These soft and fluffy pita breads are so delicious and easy to make. I love making a bunch and using them throughout the week. They store and freeze really well, just defrost at room temperature or in the microwave for a few seconds.
This is a no bake, yeasted pita that doesn’t take hours. It’s great for sandwiches or for snacking on, with dips like hummus and tzatziki. Often, I use these instead of regular sliced bread to make grilled cheese pitas for my daughter and she enjoys them so much.
I use a blend of whole wheat and AP flour, and other staple pantry items like oil, yeast, sugar and salt. The pita is rolled out about 6-8 inch circles, depending on your preferred texture and thickness. I like my pita a little thick, so I go for 6 inch circles.
I like to cook them on a lightly oiled cast-iron skillet (my favorite piece of cookware), for about 2-3 minutes until golden brown and slightly puffed. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, you could also use a fry pan.
Pita Bread
Equipment
- 10 inch Cast Iron Skillet
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
- 2½ cups AP flour
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp sugar
- 2 ¼ tsp instant yeast or one packet
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 cup AP flour to be used sparingly for rolling out the dough
Instructions
- in a bowl, combine AP and whole wheat flour, whisk to blend.
- in another bowl, combine water, sugar and yeast.
- Add 1/2 cup of the flour mixture to the bowl of water and yeast and whisk to form a loose pancake-like batter. Let it sit for 10-12 minutes until foamy.
- Once the wet yeast mixture has bubbled and risen a bit, add to the remaining flour mixture, along with the oil and salt. Combine and knead for 3-5 minutes until a dough forms. Cover and let rise for 35-45 minutes.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down to flatten and divide into 12 equal sized balls.
- Using a rolling pin, on a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out in 6 inch circles. (I prefer my pita on the thicker side, but you could roll it out to 8 inches if you like a thinner pita.)
- Preheat your cast iron on high heat, once the skillet is hot, lower to medium heat and cook the pita about 1-1.5 minutes on each side until lightly golden brown. Enjoy warm.
Notes
- If you don’t have a cast iron pan, a fry pan will work just fine.
- You could roll the dough out larger than 6 inches if you’d like a thinner pita.
- These are great for sandwiches, dips, like hummus, as grilled cheese pitas and much more!
- To store, place in a dry ziplock bag, tightly sealed for up to 5 days. You could also freeze them and let them soften at room temperature or in the microwave.
