Authentic Levantine Pita Bread
Homemade Pita has been an absolute game changer for me. It completely outweighs the convenience of store bought. Once you taste it, you'll notice the flavor, texture, and overall feel is just unmatched. It's really a simple and straightforward recipe with the most difficult part being patience. Take your time, don't rush, and you'll forever change the way you see pita.
Authentic Levantine Pita Bread:
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Ingredients
5-6g Active Dry Yeast
500g Bread Flour
10g Salt
300g Water (Warm)
Instructions
Weigh out 5-6g of Active Dry Yeast. Place in a small bowl. Add 100g of warm water. Whisk well and let it sit for about 15-20 minutes to bloom.
In a large mixing bowl weigh out 500g Bread Flour and set aside. Then grab a small bowl and weigh out 10g of salt and set aside.
Once the yeast has bloomed, add it to the flour along with another 200g of warm water and the salt. Begin mixing until you have a shaggy looking dough.
Turn the dough over onto a clean surface and begin kneading. If you like, add a bit of olive oil to your hands while kneading to help prevent the dough from sticking.
When the dough becomes sticky (2-3 minutes in), use the slap and fold method for kneading. Do this for about 5 minutes until it’s not sticky anymore. Then continue rolling/kneading for another few minutes. In total you will be kneading for 10-12 minutes.
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and set aside for at least 90 minutes to rise. In this recipe I let mine rise for 2.5 hours. You can also cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to rise overnight.
Once the dough has rise, place on a clean surface. Shape the dough into a ball or sphere. Then cut into 8 equal size pieces. Shape each piece into a ball then cover and let them rest for 20-30 minutes.
Now the dough is ready to be rolled. Lightly flour your surface and rolling pin. Roll the dough in one direction then flip the dough upside down & 90 degrees and roll in the next direction. Continue rolling and flipping like this until the dough has become a nice round circle. Try not to create any creases otherwise you won’t get the nice puff/pocket. Once the all the dough is rolled, cover and let them rest another 10-20 minutes.
If using a home oven preheat the oven to 500-550F. If you have a pizza stone now would be the time to place in the oven so it can heat up. If not you can place a baking sheet upside down as well to act as your hot surface.
If using a pizza oven, preheat the oven for 30 minutes or until the surface temperature is at least 600F or hotter.
Place each piece of bread in the oven (you may need to work in batches) and let them bake for about 4-5 minutes. If using a pizza oven, be sure to reduce the heat to a medium low and you’ll need to rotate every 90 seconds. The dough will slowly rise and create a beautiful pocket. Remove from the oven and place under a towel to preserve the warmth.
Bake all the bread then serve immediately or keep in an air tight bag for about a week in the fridge.
Enjoy!