greek pita bread is fluffy, soft, and delicious. After you will make this greek pitas recipe, you will never want to buy store-bought pitas.
3 Ingredients Naan Flatbread- This 3 ingredients naan flatbread recipe is the easiest and fastest way to make naan bread. It is made with no yeast, no stand mixer, and no rising time! This recipe takes only 3 ingredients.
No knead focaccia bread- This no knead focaccia bread is soft and fluffy from the inside and crispy on the outside. I was shocked by how easy and amazing this no knead focaccia bread is!
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📖 Recipe
Homemade Pita Bread (Pita Pocket)
Ingredients
- 1 Kg Flour
- 1 tablespoon Active dry yeast
- 2 teaspoon Granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon Kosher salt
- 3 cups Water
Instructions
- In a big mixing bowl of a stand mixer, sift the flour, dry yeast, and sugar and mix well.
- Add the salt and mix, then add the water. Mix on medium speed for about 10 minutes until you get a soft dough.
- Let the dough rise and cover with a towel for 1 houror until doubled in size.
- Punch down the risen dough and transfer the doughonto a floured surface.
- Stretch the dough into a log, and divide it into 10-12 equal pieces.
- Shape each piece into a ball. Cover with a towel for 30 minutes.
- Preheat an oven to its highest temperature.
- Sprinkle a small amount of flour on a work surfaceand roll each piece into a circle using a floured rolling pin.
- Bake each pita bread in a preheated oven with abaking sheet for 3-5 minutes or until bread begins to puff upand the bottom has brown spots.
Notes
- 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.
- When rolling the dough balls, be generous with the flour because the dough is pretty sticky. Sticky dough is the secret to fluffy pitas!
- 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.
Cami
Have you frozen the dough before fter first rising? Or have you frozen the pitas after baking? Do they turn out okay after frozen?
RichandDelish
Hi! For freezing these pitas, I recommend baking them and letting them cool and then freezing them covered in a plastic bag or wrapping them with plastic wrap.
Jhon
The best pita bread I've ever had! so fluffy and delicious.
Ann
Could these be made with wholewheat flour?
RichandDelish
I never tried making these with wholewheat flour, but I think that 50% all-purpose flour and 50% whole wheat flour will work! Let me know how it turns out!
Vanessa
Did you use all purpose flour or bread flour?
Rich and Delish
Hi Vanessa! We used all-purpose flour for this recipe, but bread flour will work great as well!
Sara
The recipe says to bake in a preheated oven, but I don't see a temperature listed anywhere. What temp should the oven be preheated to?
Rich and Delish
Hi Sara! You should preheat your oven to the highest temperature possible, thanks for letting me know I will list the temperature in the post right away!
neen
do you need a stand mixer?
Rich and Delish
Hi neen, yes, if you don't own a stand mixer, knead the dough by hand for at least 5-8 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and flexible.