Pita Bread Recipe

Three pieces of homemade pita bread wrapped in a linen towel on a blue plate.

My 5-ingredient homemade Pita Bread Recipe is one of the easiest bread recipes for beginning bakers. The pillowy, no-knead bread is incredible for wrap sandwiches, to scoop up dips, or on the side of so many Mediterranean recipes.

Course Bread

Cuisine Mediterranean

Prep Time 5

Proof Time 1

Total Time 1 5

Servings pita

Calories 339kcal

Author Meggan Hill

Ingredients

1 cup warm water (between 110-115 degrees)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (about 1 packet, see note 1)
1 teaspoon granulated sugar (see note 2)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

In a small bowl, combine warm water, yeast, and sugar, and stir until dissolved. Let sit for 15 minutes until mixture foams.
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook or by hand, add oil, salt, and flour and mix until smooth and elastic, about 2 to 3 minutes, adding more flour if the dough is too sticky (about 1 teaspoon at a time). Dough should be soft and moist.
Place dough in a large greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place until dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 500 degrees. Add a pizza stone or large cast-iron skillet to oven rack. Lightly dust a clean surface with flour.
Using your hands, punch down dough and turn it out onto floured surface. Divide dough into 4 even sized pieces and roll into balls (about 3 ounces each). Cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and let rest for 10 minutes.
Working one at a time, roll each round into a ¼-inch thick circle, about 8-inches wide, sprinkling dough with extra flour if it starts to stick to the surface.
Working as quickly as possible, open your oven and carefully place as many pitas that will fit on your skillet or stone without touching.
Bake until air pocket balloons form and the pita start to become golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Store baked pita on a sheet pan covered with a kitchen towel to keep warm. Repeat with remaining rounds.

Video

Notes

Active dry yeast: Fleischmann’s, Red Star, Bob’s Red Mill, or Saf are all good brands of yeast. Just make sure it's fresh and hasn’t expired. To begin this Homemade Pita recipe, you'll bloom the yeast with warm water that's between 110 and 115 degrees. Within 15 minutes, the yeast should look foamy. If it doesn't, the yeast isn’t alive and should be discarded. Yeast activates at 40 degrees and dies at 140 degrees.
Sugar: I promise this doesn't make the pita sweet! The yeast just needs some sugar to fuel its work to make these Homemade Pitas puffy.
Yield: This recipe makes four (8-inch) pitas.

Nutrition