Homemade pita bread is both fun and easy. This recipe will fill your home with the smell of homemade bread. Be warned once you try this your family will never accept store bought again.

Makes 6 large or or 12 small pita breads.
Total prep and cook time: About 1 ½ hours.

Ready

• 1 Tbl regular yeast (not rapid rise)
• 1 ¼ cup warm water (100°F)
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 cups all purpose flour + some for rolling
• Olive oil (about 1 Tbl)

Set

• Mixer with a dough hook
• Bowl
• Rolling pin
• Cookie sheet with ½” lip
• pizza stone (optional)

Go

1. Add yeast to warm water in mixing bowel.
2. Let sit for 10 minutes.
3. Add flour in thirds and mix on slow to medium speed.
4. Once it comes together into a ball let the dough knead for 8 minutes.
5. Remove from mixer and places dough into a lightly oiled bowl.
6. Cover and set aside in draft free place until the dough doubles in size. This should take about 45 minutes to an hour.
7. Preheat oven to 425°F with pizza stone if you have one.
8. Punch down and pull out dough onto a floured surface.
9. Divide into 6 or 12 pieces as desired.
10. Roll each piece into a circle about ¼ inch thick.
11. Invert cookie sheet and put rolled circles of dough on the bottom.
12. Bake for 10-15 minutes for the large and 8-20 minutes for small.

What you should know

The reason for inverting the cooking sheet is that the lip around the pan helps create a hot pocket of air underneath the pan that helps keep it hot. You don’t need to do this if you have a pizza stone.

Pita bread goes great with barbecue and grilling. Just oil the baked pita and toss on the grill for a minute or two to re-heat.

Kids love to punch down the dough.