Some say that English borrowed the word directly from Modern Hebrew, which had revived the Aramaic term in the preceding decades. The first mention of the word in English cited in the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1936.
Whole-Wheat Pita Bread
However, there is no record of the steam-puffed, two-layer "pocket pita" in the ancient texts, or in any of the medieval Arab cookbooks, and according to food historians such as Charles Perry and Gil Marks it was likely a later development. To keep the finished stack warm, cover with a kitchen towel and continue on. Cover with a towel, and let rest 10 minutes so the gluten can relax a bit before we move onto the rolling process.
Baking Stones & Baking Steels
- We recommend weighing the flour and water.
- When removed from the oven, the layers of baked dough remain separated inside the deflated pita, which allows the bread to be opened to form a pocket.
- This easy homemade pita recipe shows you how to make soft and fluffy pita bread right in your own kitchen.
- You’ll still need an extremely hot pan (or pizza stone), which you’ll preheat in a 500° oven.
- Then, you can add in the rest of your ingredients, and mix until you get a shaggy dough that is evenly combined.
- You want to create a smooth surface across the dough.
We recommend weighing the flour and water. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Your email address will not be published. I love using the skillet when serving with dips like hummus.
Perfect Crispy Falafel
Since 2009, we’ve been dedicated to creating trusted, easy recipes to help home cooks feel confident and excited in the kitchen. 2 ¼ cups (295g) bread flour or all-purpose flour Bake them for perfect pita pockets. Thanks to that pita pocket, you can also stuff almost anything into your homemade pita. Lightly flour the squares of parchment paper and place the pita rounds onto them. If you do not have one, place a baking sheet into the oven while preheating to mimic the baking steel.
Tips for Making Fluffy Pita Bread
Pita bread is perfect for dipping. I use my fingers to flatten the dough to preserve as many air bubbles as possible. Once your dough has doubled, divide it into six equally sized portions.
This easy homemade pita recipe shows you how to make soft and fluffy pita bread right in your own kitchen. Our recipe creates tender, chewy pitas with perfect pockets, every time. Reheat leftover pitas by wrapping them in aluminum foil, placing them in a cold oven, setting the temperature to 300 degrees, and baking for 15 to 20 minutes. Pita cooked in the skillet will not puff as well as when baked in the oven, but they turn out so soft and fluffy. Or, cook them in a skillet for soft and fluffy flatbread. To cook pita bread in the oven, gyro over rice preheat your oven to 475°F (246°C).
I found it much more foolproof to tackle in the oven. If you don’t have access to an oven, you can do it on the stovetop as well. Then pull it out quickly, and go in with your next pita. Use a rolling pin to roll out each piece of dough to ¼”-thick circle about 6” wide. Cover it in a bowl with plastic wrap or a towel, then let it rest for an hour (or until it doubles in size).
The skillet pita is soft and fluffy, while the oven-baked pita has a pocket in the middle, perfect for making sandwiches. Modern commercial pita bread is prepared on advanced automatic production lines, processing 45,000-kilogram (100,000 lb) silos of flour at a time and producing thousands of pitas per hour. When removed from the oven, the layers of baked dough remain separated inside the deflated pita, which allows the bread to be opened to form a pocket. Most pita breads are baked at high temperatures (230–245 °C or 450–475 °F), which turns the water in the dough into steam, thus causing the pita to puff up and form a pocket.
A hot oven is the secret to getting that pocket. Stir in your flour, then cover with a towel to rise for about an hour (or until it doubles). I’ll walk you through everything you need to make pita bread from scratch. In Cyprus, pita is typically rounder, fluffier and baked on a cast-iron skillet.
First, we’re going to bloom our yeast by adding it to warm water (around 110° F) along with our sugar. You'll still need an extremely hot pan (or pizza stone), which you'll preheat in a 500° oven. Storing homemade pita is simple and ensures you have fresh bread ready to go whenever you need it.