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.
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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
- In your mixer bowl, add flours, salt, sugar, and yeast.
- Mix well with a spoon.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 1/4” 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.
- 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.
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.
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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Servings: 4
Calories: 218.9kcal
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup (178g) whole wheat flour.
- 1/2 cup (64g) bread flour. Note1
- 1 teaspoon sugar.
- 1/4 teaspoon salt.
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast.
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil.
- 3/4 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 1/4” 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.
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 3/4 cup of water minus two tablespoons to 3/4 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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This recipe originally published November 2012. Updated on July 2020.
This is a really good pita bread! But I want to go a step further and use only whole wheat flour.
I am inexperienced with baking, and I'm obsessed with making bread with no white flour. It has been so-so, not great. So I tried mixing the whole wheat flour with water and letting it sit overnight. That changed the flour into stretchy soft and sticky more like white flour would be. It made the bread a lot better. Do you think that idea could be used to make a recipe for pure whole wheat pitas with white no flour at all?
Hello Spencer, thank you for sharing your idea. I haven't tried this before to be honest and have never tried it in baking before but it is really very interesting. Please do let us know if you make it.
I made it with whole wheat flour only. The recipe was great!! For company, I would use bread flour. The tips are super... i make a lot of pita bread but this is the best recipe!
Thank you so much NM, so glad you liked it.
Thank you so much for your feedback, so happy you liked it.
I tried this and the dough is very sticky making it hard to roll out. I added flour but that did not help and ruined the taste a bit... any tips?
Dalia, the main culprit is usually the amount of water, you need to add it gradually until the dough comes together. But it also may come to the way of kneading the dough. This video explains a lot about this, I hope this will help.
Can this be made in a pan on the stove
Yes you can follow the directions I mentioned in my original pita bread and it should puff as well. Let me know how it went with you.
It turned out great. Most of them puffed up. Thanks
This is awesome, keep trying and you'll get the hang of it. Thank you so much for your feedback.
oh my goodness, i LOVE your recipes!!! I have a dear Egyptian friend that I wanted to cook for and I was blessed to have stumbled on your page. I just made the pita last night, DELICIOUS!!! I will never buy it from the store again. I also made your falafel recipe, it is perfection!! aaand the bechemel pasta was also fabulous! Thank You for sharing such authentic, lovely recipes that are easy to follow and turn out beautifully. I am excited to try more, but the pita and falafel will definitely be regulars in my kitchen. 🙂
Christine, thank you so much for your sweet and encouraging words, I am so happy that you've liked the recipes. If you or your friend need a specific one please do not hesitate to contact me. Shoot me an email or leave a comment anywhere in the blog, I love to help.
I have tried many recipes for the pita bread. This is by far the best one and so easy to do. Thank you so much. I was trying to find Khatyef recipe in your site for Ramadan. I will keep searching. If it's not there, please do it for us.
Rasha, I am soooooo pleased that you've liked the recipe.. you've made my day girl 🙂
For the Katayef here is the recipe from arabianmama
If you can read Arabic here is a link to my Arabic site with video