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A stack of soft pitas covered with a kitchen towel.
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4.90 from 28 votes

Lebanese Pita Bread Recipe

Soft pillowy warm pita bread loaves in less than an hour. These Lebanese pita bread are made with just 4 ingredients and needs only 30 minutes rising time. Nothing is compared to freshly baked pita bread.
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time12 mins
Rising time30 mins
Total Time52 mins
Course: bread
Cuisine: Mediterranean, Middle Eastern
Diet: Halal
Servings: 4 Pieces
Calories: 250kcal
Author: Amira

Equipment

  • Mixing bowl
  • Skillet or baking sheet

Ingredients

  • ½ Tablespoon active dry yeast
  • ½ Tablespoon sugar
  • 1 cup lukewarm water
  • 2 cups bread flour 255g
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon oil

Instructions

  • Dissolve sugar in about ¼ cup of the lukewarm water and then add the yeast and put it aside until it becomes bubbly about 5 minutes.
  • In a deep bowl, or your mixer bowl, add flour, salt and mix well. Add the yeast mixture start mixing and add the warm water gradually until your dough comes together.
  • Knead until it forms a smooth, elastic dough. Dough should be a bit moist.
  • Add the oil to a bowl, transfer dough to the oiled bowl and turn it around to cover lightly with oil. Cover and let it rest for 30 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, heat oven to 500F degrees and put your baking sheet in there to heat up.
  • Turn the dough onto a clean, lightly flour dusted working surface.
  • Divide dough into 4 equal parts and form each part into a ball. This of course depends on how big you would like your pita bread to be. Return balls to bowl and cover. We will work on them one at a time.
  • Take one ball and place on the work area, flatten lightly with hands then roll using your rolling pin to flatten to desired size. (We like our bread ultra thick and chewy so I roll mine to almost 6 inch circle).
  • Lift the dough circles carefully, making sure not to poke it with your fingers and place on your baking sheet. If your baking surface is large enough put two or more together.

Oven method

  • The dough should puff nicely about one and a half minute through baking. Turn it to the other side to complete baking for another minute.
  • If you want soft pita, do not let it brown in the oven just pale with few brown spots. If you like a hard and crunchy top, leave it in the oven until it browns nicely all over to your perfections.

Stove top method

  • Heat up a non-stick skillet on medium-high then place each circle right after rolling carefully on the skillet.
  • After 30-45 seconds it should start getting bubbles, turn it to the other side for another 30 seconds.
  • Keep turning the pita on each side pressing with a wooden spoon to help the bubble grow making the pita puff all over.
  • Take the bread out and cover with towel.
  • Take the skillet out of the heat and roll the next ball, return skillet to heat up again for about 20 seconds and repeat the process.
  • Make sure to cover the bread after baking in t he oven or the skillet until you are done with the others to keep it soft.

Video

Notes

  • You can make your own bread flour by adding 1 teaspoon of vital wheat gluten to every cup of AP flour. You can also use AP flour but the resultant bread won’t be as chewy.
  • You can use heavy duty baking sheet , large cast iron or a pizza stone in the oven to heat up. You can also bake the bread on stovetop, my preferred way.
  • If you don't have a mixing bowl with dough hook, you can mix ingredients using a wooden spoon and then knead by hand until you get a smooth elastic dough.
  • Make sure not to poke the pita dough after rolling with your fingers or leave marks accidentally with your nails as this will make the dough unable to puff. Use can use parchment paper to roll the bread ball on and lift it with the parchment paper to avoid leaving marks. Bake with the parchment paper on and then take it off after it puffs.
  • Oven method: When making the pitas in the oven, be sure to give the pan about a minute to re-heat between pitas.
  • Stove top method: When making the pita bread on the stove top, take the pan off the heat after you make one pita. Roll the next pita and then heat the pan for 20-30 seconds before making the next.
  • Spraying with water method: this technique ensures even and consistent puffing of the bread in the oven. Just fill a spray bottle with water and when you toss the pita bread in the oven, spray it once or twice.
  • For softer pockets roll them between ⅛" and ¼" and do not over-bake in the oven. Pita bread should be puffed and looking a little 'dry' but not really browned for the best taste.
 
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Nutrition

Calories: 250kcal | Carbohydrates: 47.7g | Protein: 8.4g | Fat: 2.2g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.8g | Sodium: 292.7mg | Potassium: 63.8mg | Fiber: 1.5g | Sugar: 1.7g | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 17.1mg