Soft Pita bread: the perfect alternative to usual bread!

This soft homemade pita bread puffs up in minutes and has a perfectly soft and chewy texture with a slightly crispy exterior once cooked. This recipe calls for milk, water, dry yeast, salt sugar, and flour. Once you cook it on the stovetop you'll see a pocket start to form in just a few minutes that is great for fillings when stuffed with veggies and hummus making a perfect healthy dinner.

What Is Soft Pita Bread?

Pita originates from the Middle East, and it is known to be the oldest type of bread as it has been existing for around 4,000 years now. The name “pita” simply means “flatbread” and Greeks were the first people to use that term.

How to eat Soft Pita Bread

Being a flat round bread it goes well with anything you could think to put on bread, such as Chicken Caesar Salad, falafel, and grilled vegetables, or as a snack pita can be great with hummus, Tzatziki or tabbouleh as a dip. You can even just eat it on its own!

Why Does Pita Form a Pocket Inside

That small pocket that forms when it comes in contact with the hot pan or stone, the dough’s additional moisture quickly turns to steam that is trapped in the baking dough.

Baking Tips and Alternatives

Tips

• The water shouldn't be too hot or cold, you must maintain the water at the correct temperature, which is about 90 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Don’t be tempted to add more flour, this can make the dough too dry. You need the dough to be a little sticky because it's the moisture in the dough that creates the steam that will puff up those pitas.
• The stovetop or oven in which you are baking them needs to be extremely hot. This is crucial since you need to seal the outside of the pita quickly while at the same time quickly creating steam inside that will puff it up.

Alternatives

If you prefer making the pita bread in the oven as opposed to a nonstick pan you'll need to preheat to 450F (230C) for 30 min and set the oven rack to the lowest point. Place the pita on a sheet of parchment paper and slide the parchment onto the stone or directly onto the rack. Bake for 2 minutes and quickly flip them over using a spatula. Bake them for another 2-3 min or until the pita puffs up and the bottom browns slightly.

How to Store Soft Pita Bread

When the pitas are done, you need to keep them warm and soft. Do this by loosely wrapping them in a tea towel when they are done. By wrapping them in a tea towel, you keep them soft for a longer time than without it, while at the same ensuring that some of the moisture can escape so that they don’t become soggy.

Instructions

In a bowl, pour warm milk and water, dry yeast, and sugar which will help the leavening.

Dissolve the yeast well or use fresh yeast if you prefer.

Add the flour and salt and start kneading vigorously by hand.

Now add the oil and continue kneading until you get a smooth and homogeneous dough.

Cover it with a cloth or cling film and let it rest until it doubles in size. It will take about 2 hours.

Once risen, cut the dough into 6 parts, forming balls.

Cover them again with a cloth to rest for another 10 minutes.

Work the dough with a rolling pin to obtain a thin disc about 20cm wide.

Cook them in a very hot non-stick pan flipping them over often, and let both sides brown without burning them.

When the bread starts to puff up it means it's ready!

Pile them up and brush them with butter and parsley.

Ready to stuff and enjoy!