Once you start making this homemade pita bread recipe, you won't be able to stop! Soft, puffy, and flavorful, it beats any kind from the grocery store.
This homemade pita bread recipe comes from my friend Molly Yeh’s Short Stack Yogurt cookbook. It’s been on my list to try since the book was first released two years ago, but for one reason or another, I never made it until this spring. When I finally did, what Jack and I thought would be a fun, one-time cooking project turned into a full-on pita bread obsession. We started putting extra yogurt on the grocery list just so we could make it!
If you’re thinking, “Wait. Yogurt? In pita bread?”, you’re not crazy. It’s not a typical pita bread recipe ingredient, but Molly’s book is all about yogurt – how it’s a versatile, flavorful ingredient that happens to be good for you too. She uses it in a huge range of recipes – from soup to cookies to ranch dressing and mac and cheese.
In my opinion, it’s the secret ingredient that makes this pita bread so exceptional. It’s not only thicker, softer, and puffier than any other homemade or store bought pita I’ve tried, but also it has a tangy, sourdough-like flavor. It’s just as delicious plain as it is with a filling or a dip, and as Molly writes, it’d make a pretty great sleeping bag too. If your experience is anything like ours, once you start making it, you won’t be able to stop.
How to Make Pita Bread
This pita bread recipe is easy to make! Here’s how it goes:
First, make the dough. Activate the yeast by mixing it with warm water and a teaspoon of sugar. When the yeast mixture foams, add it to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, and mix it with the flour, salt, remaining sugar, oil, and yogurt. Knead the dough, either with the stand mixer on medium speed or by hand, until it’s soft and slightly sticky, 7 to 10 minutes.
Once you’ve kneaded the dough, let it rise. Transfer it to an oiled bowl and cover it with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Set it aside for about 2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.
Then, divide the dough into balls. This recipe makes 12 small flatbreads, so you’ll split it up into 12 equal parts. Cover the balls, and let them rise for 20 more minutes.
Next, roll out the pita bread! Use a rolling pin to roll the dough balls into 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick circles. Keep any dough you’re not working with covered as you roll out the pita.
Once you’ve rolled out all the dough, bake! Arrange the dough circles on two parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake one sheet at a time at 500 degrees until the pita bread is puffy and golden brown on top. That’s it! Transfer the freshly baked pita to a wire rack to cool, and enjoy.
Note: When we make this pita bread recipe, there are always a few pita that don’t puff up to form pockets. That’s ok! They’re still great for dipping or enjoying as flatbreads.
Pita Bread Recipe Tips
- Weigh your flour. Because this pita bread recipe uses a large amount of flour, you should weigh it if you can. This way, you’ll know exactly how much flour you’re using. Cup measurements are much less precise, as they can vary based on a variety of factors (your specific measuring cups, how tightly you pack your flour, etc.). If you don’t have a kitchen scale, check out this post for my best tips on measuring flour with measuring cups.
- Bake one sheet at a time. Because temperatures vary throughout an oven, bake one sheet at a time for the most even cooking. You don’t want the pita bread on the bottom rack to burn before the top rack starts to brown! And with only one baking sheet in the oven, you can position a rack in the center to give the pita space to puff up.
- Rotate the pan. Jack and I start checking our pita bread a few minutes before we think it’ll be ready, at around the 5 minute mark. At that point, if one side of the pan is more puffy or golden than the other, we rotate it and bake for a few more minutes so that both sides can cook evenly.
- Freeze some for later. Whenever we make this recipe, we almost always freeze half the batch to have on hand for snacking later on. If you plan to store and reheat the pita bread, pull it out of the oven just before it starts to brown. Molly recommends thawing or reheating it in the toaster, where it’ll brown up without getting too crisp or burnt.
Pita Bread Serving Suggestions
This pita bread is so soft, fluffy, and flavorful that we honestly love to eat it plain! However, it’s also fantastic with all sorts of fillings, spreads, and dips. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Fill it with crispy baked falafel, pickled red onions, tahini sauce, and fresh herbs.
