Simple Homemade Pita Bread

All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2012

This was easy because I made the dough in my bread machine.  It can certainly be kneaded by hand & left to rise – but this is a bread machine version.  They cost about $100 on Ebay & if you make pizza & other bread-based things very often – a bread machine is well worth the investment.

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Simple Homemade Pita Bread

make 8 little pitas

Pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees.  Place a cookie sheet or pizza stone in the oven while it heats.

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups flour – with extra for kneading

1 cup warm water

2 tsp active yeast

2 tsp salt

1 tsp olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Place the ingredients in the bread machine & put it through the mix, knead & rise process….or do it manually.  Manually – in a large bowl, put the yeast in the warm water & stir until dissolved.  Add the remaining ingredients & work into a sticky dough.  Transfer to a floured surface & knead the dough for 5 or 10 minutes – adding flour as required – until you have a smooth workable dough.  Put the dough in a clean bowl that is either swiped with olive oil or floured & drape with a damp kitchen towel.  Allow it to rise for at least an hour.

When you are ready to bake your pita – on a floured surface – knead your dough gently & divide into eight equal sections.  Roll each out to disk about 7-8 inches across and about 1/4 inch thick.

I baked mine two at a time on a large cookie sheet that was red hot in the 500 degree oven.  I took the cookie sheet out, Palmed two pitas & flopped them onto the hot cookie sheet.  I then took a spray bottle & spritzed them lightly with tap water – and put them in the oven.  They do not need to be turned over in the oven.  Some puffed up – some did not.  Do not over cook them or you end up with a mini pizza crust!

They cook up quickly – 3-4 minutes.  Remove from the oven & serve with some homemade hummus!