Anyone out there make their own pocket or pita bread? I’m challenged to consistently bake the damn things so they puff up with a uniform thickness on both sides. My results are not bad but a little frustrating.
Ok, here’s the deal. Basic recipe is flour, water, salt & olive oil. Sometimes I use honey & yeast or sourdough starter. Frankly, the yeast or no yeast seems to not make a big difference.
Then roll the suckers out and let sit for 30-90 minutes. Too thin like 1-2 mm and they bubble but don’t pocket. Too think, and it’s more bread. Usually, roll it out to about 1/4 inch or say 3-5 mm.
Usually bake on the lowest rack and the highest gas setting (9) I have. Used to have a pizza stone, but that cracked when I put frozen dough on a heated stone. Now I use a big cast iron skillet.
sometimes, the pocket puffs up really nicely and uniformly. Often it puffs part way. Often get one side over cooked and when flipped the puffed side is too thin and crispy. I cut up and then bake failures into pita chips. I cook about 2 minutes per side. I’ve also done it in a frying pan with a lid, and it worked ok but I haven’t played around with doing it that way enough.
size seems immaterial. Sometimes I make little one’s for my daughter and they puff up like a fugo fish, but other’s barely puff.
I’ve had some that I think are great where it pufs up pretty quickly and the edges rise up (only the center in contact with the baking sheet).
Issues. One, the bread sticks and so end up with a thick hard side and a poofed out thin side. Two, one side is much thicker than the other side (and often one side crunchly like a cracker and the other side is nice and chewy). Three, just getting a uniform poof up.
So any suggestions on how to bake pocket bread/pita bread?
If you can get a copy of Beard on Bread he had an excellent recipe, with good directions, for pocket pitas. I use it at work, where I bake the pitas for our pita sandwiches.
I too have found out that size doesn’t matter so much as the thickness of the pita when it’s rolled out.
I don’t bake on a stone or skillet, just a heavy sheet pan lined with baking paper.
My pitas for the sandwiches are about 6 ounces of dough, rolled out to be 7 inches across, give or take a little.
If you can’t find a copy of the book I can send you either the recipe, or the book itself, I have an extra copy. Best all around book on bread I’ve ever used.
I was going to make them next weekend using this recipe that I discovered while googling.
The only modification I am going to make is that I have this little wire thing for making chapatis/phulki (it’s an Indian bread) puff on the coil/stovetop, and I think I’m going to try making pita the same way we make chapati on the stovetop, instead of baking in the oven. The mind recoils at trying to make something puff in the oven.
cover with towel and let rise in a warm place until it doubles in size (2-4 hrs) Grab orange-size balls from edge of dough and form into 1/4" thick circles. Cover and let rise again on cloth for 30 min. Heat oven to 475. Place dough directly on racks in oven. As soon as dought rises into a mound, 2-5 min. place under broiler for a few seconds until lightly browned. Now this is a basic bread dough. I’ve always bought Pita bread from the store. My Siti used to make the big round bread but she can’t anymore and my Aunt rarely makes it either. If you want the recipe let me know.
It has been my experience that the thickness is crucial. I base this more on making corn tortillas (which you also want to puff up), but I have also made pita on occasion and observed this as well.
I’ve noticed a few other things as well. It seems like a uniform thickness is also important, not just how thick it is. Also how wet or dry the dough is seems to make a big difference. It also seems that giving the dough time to soak up as much as the liquid as possible helps.
All of these are just observations that may or may not be true (although I’m virtually certain about the importance of getting the proper thickness).
Oh, and one final thing, you really need to have things pretty hot.
Thanks so much for the replies. **Baker ** - that’s about the hundreth time someone has recommended Beard on Bread. Appreciate the offer for your extra copy, but since I live overseas save the postage and I will pick up a copy next time I’m in the US.
I found this site today that had some tips on pita with photos.
Do you flip your pita’s or just bake on one side? I find I need to flip once after it’s puffed up or the pan down side overcooks.