Fresh pita bread is delicious and far superior to its store-bought counterpart. The trick to making pita at home is a very hot oven and a very hot baking surface. A baking stone is ideal but you can also create a hot baking surface by using an inverted baking sheet. Just make sure to place your stone or your baking sheet in the oven when you start preheating the oven, so that it’s able to heat up along with the oven. When the oven comes to temperature, wait at least 20 minutes before baking the pitas, to allow the stone to get nice and hot.

Pita is a fairly quick yeasted dough, although the rise times may vary depending on your kitchen’s temperature. The colder your kitchen, the longer the dough will take to rise and double.

Pita Bread

Yield: 6 pitas

1 ¼ cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

2 ¼ tsp instant yeast

1 cup warm water

1 Tb olive oil

In a large bowl, combine the flours, salt, and yeast. Add the water and olive oil and stir together until a rough dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a clean, lightly floured surface. Knead by hand until the dough is smooth and soft.

Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and let rise until the dough has doubled, about 30-40 minutes.

Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. To shape the pieces into rounds, gather the edges of the dough piece together to form a ball. Lightly drag the seam-side of the round across a clean surface to create surface tension, until the rounded dough is taut. Cover with the clean kitchen towel and let rise for 15-20 minutes.

While the dough is rising, place a baking stone in the oven and preheat the oven to 500°.

Roll out each dough round to about ⅛- ¼ inch thick. Cover again with the clean towel and let rise for an additional 10-15 minutes.

Carefully transfer three of the pitas onto the preheated baking stone. Bake for 2 minutes, then carefully flip and bake for an additional 1 ½ – 2 minutes. Remove the pitas to a cooling rack and repeat with the three remaining pita doughs.