Pita Bread Recipe
This pita bread recipe is super reliable and results in gorgeous, pillowy pitas that will wow everyone in your kitchen. I love this pita bread recipe especially because it is brought to us by Molly Yeh, from her Yogurt Short Stack cookbook (get it here!)! Yes, there is yogurt in our pita dough! Yogurt imparts tenderness and a sourdough-like flavor.
I’ve never given homemade pita a whole lot of attention, always thinking that because it is impossible to achieve at home the very thin, large, chewy pitas we love so much, then there will be little to no pita coming out of my oven.
The state of pita was the topic of a story I wrote for the Chicago Tribune back in the day (way back), when I visited the Al Khayem bakery up on Kedzie where they used to bake the softest, most glorious thin pocket bread I had experienced since my growing up days in Michigan. George’s pita at Al Khayem made its journey, from dough to rise to oven, via a conveyor that included a big roller, one that miraculously flattened the dough in such a way that its pocket was thin yet sturdy, and even on both sides. The thrust of my article was something along the lines of, “when homemade isn’t better.”
In the house of Abood, and in the houses of grandparents Abood and Abowd, there was a lot of baking. A lot. But none of it included pita bread. I suspect this was in part because we could enjoy perfect thin pocket bread from nearby bakeries without a thought; this is mid-Michigan, my friends, and while we may have our drawbacks, we’re rich in Middle Eastern bakeries and restaurants.
And, we don’t actually call pocket bread “pita.” Do other Lebanese and Middle Easterners among you call it pita? Or something else? Or just pocket bread, or khubiz, or kimaj?
So. I never felt the pull of the pita-baking until I wrote my cookbook. I heard from whole bunches of people that a pita recipe was in order. That was delivered with pleasure. I still hear from whole bunches of people that a pita recipe is in order on my blog too. But have I made pita much since the cookbook pita recipe development? Right.
Then I recently tore into Molly Yeh’s Short Stack book on yogurt. If you haven’t graced your cookbook collection with some of these leaflet-like single-subject booklets, I highly recommend, especially Molly’s book which takes yogurt, our beloved laban, in all kinds of exciting directions.
The last, very very last thing I expected to find in Molly’s yogurt book was pita bread. But there the recipe jumped out, and it includes, of course: yogurt. “Yogurt Pita.” The recipe’s description was so simple and inviting (all about the soft dough and the soft pockets it results in) that it made me wait not another day to bake my first round.
What perplexed and excited me was how straightforward Molly’s recipe is. I recall the pita recipe testing for my cookbook as a pita version of a freight train running through my kitchen every day until I landed on an acceptable method. It was so stressful that, truth here, I rarely made it again once the book was out and had always felt fine saying I don’t bake pita.
With Molly’s recipe we have a bread dough with few ingredients, as bread dough should, but with the inclusion of thick, lush yogurt which imparts a beautiful dimension of sourdough-like flavor to a bread that is mostly about texture, puffy soft texture.
I can tell you that my home people (a.k.a. family) is thrilled with my newfound pita baking high. We still have our large, thin pitas from the pro bakery on hand always for tearing off and picking up food with, but these thicker pillows are so perfect and great for slathering with butter or dipping in hummus or labneh or muhammara or opening up and stuffing with something great for lunch that I now call them My Pillows.
I pull the dozen out of the oven while everyone is just gathering to find dinner, and it’s like I’m a magician, a hero, a pita-pillow queen who does indeed bake pita, and often. Pita-pillow queens don’t ever drive freight trains, so I’m good with that, too.
Yogurt Pita Bread
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup warm water (105-110 degrees)
- 2 1/4 teaspoons or 1 packet active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 3 3/4 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting (if needed)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for the bowl
- 3/4 cup whole-milk Greek yogurt or labneh
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine the water, yeast, and 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Let the mixture sit until it's foamy on top, about 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with the hook attachment, combine the flour, salt, and remaining tablespoon of sugar. Add the yeast mixture, oil, and yogurt and mix to combine. Knead the dough either in the mixer or by hand on a clean work surface, adding more flour if needed, until the dough is soft and slightly sticky, 7-10 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with plastic (not touching the dough), and let the dough rise in a warm spot until it's doubled in size, about 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 500 degrees, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and divide it into 12 equal balls. Cover and let rise an additional 20 minutes.
- Roll the balls out into circles that are 1/4- to 1/2-inch thick. Place them on the baking sheets an inch apart, then bake until they're puffy and lightly browned on top (begin checking for doneness at 5 minutes).
- Transfer the pitas to a wire rack to cool. Enjoy!
31 Comments
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I'm so glad you're here! You'll find among these pages the fresh and classic Lebanese recipes we can't get enough of! My mission is to share my tried + true recipes -- and to help our Lebanese food-loving community keep these culinary traditions alive and on the table. What recipes are you looking for? Let me know!
My mother in law used to have a wood stove down in her basement and it was always so fun to help her make pita bread. She used to fire the stove up to 700 degrees. She would, also make manushi. I used to bake pita in a conventional oven and would place a pizza stone in the oven to get it as hot as possible and then used a peel to take it out of the oven. Great memories!
Ok Maureen this may be the recipe that allows me to overcome my doughphobia complex!!!
Pita perfection
You’ve got to! You’re such a phenomenal cook that this will be nothing but great for you!
We never used the term “pita” unless we were referring to the Greek bread that is not pocket bread–it is pita. We always said “khubz”.
