Shhh… Homemade Pita Bread is a Snap!
Falafel
It started with cucumbers. Yes… really… pita cravings can start that way.
You see, I am not a cucumber lover. But I am mad about falafel, served in pita bread, with cucumber yogurt sauce. And those CSA cucumbers must be eaten.
The first time I looked for pita bread in my local health food store they had minis. Now mini pitas are cute, but they are pretty tough to stuff. And then my husband ate, ummmm… 75?
Next visit, they had normal sized whole wheat pitas—at a big price. Or (not very healthy) white at a normal price. And so I thought… how hard can they be to make?
Homemade Pita Bread
Ingredients (ideally organic)
- 1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 t salt
- 1 1/4 c lukewarm water (ideally around 110 degrees, but truly I didn’t test it)
- 1 package yeast, or scant 1 T (bulk) yeast
- 1 t sugar
Directions
1. Combine water, sugar, oil and yeast. Let sit about 10 minutes until bubbly
2. Mix flour and salt, then combine with bubbly yeast mixture. Knead on floured surface for about 10 minutes until dough balls up and “pushes back” when kneading (mixing in extra flour or water as needed).
Pita Dough
3. Form dough into a ball and coat with canola oil (or spray). Let rise, covered, until double, about an hour.
Oil the Dough
4. Punch dough down, then divide into 8 balls. Let sit covered with a damp towel for about 20 minutes.
Let Dough Rest
5. Preheat the oven to 475. Put a pizza stone or cookie sheet in the oven to preheat as well.
Pre-heat Stone or Cookie Sheet
6. Roll out each dough ball into a round disk about 1/4 inch thick.
Roll Out Pita Dough
7. Bake for 3-5 minutes until starting to turn golden (mine went 3 minutes on the convection setting).
Bake Pita Bread
8. Cool on a wire rack.
Cool on a Rack
9. Enjoy. Spend the savings on wine (optional).
Tip: watch them like a hawk while baking. Many forum contributors reported making pita crackers by cooking too long.
In the end, this was a lot of fun and not hard at all. Why haven’t I done this before??
Do you have a deceptively easy recipe that you like to make?
You are brilliant! I would never have thought to try this. Like you, I adore falafel though so just may give it a go. By the way, did you see my cucumber popsicles? That’s worked well for us.
You know I did see the popsicles and wasn’t sure how the kids would feel since they seemed to have a bit of spiciness. But that actually inspired me to go out looking for others and I found a sweeter watermelon cucumber popsicle that I may indeed try. I just need to go out and get myself a watermelon since the CSAs seem to be slow on those this year. Thanks for mentioning!
The spicy was just something that I put on after the fact. Try them with watermelon or put mint with the cucumber.
Awesome–thanks!
Thank you for that morning smile, Inger. Guinea Pigs, cucumbers, it struck a funny nerve, lol…
I’m not too fond of cucumbers either but, I too can see the connection. I love cucumber yogurt sauce on all Greek inspired foods. However, a snap? Not for me, I have yeastaphobia big time! I plan on trying to alter that in the coming seasons, wish me luck!!!
I’ll save this link for inspiration:) Thanks for sharing, Inger.
To many cucumbers? I saw a Cucumber Granita somewhere which sounded interesting. Now, where oh where…
I have recently found that our Guinea Pigs like cucumbers–along with fennel, so they are proving to be an asset in the excess CSA food arena!
And really, you shouldn’t be intimidated by yeast–you are already tackling things that are harder than (most) bread recipes. Good luck in your mission!
You sure do make that look easy. I bake loads of breads but have never tried pita. Do they really puff up magically even in a home oven? Amazing.
Some of them had a full pocket and some needed to be partially sliced with a sharp knife. When I thought about it, I remembered needing to do this sometimes on commercial pitas, so then I didn’t feel bad about it.
I can see the cucumber-pita bread connection. I order salads from a Greek restaurant near my office and it always comes with cucumbers and a pita on the side!
Perhaps I should look to Greek food for some more cucumber inspiration–thanks for the inspiration!