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.
Servings: 4 loaves
Calories: 224kcal
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 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.
Nutrition
Calories: 224kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 149mg | Potassium: 161mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 4IU | Vitamin C: 0.003mg | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 2mg