Some things are a lot easier to make than you might think!
Earlier this week I wanted to make us falafel for dinner. I’ve been trying to cut back on my grocery spending so I decided I would try and make the pita bread on my own to save a few bucks. Turns out to be probably the easiest bread I’ve ever made. If you can make pizza dough or dinner rolls, you can make beautiful pita!
The ingredients are extremely basic, so it’s more about the technique to get this bread just right. After letting the dough rise, I cut it into 8 even pieces. I roll each piece into a ball, then flatten them slightly with my palms.
Then I let those dough pieces rest while I preheat the oven to a blazing 450 degrees. The temperature is really important! If the oven’s not hot enough, your bread won’t get all puffy. And that’s the whole point of pita bread, right? So once the oven and pan are preheated, I take those discs and roll them out to be about 6″ across. They get covered and wait for their turn in the oven, two at a time.
They only take a few minutes to bake each! Easy peasy.
- 3 c. all-purpose flour
- 2 t. dry instant yeast
- 2 t. sugar
- 2 t. salt
- 2 T. canola oil
- 1 c. lukewarm water
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add in all the ingredients in the order listed.
- Mix on medium speed for 10 minutes (or 15 minutes if mixing by hand).
- Cover the bowl and let the dough rise in a warm place until it doubles in bulk.
- Gently press the dough down onto a floured board and divide it into 8 even pieces.
- Roll each piece into a ball and flatten slightly with your palm. Cover the dough balls and let them rest while you preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Place an empty baking sheet into the hot oven to heat while you shape the breads.
- Take each dough ball and firmly roll them out until each one is about 6″ across. Dust the circles with flour and bake them on the hot baking sheet 2 at a time, for 5 minutes each batch (or until they are puffed up and start to brown on the bottom).
- When the hot pitas come out of the oven, cover them with a clean dishtowel until they cool. Once cool, you can store them in a ziploc bag for up to a day. They’re also delicious straight out of the oven!
They are so soft and SO much better than that crusty pita bread you get in the store. Even if they don’t all puff up perfectly (about 25% of mine stay pretty flat), they still make a delicious vehicle for hummus or really any type of sandwich.
And here’s how to make it into an easy weeknight meal! Fill it with Trader Joe’s AMAZING falafel, which heat up in a couple minutes and are about as close to authentic as you could hope for. I Instgrammed the deliciousness when we had it a couple nights ago. Just looking at it makes me so hungry!
Now I need to start working on a whole grain version!
-Lauren
Matt @ Runner Savvy
Totally making this.