Whole wheat pita bread

Nutty, chewy, and puffy whole wheat pita bread right out of your oven. Fresh, hot, and steamy, unlike the ones you get from the stores. Nothing is like freshly baked pita bread, if you have lived in the middle east, you know what I am talking about.

I've shown you before how to successfully make pita bread, this time we are going to take it to the next level. Making pita bread with whole wheat flour gives your pita a desirable texture and a nutty flavor.

Ingredients

• Whole wheat flour because we are making whole wheat pitas.
• Bread flour : I am going to explain more about this later in the post. You can use all purpose but bread flour ensures pocket formation.
• Salt so it will not be bland.
• Yeast, I am using active dry yeast.
• Sugar to activate the yeast.
• Olive oil, to add some richness to the bread.
• Warm water to form the dough.

How to make whole wheat pita bread

1. In your mixer bowl, add flours, salt, sugar, and yeast.
2. Mix well with a spoon.
3. Pour in olive oil and start your mixer with a dough hook attached. Gradually add water and continue kneading for 8 minutes with your mixer.
4. Take the dough out, add a little bit of oil (1teaspoon) to your mixer bowl. Place the dough ball back in the bowl and turn it around to cover with oil from all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

1. Place a pizza stone or a sturdy baking sheet in the middle of your oven and preheat oven to 550F or as high as it can go. Punch the dough lightly then take it out and cut into 4 equal parts, each part will roughly weighs 105g.
2. Lightly flour your working surface with whole wheat flour and form each part into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap.
3. Take the first ball and roll into a disc that is ¼” thickness.
4. Place the rolled pita on a piece of paper kitchen towel, set aside covered with plastic wrap, and let it rest for 30 minutes.
5. After 30 minutes, carefully take the hot baking sheet/pizza stone from the oven and carefully flip the pita on using the kitchen towel.
6. Bake for 3-4 minutes, your pitas are done when they have puffed nicely.

Tips and tricks

Here are some tips and tricks to help you understand and be able to get those perfectly puffed up pitas every time.

• Why using bread flour?. Whole wheat flour only will not get you the pockets you are craving in a pita as it does not generate gluten as well as plain and bread flour. Adding a little more bread flour to the dough ensures that we have enough gluten to help the dough stretch in the oven and develop the air pocket we are looking for.
• Kneading the dough long, this is done so we are sure that the dough has generated enough gluten to help the pita stretch in the oven without being ruptured.
• Oven temperature, one of the early tricks that I've been taught is to bake pita bread in an extremely hot oven. Heat in the oven dries the top of the pita quickly so when steam starts to build up in the center, the surface is sturdy enough to keep that steam in without being ruptured.
• The kitchen towel thing, back in the old days I used to have a plastic bag with cut up paper kitchen towels to use over and over in baking my pita bread. When you leave the pita for the final proof and place it as is on the hot baking sheet, it will bake with one side thick while the other is paper-thin. This is not the case when you flip the pita before baking. While we will still get one side thinner than the other but the difference is not that huge.
• Storing pita bread, it is better to eat pitas on the same day as the will be in their freshest state. But, you can freeze them in a ziplock bag. I recommend keeping them in the freezer for no longer than a month.

Serve with:

Pita seriously has endless uses. Dip in hummus, tahini, or baba ganoush. Makes great falafel and eggplant sandwiches or use it to scoop some ful medammes. You can also use it for fatteh, chicken shawarma bowls or fattoush.

Related Recipe

• Unleavened bread is easy to make and does not require any special ingredients or equipment. All you need is flour, water, olive oil and salt.

If you like this recipe do not forget to give it a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ star rating and attach a photo of your finished dish. It is always a pleasure of mine to see your photos and check your own take of the recipe. Thank you.

Whole wheat pita bread

Easy whole wheat pita bread with expert tips to get you the pockets you are looking for. A step by step tutorial for homemade pita bread with all your questions answered.

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Course: bread

Cuisine: Mediterranean, Middle East

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 3 minutes

Resting rime: 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 48 minutes

Servings: 4

Calories: 218.9kcal

Author: Amira

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 ¼ cup (178g) whole wheat flour.
• ▢ ½ cup (64g) bread flour. Note1
• ▢ 1 teaspoon sugar.
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt.
• ▢ 1 teaspoon active dry yeast.
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon olive oil.
• ▢ ¾ cup warm water.

Instructions

Making the dough:

• In your mixer bowl, add the first 5 ingredients.
• Mix well with a spoon.
• Pour in olive oil and start your mixer with a dough hook attached.
• Gradually add water and continue kneading. Note2
• You should continue kneading for 8 minutes using a mixer and about 12-15 minutes if kneading by hand. Note3
• Take the dough out, add a little bit of oil (1teaspoon) to your mixer bowl. Place the dough ball back in the bowl and turn it around to cover with oil from all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Shaping and baking:

• Place a pizza stone or a sturdy baking sheet in the middle of your oven and preheat oven to 550F or as high as it can go.
• Punch the dough lightly then take it out and cut into 4 equal parts, each part will roughly weighs 105g.
• Lightly flour your working surface with whole wheat flour and form each part into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap.
• Take the first ball and roll into a disc that is ¼” thickness.
• Place the rolled pita on a piece of paper kitchen towel, set aside covered with plastic wrap, and let it rest for 30 minutes.
• Continue with the rest of the balls until you’ve formed 4 pitas, each placed on a piece of paper kitchen towel and covered with plastic wrap. Note4
• After 30 minutes, carefully take the hot baking sheet/pizza stone from the oven and carefully flip the pita on using the kitchen towel.
• Bake for 3-4 minutes, your pitas are done when they have puffed nicely.
• If you want, you can brown the top by turning the broiler on, or leave them in the oven for another 2 minutes. Notice that this will make the pita harder.
• Take theta out and cover with a clean kitchen towel until serving time.

Video

Notes

Note1: You can use all-purpose flour but it might not give you the pockets that you want in some loaves. It will still taste delicious though.

Note2: Gradually add water until you get a dough that is a little sticky. Dough might stick to the bottom of the mixing bowl. You will probably need anywhere from ¾ cup of water minus two tablespoons to ¾ cup of water. However, if it seems too wet add more flour by the tablespoons but not more than 2 tablespoons.

Note3: We need gluten to develop, so make sure to knead the dough long enough to develop the gluten we want.

Note4: Using a paper kitchen towel is a trick I have learned long ago. This is done so you’ll not end with one side of pita that it too thick while the other is paper-thin. Although pita always has one side thinner than the other but this trick makes the thin side not too thin. Also, it helps you not rupture the surface while transferring the loaves to the baking sheet to help develop the pocket.

Serving suggestion:

Dip in hummus, tahini, or baba ganoush. Pita bread makes a great falafel sandwich. You can also use it for fatteh, chicken shawarma bowls or fattoush.

Please check the nutrition disclaimer policy.

Vitamins are in percentage value. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Nutrition

Calories: 218.9kcal | Carbohydrates: 39.6g | Protein: 7.5g | Fat: 4.2g | Saturated Fat: 0.6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2.6g | Sodium: 18.4mg | Fiber: 5.1g | Sugar: 1.5g | Iron: 5mg

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