- Stuff it with egg salad, vegan egg salad, or my chickpea salad sandwich filling.
- Toast it, slice it into wedges, and add it to a crudité platter with white bean dip and fresh veggies.
- Load it up with my easy chickpea shawarma.
- Use it to scoop up saucy shakshuka or baked feta.
- Pile it with grilled veggies and tzatziki sauce for a light summer meal.
- Top it with peanut butter, sliced banana or apple, and a drizzle of honey.
- Or dip it into hummus, baba ganoush, or curried red lentil dip for a healthy snack!
How do you like to eat your homemade pita bread? Let me know in the comments!
More Favorite Breads and Tortillas
If you love this homemade pita bread recipe, try making one of these recipes next:
Homemade Pita Bread
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons), active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon sugar
- 3 3/4 cups bread flour (469 grams), plus more for dusting
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the bowl
- 3/4 cup whole-milk Greek yogurt, (we use Stonyfield)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine the water, yeast, and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Let the mixture sit until it’s foamy on top, about 5 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the flour, salt, and remaining tablespoon sugar. Add the yeast mixture, oil, and yogurt, and mix to combine. Knead the dough, either in the stand mixer on medium speed or by hand on a clean work surface, adding more flour if needed, until it’s soft and slightly sticky, 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and let rise until it’s doubled in size, about 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 500°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and divide it into 12 equal balls. Cover and let rise an additional 20 minutes.
- Roll the balls out into circles that are 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick. Place them onto the baking sheets an inch apart, then bake, one sheet at a time, until they’re puffy and lightly browned on top. Begin checking at 5 minutes. We bake them for about 8 minutes, rotating the pan after the 5 minute mark if one side of the sheet is puffing up more than the other. Transfer the pitas to a wire rack to cool.
I love Pita bread recipe and yours was so good! My whole family loved them and have already asked me to make them again. Your directions were so easy to follow..Thanks so much!
I’m so glad you all loved them!
I made this recipe today for the first time and I have to say that it is delicious! The thing was that I made the pita bread with all wheat flour and it’s not till now that I’m reading the comments about the 50:50 flour suggestion, so they did not create air bubbles and were definitely a bit dense (won’t be able to stuff them, darn!) , but they’re still very yummy! I also used sour cream instead because I could not find whole Greek yogurt anywhere! But I will totally make them again the right way! Thank you for your amazing blog!
I’m so glad you loved them!
Can I cook these pita bread on the stovetop using cast iron skillet?
I haven’t tried it that way, so I’m not sure.
Hi! I love your recipe! Btw, can I make the pita using cast iron pans instead of baking it? Thank you!!!
Hi Abby, I’m not sure, I haven’t tried it on the stove.
Great recipe, thanks. I’ve made 2 batches now and got 24 fully puffed pitas. The only problem is that I get a thicker bottom half and the top part that puffs out is very thin, so quite crispy when slightly browned. Any idea how to get a more even puff? I assume it’s something to do with the temperature of the oven or preheated tray.
Hi Tom, I don’t know how to solve that, but you could bake them a little less so that the thinner part doesn’t get crispy.
Tom— The best way to avoid this when you make pita is this:
Once you’ve rolled out the individual pitas, flip them over before you bake them so that the side that was down when you rolled them out is now facing up.
This will make each side of the pocket more even and might help the puff too.
That worked perfectly, thanks!
We made this recipe using your suggestions on how to substitute in some whole wheat flour. They were great! We had over half our pitas puff and I wonder if hot oven temperature is a factor. It seems like the second baking sheet didn’t puff up as much as the first and I think the oven would have been a bit cooler. Thanks so much for the recipe! They were amazing!
Just got done making these beauties, followed your recipe exactly, right down to measuring the flour. But none of my pitas puffed. What could I have done wrong? They taste amazing with homemade hummus (your recipe too), but I really wanted to see them puff.
Hi Lisa, I’d try with new yeast – these days many stores have been selling expired yeast that doesn’t work as well.
