Homemade pita bread recipe made with 6 simple ingredients, no water to heat, one rise, & no shaping technique required. Great for Greek food, like couscous, Marinated Greek-Style Chicken, or sandwiches!
Greek flavors are a favorite in the Crumbs house. There isn’t a meal plan I make for my family without at least one night dedicated to the fresh Mediterranean tang. If it were up to my husband, he’d combine this pita bread recipe with couscous every night of the week for dinner.
I’m not going to lie – I like couscous too. In fact, I love to create a complete Mediterranean meal night for my family with tzatziki sauce, hummus, marinated chicken with greek dressing, and steamed veggies.
The only thing left is the pita bread! Fresh out of the oven, homemade pita bread beats store-bought pita from the grocery store any day!
Homemade Pita Bread
This recipe is excellent for beginner bread-makers. Even those who are directionally-challenged will find this recipe to be a cinch! It’s also great because it has:
- Six simple ingredients.
- There is no water to heat.
- There’s only one rise.
- No shaping technique required (oval pitas taste just as good as round ones).
- A super quick bake and you’re done!
What do you eat pita bread with?
Besides enjoying this bread recipe on Mediterranean night, you can serve peanut butter banana roll-ups for lunch instead of sandwiches, or wrap up your favorite chicken salad for a delicious variation on sandwich night.
What type of flour can I use to make homemade pita bread?
There are two variations of the recipe. The first uses all white flour and the second gives adaptations for whole wheat Einkorn flour. Einkorn flour does have more nutrition, but either way, homemade bread is always better than store-bought bread.
How long does it take to make homemade pita bread?
The entire recipe making process takes 1 1/2 – 2 hours. Dinner takes a little bit more time to make, but most of that time is in the rise (1 – 1/2 hours) so you’re definitely not stuck in the kitchen the whole time.
If you start this at 4 pm and then come back at 5 pm to start everything else, you’ll be baking pita’s by 5:30 pm and eating by 6. Of course, if you know you won’t have time during the week, pita bread can be made a few days ahead of time. Make a batch Sunday afternoon and plan your Greek night during the first half of the week.
You can reduce even more time spent in the kitchen by skipping making bread this week and making a double batch of pitas instead.
Ingredients for Homemade Pita Bread
- Flour (all-purpose white or wheat flour)
- Honey
- Salt
- Yeast
- Butter
- Water
That’s it!!! You cannot get any simpler than that!
How to cook homemade pita bread
- In either a stand mixer or a large bowl, combine all ingredients and knead.
- Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with a clean kitchen towel. Allow to rise.
- Punch the dough down and divide into 8 pieces.
- Roll each ball into a circle.
- Bake for about 3 minutes.
What is the difference between pita bread and naan?
Pita bread is a flatbread that was originally eaten in middle eastern and then Mediterranean cultures. Naan bread is a flatbread originally eaten in India. Pita bread uses simpler ingredients, whereas naan may contain a number of spices, garlic, ghee, and yogurt ingredients. Both are less than an inch thick.
More Easy Bread Recipes
Homemade Pita Bread
Homemade pita bread recipe made with 6 simple ingredients, no water to heat, one rise, & no shaping technique required. Great for Greek food or sandwiches!
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 5 mins
- Total Time: 2 hours, 5 mins
- Yield: Yields 8 pita breads 1x
- Category: Breads
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour (any)
- 1 1/2 tbsp sugar (or honey)
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 tsp yeast
- 2 tbsp butter, melted
- 1 1/4 cups water, room temperature
Instructions
- In either a stand mixer or a large bowl, combine all ingredients and knead on low-medium until the dough is smooth, soft, and elastic – approximately 10 minutes. Add flour or water as needed for the dough to be tacky but not sticky.
- Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, turn it over to coat and cover with a towel. Allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, 1 – 1/2 hours.
- Punch the dough down and divide it into 8 pieces, rolling each piece into a ball. Cover with a towel and let rest for 20 minutes while preheating the oven to 450°F.
- Roll each ball into a circle approximately 8″ in diameter and 1/8″ thick and place the round onto either a baking stone or an inverted baking sheet. Mist the stone or baking sheet with water (I get my hand wet and flick the water on there) and wait 30 seconds. Place as many rounds as you can on the stone or baking sheet and bake for about 3 minutes for the dough to puff into a balloon (which may or may not happen, but it really neat to see if it does!). Wait 30 seconds and remove each bread to cool on a rack.
Notes
Variations for this Pita Bread Recipe:
- White Whole Wheat Option:
Use white whole wheat flour in place of all the bread flour and replace 1/4 cup water with 1/4 room temperature milk. - Whole Wheat Option:
Replace 2 cups of the bread flour with whole wheat flour. You may replace all of the bread flour with whole wheat flour and substitute 1/2 cup water with 1/2 cup milk, but the pitas may not inflate or turn out as fluffy.