Okay then, good to know, thank you Geoff!
My Mother-In-Law was from Bethlehem, Palestine and she always made her own pita. She would go to the town oven with her dough and wait with other women for her turn to bake her pita. I never had a chance to eat it but my husband always told me how “absolutely delicious” it was. I want to try your recipe. I also want my girls to have this recipe. Thanks for sharing it!
MARY
Mary that’s special! You’ll have to share photos with us on FB or Instagram when you do it!
You don’t heat the baking pans in the oven first before placing the dough rounds in the pan?
I know! You can still do that though if you like, to ensure ballooning.
Dear Maureen- can’t wait to try this! My Sito had a wood fired oven in her basement and on the day she died at 79, she had just finished baking a 10lb bag of flour into khubiz (we didn’t even know that ‘pita’ was a word!), went upstairs to rest and passed away. My Mom and I make ours on a super hot pizza stone and my kids just wait by the oven and eat them as fast as they come out! There are never any leftovers….lol!
That is so touching Georgia. I was just recounting to Dan the other day that my dad’s mom died in the kitchen, after coring bushels of koosa. Bless them all.
Maureen, I am so happy to have found your website. I love making Lebanese food. My dad was Lebanese my mom Scottish my grandparents came to Ellis Island in 1899 and settled in Waterville Maine. I’m looking forward to making your spinach fataya that’s one thing I have never tackled. I’m the Raw Kibbee maker in my family as well as the cooked, grape leaves, cabbage rolls, hummus Etc I now have my husband making it and he is of Russian descent he does as great a job as I do if not better. Waterville has the only Maronite Church in the state of Maine and my father was a deacon there until his passing 3 years ago at the age of 91. Can’t wait to buy your cookbook.
Now that is so very special Laurie!! I love your story. You are making so many great Lebanese dishes for your family. What a gem of a man your father must have been!
My mother’s aunt Alice had a wood fried beehive oven in her summer kitchen and I remember sitting around watching her make big stacks of them while we waited for our feast to begin.
That is a real treasure of a memory!
my mother made Lebanese bread when I was growing up she used a saj over wood fire it was not pitta it was more like mountain bread flat my family used to call it the Sydney morning herald as it was as big as the newspaper pages. growing up you could not buy the Lebanese bread that is why my mum made it. when mum cooked once a week all our Australian neighbours would come and visit as they could smell the yummy bread and my mum will give them some. a big plastic bin would be filled with yummy bread. 100% better than pitta bread. my mum no longer makes the bread but it was the best bread I ever tasted.
That is just such a great memory and story, Anne, thank you! Sounds just like the bread my sitto made. Heaven!
What can you tell me about rose water, which you use in your rhubarb rose jam? or is it rose extract? I have some Star Kay White Rose Extract, Would that fit the bill? Thanks. – CMS White Bear Lake, MN
The rose water is different in flavor than the extract. I’m not a fan of extract, as it is alcohol-based and not the soft rose flavor we love in rose water. Great question.
I can’t wait to try these. For whatever reason, I’ve had bad luck getting fresh pita bread at the store. We’re trying to make all our own bread these day, so this will definitely increase the repertoire. Also, recently I had received pita oven order that I placed last week from spinning grillers.
Hi Chris–your oven and grill products look very interesting! Hope you enjoy this pita recipe; it’s a great one.
Love your site ! Would this dough work well for spinach and meat pies .
Thank you Marie! My recipe for fatayar dough (which is here) is much different because I like a thinner fatayar dough, and my recipe is designed to help keep the pinched seams of fatayar closed. So, you can give this a whirl knowing that it may prove more challenging with regard to keeping the fatayar closed.
Can this recipe be made with AP flour ?, as that was all my mother used to make all of the Ageen dishes. Gold Medal. The pocket bread , made at home, was always called Syrian bread & the thicker bread, like at Olga’s was pita. The story was that pocket bread originated in Aleppo, Syria generations ago.
Jacob, that was all my Sitto used too. The bread flour is used for a softer texture, but certainly all-purpose flour will work. I have not tried it specifically with the ratios in this recipe, so you may need to tweak.
Hi can I use the pita bread recipe without the yogurt or does some other adjust need to be make? If you can please let me know I would appreciate it thanks
Fred, the yogurt provides elasticity and tenderness to the pita. If you are looking to be dairy-free, you can leave it out but you’ll want to increase the liquid to replace what is lost by not using the yogurt.
Interesting that we always called this pita and thick bread khubiz. And we never added sugar! This is an easy looking recipe and I’ll try it with sugar…. Thanks for sharing another one of your fabulous recipes!
Interesting Louise! The sugar is just a small amount that helps the yeast develop and also lends to browning.
My mother had a large flat piece of cast iron in the oven and would slide the rounds of dough directly onto the heated cast iron. She had huge wooden paddles for that job, that i believe were made by my giddo. I seem to remember she would run the loaves briefly under the broiler after they puffed up.The paddles now reside in one of her grandchildren’s kitchen. The kitchen counter would be piled high with her delicious bread. I can appreciate now what a huge job that was every week to feed her large family.
We called it khubz arabi (spelling?) or Syrian bread.
I have played with a dough using buttermilk that works well. I guess that worked along the same lines as yogurt.
Virginia what a legacy to love. We call flat thin bread Syrian bread; same with you, or are you saying you call the pita bread Syrian bread? Interesting about the buttermilk!!