I made them : the oven was way too hot : they were browned too quickly. So sad.
Hi Jess, did you start checking them after 5 minutes?
Hi!!! Any way to make this vegan and substitute the yogurt?
Hi Jeanna, I haven’t had success with a vegan pita recipe yet, but when I do I’ll post it and let you know!
Thank you so much for the quick reply! I am going through your vegan recipes here and can’t wait to try some of them!!!
Can I ask which types of vegan/non dairy yogurts you’ve tried that have been unsuccessful so I don’t repeat your unsuccessful attempts? PS have your cookbook, have given to friends, love getting emails.
Hi Janine! We love your recipes! Is there a way to do this without a stand mixer? I have a hand mixer but that’s all…
Hi Jenny, you can mix it by hand following the directions exactly as listed until you have a smooth ball.
I have a really old stand mixer that has dough hooks, but no paddle attachment. Should I use the dough hooks or just my hands (or a wooden spoon?)
Hi Traci, the dough hook will work great!
Hello,
I tried this recipe this evening. I have 3 boys and they thought the pitas were amazing – there were no leftovers 🙂 I had limited success though with the ‘puffiness’ of each pita. Of the entire batch I had only two that really puffed up. Any tips to ensure that each will puff up?
Thank you.
Hi Jennifer, I’m so glad you all loved it! I’d check your yeast – right now some stores and online sources are selling expired yeast. It’s affected some of our baking in side-by-side testing.
Hey! The pitas look so tempting! 🙂
Just a couple of questions –
1. If I use instant dry yeast instead of active dry yeast, can I add it in straight with the flour and do I still need to add sugar?
2. When you say they freeze well, do you mean the half baked pitas, or can I freeze the unbaked dough balls?
Hi Rashi, I’d put the yeast in at the same time it says in the recipe – you still want to make sure it gets foamy.
I take the pitas out just a few minutes early (they’re past half-baked – they should have puffed up in the oven and be cooked all the way through. That’s when I freeze them. They’re great that way, I wouldn’t freeze the unbaked dough balls.
Hope that helps!
Can I use AP flour for this? That’s all we have right now 🙂
Hi Kristen, I think it would work out just fine.
How can I get the nutritional information for your recipes?
I’m sorry, I don’t post nutritional info. You can calculate it using my fitness pal or another similar site.
Do you think I could use my homemade whole-milk yogurt rather than a commercial brand and still have success with this recipe?
Hi Karen, I think that would be fine!
Can these be made gluten free. My daughter in law is gluten intolerant.
I’m sorry, I don’t have a gluten free version of this recipe.
As you mentioned this recipe uses ALOT of flour and makes alot of pitas! Do you think I could just cut the recipe in half to make a smaller batch? TIA!
Hi Denise, you could cut it in half and make 6 pitas. We like to make 12 (for the effort) because they freeze really well!
Do you think this would work if it was gluten free and dairy free? I use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten free flour blend for baking and coconut yogurt which is quite thick.
Hi Melanie, I can’t say… GF flour doesn’t always act the same way, especially in yeasted breads, so I’m not sure.
The recipe sounds great but I have an allergy to yeast. Would I be able to substitute baking powder or cream of tartar for the yeast. I love your recipes and have used them lots during my quarantine.
Hi Harold, I haven’t tried it without yeast. I know it’s possible to use sourdough starter for puffy pita, but that would be a different recipe with different ratios.
Thank you so much Jeanine for your suggestion using Sourdough. Interestingly enough I can have sourdough since the main culture is lactobacillus. I do appreciate your response and your recipes.
Any thoughts on how to make this with 100% whole wheat?
I haven’t tried it – I’d probably start with a 50/50 mix so it’s not too dense. I’d also use measure it by weight since whole wheat flour is heavier than AP.
Thank you so much.
Added two extra tbs of water to the dough. I also weighed the flour. They didn’t puff up like in the picture but they were amazingly delicious.
I just made this recipe with whole wheat bread flour and it came out amazing 😍
I’m so glad you loved it!