Keywords: pita bread
I don’t have a stand mixer, and not sure my hand-mixer is strong enough for dough.
If I need to mix this with a wooden spoon in a bowl, will it be too difficult or frustrating to “knead” by hand it if it’s supposed to end up still tacky? Worried about adding too much flour and not turning out right.
This looks amazing! I will have to try it out. I’ve never experimented with pita bread. I’ve made poori but that was on the stovetop with oil.
Yours definitely look better than the packaged ones you find in the store.
Hey, Tiffany. You speak of Einkorn flour… but this recipe doesn’t call for it. Since you don’t knead Einkorn… how do you make this pita using Einkorn flour? (regular or whole wheat)
Hi Trish! I actually make this recipe using einkorn! Einkorn doesn’t “require” kneading like modern wheat does to active the gluten, so I knead until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. With einkorn, you’ll likely need to add more flour, or reduce the water (I reduce the water to scant 1 cup). This works for either whole grain or AP einkorn.
Thank you for your helpful response. I use Einkorn exclusively so I’m pleased to know your modifications.
I am way late coming in, but can you use AP flour instead of bread flour? I have a ton of AP flour that needs to get used up pretty quickly. This sounds like a great alternative to eating bread all the time.
Aboslutely!
I ran out of money for my budget this month, but still had some hummus left so I made a double batch of this recipe last night and everyone loved them! Now I have 2 gallon freezer bags full of delicious, cloud-like pita ‘pillows’! I think we’re going to open them up and make BLTs tonight . . . should be interesting! Thank you for a great recipe!
P.s. To eat them plain the kids found them just a little lacking. What could I add to give them a little more hint of flavor?
★★★★
Hi Elizah! To flavor the pitas so they’re a bit more exciting plain, consider adding more salt and some herbs. Italian seasoning, a blend of Greek spices (use the dry ones in this recipe: https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2012/05/yummy-recipe-greek-pasta-salad-greek-salad-dressing/), taco seasoning… the sky is the limit!
Peanut butter!
I will definitely be trying this recipe this week! Bake for 3 minutes?! YES 🙂
Wonderful news Kristy – thanks!
I recently started to make my own pitta breads too which are so much nicer than store bought pittas and save a fortune. Thank you for sharing this with Healthy Vegan Fridays. Check back on Friday to see if you were one of the Top 3! We hope to see you again this week. You can submit a post from Friday to end of Tuesday.
They ARE way better Katherine! Thanks for hosting!
I love pita bread. Thanks for sharing with the HomeAcre Hop. Come see us again this week!
Looks yummy!! I can’t ever find Pita bread at the stores where I live (small town), but making it from scratch is even better! I am pinning this 🙂
Thanks for sharing on Natural Living Monday!
Pita bread is something I absolutely love, but have never tried making. I will definitely be attempting this though! I would love for you to share this at what i am eating http://www.townsend-house.com/2013/04/what-i-am-eating-comfort-food.html
This looks wonderful and thank you for sharing it on Waste Not Want Not Wednesday on Poor and Gluten Free. Do you have a GF version by any chance? It’s such a tease because GF pita is so hard to find!!
Tiffany,
I recently found cinnamon sweeted pita chips at my local Kroger. They are actually a Private Selection product. I think they are relatively new. This recipe would be great for making those. What are your thoughts. Thanks.
Cinnamon pita chips?! Count me in! I think this recipe would be excellent. We made half whole wheat, half bread flour last night and it had a slightly sweet flavor. Toasted with cinnamon would be delish – did they add sugar? Maybe just a smidge in the toasting… now I’m kinda hoping the kids DON’T eat them for lunch! ~Tiffany
Yes the pita chips were a cinnamon sugar type. I drizzeled a little honey over mine. And you are completely correct. DELISH!!!! I guess you could just sprinkle a cinnamon sugar mixture and toast them. Would the cinn/sugar stay on the chips? I don’t have much experience with toasting pita chips but I would love to make my own. 🙂
You’re making me drool Emily! I’d say it’s inevitable that some cinn/sugar would fall off, but if you’re brushing w/melted butter or tossing w/olive oil then that should help. This cinn/sugar/honey talk is making me second guess the idea of waiting until they go stale! =) ~Tiffany
Awesome! I don’t know why it never occurred to me to make pita bread – I do make tortillas, naan and other breads. I’ll have to try this. In other news my groceries were $501.79 last month. This is no where near your level, but typically we used to spend $650 to $750 (honestly I don’t know on what?) Its taken awhile to get it down, but we’re eating healthier at way less. Your site and a couple of others are partly the cause ( the fact that my youngest is now 3 and I can actually accomplish things sometimes is also partly the cause).
Leah,
Way to go on your grocery bill! We must not compare one budget to another’s – simply evaluate your own and continue to bring it down. Reducing it $150-$250 is HUGE! How about some pita chips and hummus as a reward? 🙂 ~Tiffany