You won't believe how easy it is to make whole wheat pita bread at home. Not only do they taste so much more delicious but they're so much cheaper than buying store bought. Say goodbye to stale and boring pitas and hello to soft, warm and fully pitas without the nasty additives!
A while ago, I got on a store-bought pita bread and hummus kick. Pita bread/pockets could be hard to find, and often they were dry and flavorless. Then I got on an eliminate-as-many-processed-foods-as-possible kick and started looking around at what I bought, and what I could instead make at home (for cheaper).
We have several pita recipes to liven these babies up: Breakfast Pitas, Avocado and Tomato Pitas, Marinated Meatball Pita, Cream Cheese Veggie Pita, and Grilled Chicken and Tzatziki Pitas, and Grilled Veggie and Hummus Pitas. Lest you not forget the hummus either: we have Classic Hummus, Lemon Pesto Hummus, and Greek Hummus. And falafel! You know you want a fresh, soft, warm pita bread to make these recipes. I swear, you will never go back.
It's similar to making any other bread, carefully mix your ingredients, add flour until the dough scrapes the bowl clean, let rise, punch down, let rise, shape, let rise, then bake. The key to getting the pockets to puff up, creating a pocket in the middle, is high heat. You're going to bake these at 450 degrees on the very bottom rack of your oven. For 5 minutes. That's it.
Baking bread definitely intimidated me at first. I started out making bread when I was first married in a bread maker, failed miserably a couple times, then banished the thought of being a bread maker forever. I recently tried again, practiced a bit, now I make two loaves every week or two (because I don't have a Bosch, just a Kitchen-Aid that will only fit enough dough for two large loaves. Boo). Haven't bought bread since.
My favorite part about baking bread is the aroma that lingers all evening. Especially when you leave your house and come back, then you're hit BAM with the smell of said freshly-baked bread. It's just lovely.
What To Fill Your Whole Wheat Pita Bread With;
- salad
- couscous
- grilled chicken or other meats
- feta cheese
- olives
- sun dried tomatoes
These pitas are so soft, and so much better than the store-bought ones! Just try them!
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Whole Wheat Pita Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ½ Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 packets active dry yeast 5 t
- 2 c warm water
- 2 Tablespoon olive oil plus ½ t
- 1 c white flour
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 Tablespoon salt
Instructions
- Place sugar, yeast, and warm water in mixing bowl, let proof for 5-10 minutes or until yeast is foaming.
- Add 2 T olive oil, then slowly add in white flour, 2 c whole wheat flour, and salt. Continue adding additional flour ½ c at a time and mixing until dough is pulling away from sides of the bowl and bowl is clean. Cover with a towel and let rest 30 minutes.
- Knead dough for 5 minutes, form a ball. Drizzle ball of dough with remaining ½ t oil, cover with towel and let rise in the bowl in a warm, draft-free place for about an hour, or until doubled.
- Gently punch the dough down, cover, and let rise again 20 minutes.
- Prep 3 flat baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly flour clean surface and divide dough into 12 balls, weighing balls if you can. Take each round and cup it with your hand.
- Roll each dough ball with your cupped hand around and into the table, rotating it until it is a tight ball. Roll out with rolling pin until ¼" thick and place 4 on each baking sheet. Cover each baking sheet with towel and let rise 1 more hour, where each round is puffy.
- Preheat oven to 450°F (230°C) and place rack on bottom level of the oven.
- Bake each baking sheet of pita rounds about 4-5 minutes, or until puffed up and very lightly browned. Remove from baking sheet and wrap a stack in a towel.
Nutrition
Emily Kemp says
I've never made homemade pitas before, can't wait to try them!