Homemade pita bread is amazingly warm and soft. Works great as a snack or as part of a more substantial meal. Homemade pita is super easy to make! You only need 5 ingredients (and that’s including water).

Homemade Pita Bread

Homemade pita is a family favorite and very versatile. We use it as wraps, to dip into dips as a snack and as quick mini pizzas.

This pita recipe uses only inexpensive ingredients, so is a great way to fill out a meal and it just tastes great. It is not only cheaper than store bought pita bread but it even tastes better.

This pita bread recipe is vegan friendly. Some recipes will have you add in Greek yogurt. This one doesn’t use it and I don’t think it needs it.

Making Pita Dough

To start making the homemade pita, mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl and knead until smooth. It should not really be sticking to your hands at this point, after kneading. This dough will be quite dry compared to other types of dough.

You can combine and mix everything in a stand mixer attached with a dough hook. Just make sure to not let it run for too long as you can over work the dough. Up to 3 minutes in a stand mixer should be enough.

Put the dough in a bowl and cover with cling wrap or a damp towel. Let it sit until doubled in size. This should take an hour but can take longer if the temperature is cold or shorter if hot.

Divide the dough into 8 equal portions and roll into balls. Forming a ball shape will help with rolling them out into a circle. Now let the dough balls sit for around 15 minutes so the dough has time to relax a little. This will make it easier for them to be rolled out.

Rolling Out Pita

Add some flour to your work surface. You don’t want to use too much flour but just enough to stop the pita from sticking. Grab a dough ball and start rolling it out using a rolling pin. Aim to get the pita into a circle roughly 7 to 8 inches in diameter. This may change slightly depending how equal your dough portions were.

Roll out the dough carefully in order to not squash all of the air out of it. This will also mean that you won’t want to roll the dough out too thin. If the dough is not rolling out easily then leave it to rest a bit longer before continuing to roll out.

You also have the option to leave the dough to rise a little bit (15 minutes or so), after rolling it out and before putting it in the oven. This will also help the pita puff up when cooking. However it will result in the total cooking process being longer.

Cooking Homemade Pita In The Oven

Getting your oven as hot as it can go is the trick for cooking good pita. My oven only goes up to 480°F / 250°C so that is the temperature I cook at. The heat will help the pita to inflate and form a large pocket on the inside.

It is strongly recommended to preheat a pizza stone in the oven for this recipe, although you can use a baking sheet. The added heat from the pizza stone onto the dough will cause it to rise more rapidly at the beginning, helping with the inflating process. If you can successfully get the pita to inflate then you have a nice little pocket that you can put food into if you cut the pita in half.

Cooking Homemade Pita On Stove

If you do not have a pizza stone then you can also cook it on a stove top in a cast iron pan or in a frying pan. When cooking on the stove it is very important to make sure that the pan has fully heated up. You will want it as hot as you can get it to have any chance of the pita inflating.

I have not had too many successful attempts with getting a nice pocket to form in the pita by doing it this way. However it does still cook the pita through and warm homemade bread is always good. The cooking times, for cooking on a stove top, are about the same as the oven, although it may vary slightly based on the pan used.

What To Serve With Pita

Pita goes great with lots of different foods. You can wrap your favorite meat or protein in it, such as chicken gyros. Add some tzatziki, maybe some lettuce and tomato and you have a very nice wrap in your hands.

If your pita puffed up properly in the oven you should be able to cut it in half and open it up in the middle. You are able to place food in hollowed out portion of the pita and create a pita sandwich that way!

Some suggestions of things to have in your pita are falafel with some hummus spread on the pita or even some lamb or chicken souvlaki.

The pita is also great on its own. Tear of a chunk or cut it into smaller pieces and dip into a dip of your choice. I strongly recommend my Tzatziki Dip, it goes great with pita.

I also like to make pita pizzas out of any leftover pita I have. Add some sauce such as my Easy No Cook Blender Pizza Sauce then top with your preferred toppings and cheese. Place in a 390°F / 200°C oven for 10 minutes (or until cheese has melted) and there you go. Lunch is made!

Storing Homemade Pita

You can store the pita dough in the fridge before cooking. To do so store the dough in an air tight container after kneading it. It should last up to 5 days. It will also last, uncooked, in the freezer for up to 6 months.

When going to cook, make sure the dough comes to room temperature before splitting and then continuing the recipe as normal.

For maximum freshness, store cooked pita in an air tight container or a zip lock bag. Will last for roughly 3 days this way, you can also freeze coked pita for up to 3 months.

For best reheating, wrap in foil and place in heated oven until pita is warmed through.