Easy Homemade Pita Bread Recipe

Make light and fluffy pita bread at home with pantry staples like flour, honey, and yeast. Enjoy this simple, delicious puffy pita bread with your next Greek-inspired dinner!

Greek flavors are a favorite in the Crumbs house. I can’t make a meal plan for my family without at least one night dedicated to fresh Mediterranean cuisine. If it were up to my husband, he’d combine this pita bread recipe with Greek Couscous every night of the week for dinner.

I’m not going to lie – I like couscous too. I love to create a complete Greek dinner for my family with tzatziki sauce, Hummus, grilled chicken marinated with Greek Dressing, and Steamed Veggies.

The only thing left is the pita bread! And fresh out of the oven, homemade pita bread beats pitas from the grocery store any day!

HOMEMADE PITA BREAD RECIPE

This easy homemade pita bread recipe is excellent for beginner bread-makers. Even those who are directionally challenged will find this recipe to be a cinch! It’s also great because it has:

• Just six simple ingredients.
• It’s super easy! There is no water to heat, there’s only one rise, and no shaping technique is required (oval pitas taste just as good as round ones).
• Bakes super quick! We’re talking 3 minutes and you’re done!
• And of course, these pitas taste amazing!

PITA BREAD RECIPE INGREDIENTS

I bet you have all of these pita ingredients in your kitchen right now:

That’s it! You cannot get any simpler than that!

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INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN PITA BREAD

Step 1. In either a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and knead on medium-low until the dough mixture is smooth, soft, and elastic, for approximately 10 minutes. Add flour or water as needed for the dough to be tacky but not sticky.

Step 2. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, turn it over to coat it with the oil, and cover it with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Allow the pita dough to rise until doubled in volume, for 1 to 1 ½ hours.

Step 3. Punch the dough down and divide it into 8 pieces, rolling each piece into a ball. Cover with a towel and let the dough balls rest for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 450F.

Step 4. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll each ball into a circle approximately 8” in diameter and ⅛” thick. Use a rolling pin if desired. Mist a pizza stone or baking sheet with water and wait 30 seconds. Place as many dough rounds as you can on the stone or baking pan and bake for about 3 minutes for the dough to puff up. Wait 30 seconds and remove each pita bread to cool on a rack.

Step 5. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Store leftover pitas in an airtight container or bag at room temperature for up to 3 days and reheat them in the toaster or oven. You can also freeze pitas for up to 3 months.

PITA BREAD RECIPE VARIATIONS

Einkorn pita bread: Einkorn doesn’t require kneading like modern wheat does to activate the gluten, so I knead the dough just until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl. With einkorn, you’ll likely need to add more flour or reduce the water. I usually use 1 scant cup of water. This works for either whole grain or all-purpose einkorn flour.

White whole wheat pita bread: Use white whole wheat flour and replace ¼ cup water with ¼ cup room temperature milk.

Whole wheat pita bread: Use all wheat flour (or 2 cups of wheat flour and 1 cup of all-purpose flour). Substitute ½ cup water with ½ cup room temperature milk. Whole wheat pitas may not inflate as much or turn out as fluffy, but they’re still delicious!

HOMEMADE PITAS TIPS

It takes about 2 hours to make homemade pitas. Most of that time is during the rise (1 ½ hours) so you’re definitely not stuck in the kitchen the whole time.

If you start this pitta bread recipe at 4 pm and then come back at 5 pm to start everything else, you’ll be baking pitas by 5:30 pm and eating by 6. Of course, if you know you won’t have time during the week, pita bread can be made a few days ahead of time. Make a batch on Sunday afternoon and plan your Greek night during the first half of the week.

Reduce your time spent in the kitchen even more by skipping making bread this week and making a double batch of pitas instead!

TO SERVE PITAS

Like I said before, our favorite meal with pitas usually involves Couscous, grilled chicken marinated with Greek Dressing, Hummus, and tzatziki. But there are plenty of other yummy options for this pita recipe!

PITTA BREAD RECIPE FAQS

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