Homemade Pita Bread

By Lemon & Olives
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Reading time: 3 minutes

homemade Pita bread recipeIt feels great to be back in the swing of things. There was a little lull here because I got sick. I tried my best to avoid it but in the end, it caught me. I went to the doctors and got some antibiotics, so I’m on my way to a speedy recovery. Thank God.

What’s awful about cooking and being sick is that as soon as you start to feel bad, you’re done. You have to leave the kitchen. So when this happens, I’m left watching Jane do all the work. I do not like this. I love cooking and like moving around and doing stuff even more. To sit idle is such a waste and I get bored easily.

For those of you following along with our wedding planning, we finally sent out our save the dates, secured a venue and photographer, all with the wedding coming this May. I know we’re cutting it close, but we need the time crunch to kick our butts into gear and give us that motivation we need.  The next step is finding a DJ and ordering our wedding invitations. Also, there is the honeymoon planning, my favorite part, since we love to travel. We’re debating what to do and where to go. Greece is the obvious choice, but we’re debating if we should make any other stops before arriving there. Some places we really want to visit are: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. The last one is heavily due to Netflix’s show, Lilyhammer. The scenery is beautiful in that show.  Ultimately, Jane and I will be happy with wherever we end up going.

How to make pitaSpeaking of traveling, today’s recipe covers a lot of different places.  Pita (πίτα) can be found all across the Mediterranean, in the Balkans, and Middle East. Since it can be found in so many places, the origins of Pita are highly debated. Some say it comes from the Byzantine era, while others say it can be traced back to Ancient Greeks. While others claim it comes from Ancient Rome or site that since the word was used in old Aramaic texts, it must come from that part of history and time. However it came to be, pita is delicious and goes with all types of foods, especially what we focus on here – Greek Mediterranean.

Pita is actually pretty easy to make. Also, after a few times of making this, you’ll question why you ever bought it in the store. The most drawn out process to making pita from scratch is the rising time. Other than that, it’s pretty straight forward. There is nothing like fresh pita right out of the oven.

You can make this pita recipe to go with things like souvlaki, soups like Avgolemono, to dips like hummus and tzatziki. You can even create pita pocket sandwiches. Sometimes if I am craving something sweet, I spread a little Nutella on one. You could also be a bit healthier and replace that with honey.

rolling pita doughHowever you like to eat them. However you like to pair them with foods. There is nothing like making homemade pitas.

For those of you new to pitas, just know they are not meant to be sweet or have any overpowering flavor (like an herb naan bread). Thus, by themselves they will taste like plain bread. It’s what you eat (or stuff) them with that makes the difference.

Go ahead, make some pitas from scratch and enjoy them with your next meal.

Kali Orexi

Kenton & Jane


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homemade Pita bread recipe

Homemade Pita Bread

Kenton & Jane
A recipe for making pita from scratch. Thre is nothing like warm delicious homemade pita!
Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 6 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 6 minutes
Servings 8 pitas

Ingredients
  

  • 3 cups flour white or wheat, plus extra for kneading
  • 1 yeast packet ¼ oz or 7g
  • 1 cup warm water*
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions
 

  • Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix to form a dough.**
  • Once dough is formed, knead on floured surface for 5 minutes.
  • Once done, roll into ball.
  • Coat mixing bowl with olive oil, and brush dough ball with oil as well.
  • Place dough in bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
  • Let rise until double in size, about 90 minutes.
  • When done, remove and place on floured surface.
  • Preheat oven to 450F.
  • Break into 8 even parts and roll each piece into a small ball.
  • Using a rolling pin, roll out each dough piece to form a pita.
  • Place two pitas on baking sheet and place in oven for 5-7 minutes, or until it puffs up.
  • Remove to let cool, and repeat until all pitas are baked.
  • Enjoy with your favorite meal!

Notes

*If dough is too dry, add a little water at a time to form dough.
**If you need to activate your yeast, do so by following directions on packet. Normally, you just let it sit in the warm water for 15 minutes, then add it to other ingredients and mix to form dough.

 

About the author

Lemon & Olives is a husband and wife team exploring the Mediterranean (Diet) Lifestyle, Greek foods, Greek Culture, History and all things Greece.

2 thoughts on “Homemade Pita Bread”

  1. You guys this is the bomb! this recipe is soooo easy and the pita turn out perfectly. So story is I work in one of several hotel restaurants but I’m on layoff right now. Well we have a staff resto and today’s lunch was souvlaki etc. Snow was sorta coming down and I really wanted greek, cause who can say no ever to greek, but the whole dragging my butt all the way to work and temperature screening procecdure and blablabla, I realized I had everything in my fridge to make souvlaki etc……except pita bread. For a split second I thought meh who needs pita bread. And then I thought to myself, what do you do during 6 week pandemic layoff, you learn to make your own pita- never had before. And I’ve tried making chapatis from a fijian friend and she was right there and it was epic fail, so I was thinkin ok pita is gonna be another disaster. So google…..and first hit I found that I liked was this one.
    Bang bang bang, 2 minutes to mix ingredients, 5 minutes to knead. 90 minutes rise, during which time I threw together all my other dinner items plus marinate my chicken. Oven runs a bit high and at 6,000 feet baking times can be diff anyway. But I pulled them out after 5 minutes. I dont even know how I’m ever gonna go back to prefab pita :O so thank you for this recipe and yasiou!
    PS when I rate recipes or review recipes I like to give a bit of info because sometimes other people read and have different experience and dont know why theirs didnt turn out. Or did or whatever. I’ve been cooking at home since the easy bake oven my folks gave me when I was 3ish, and cooking professionally for years , and baking cakes etc at home for years. Baking i understand fully is a science and humidity/altitude/ingredient brands and quality, lots of factors in how things turn out. such as you mentioned in your recipe use a bit of water if its too dry etc. I look forward to exploring more of your recipes. Cheers

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