This whole grain homemade pita bread requires less than 10 minutes of hands-on prep work. Use it for sandwiches, chips, and more!
I’ve been seeing homemade pita bread recipes go past my radar for a few months, but hadn’t been paying too much attention until last week. Meanwhile, I’d been trying to hone in on my own whole grain bread recipe. In a fortuitous turn of events, we had the inspiration to use the one for the other. And just like that, a star was born. Although my dough wasn’t quite right for loaf bread, it was perfect for pitas. The whole grains added the perfect texture and chewiness.
We’ve been eating this homemade pita bread like crazy – I don’t think we’ll be buying store bought again! The recipe seems to be fairly foolproof; we tried several variations and had success every time. If you’ve wanted to try your hand at making homemade bread, pitas are a great place to start. You’ll love how the pita puffs up and makes such a lovely little pocket.
How to make pita bread
The first few steps of this homemade pita bread recipe are similar to how you’d make a regular loaf of sandwich bread. First, you mix all the ingredients together until they form a ball of dough. This dough ball is then kneaded for around six minutes (you can use either a stand mixer for this or do it by hand). At this stage, the dough should be slightly sticky but shouldn’t be super wet. Let the dough rise for an hour, or until doubled in size (the microwave is an excellent place to let your dough rise since it’s free of drafts. Make sure you don’t accidentally turn it on though!).
The real fun begins after the dough has risen. You’ll need to separate the dough into eight equal parts, and then roll each section of dough out to form a circle. Don’t worry if the pita breads are oddly shaped; as long as they’re thin enough, they’ll cook just fine! Bake the pita at around 500ºF for a total of four minutes. Then wrap them in a tea towel as soon as they’re out of the oven and let them steam in a bag. This last step is important, as the steaming makes the homemade pita bread soft and chewy.
How to eat pita bread
Pita bread is incredibly versatile and can be used in any number of dishes. A few of our favorite ways to chow down on this homemade pita bread are:
- As a pizza base—pita pizzas are where it’s at! We’ve made quite a few pita pizza recipes, but my particular favorites are this goat cheese and tomato pita pizza and this roasted red pepper pizza.
- Homemade pita chips—pita chips are easy to make yourself and have a much better texture than the ones at the store. These za’atar pita chips are perfect for dunking into hummus and are a crowd favorite.
- As a sandwich—pita bread is fairly neutral in flavor, so you can load them up with any sandwich toppings you like. These Greek pita sandwiches are especially good during the warmer months, and this cauliflower shawarma pita recipe is the perfect winter lunch.
Looking for more easy bread recipes?
- Sourdough Bread Recipe: Simplified (most popular)
- Artisan Dutch Oven Bread
- Pita Bread Recipe
- Healthy Banana Bread
- Chocolate Banana Bread
- Multigrain Artisan No-Knead Bread
- Garlic Herb Focaccia Bread
- Popover Recipe
This recipe is…
Vegetarian. To make vegan, omit the honey or use maple syrup instead.
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Whole Grain Homemade Pita Bread
- Prep Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 29 minutes
- Yield: 8 pitas 1x
Description
This whole grain homemade pita bread requires less than 10 minutes of hands-on prep work. Use these for sandwiches, chips, and more!
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup oats
- ½ cup wheat germ
- ¼ cup milled flaxseed (or mill your own in a coffee grinder)
- 2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
- 2 teaspoons (1 packet) instant yeast
- ½ tablespoon honey
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 cup warm water
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine all ingredients and mix with a spatula until a rough ball is formed.
- Attach the dough hook to the mixer and turn on to the lowest setting. Slowly raise the speed to medium, adding more water or flour as necessary to get a dough ball that is just slightly sticky to touch. Knead for 6 minutes at medium speed. When kneading is complete, remove the dough hook. Place the bowl in a warm spot, cover it with a towel, and allow the dough to double in size, about 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 500°F, with a pizza stone if available.
- Separate the dough into 8 equal parts. Shape each section into a small ball. On a floured surface, roll each dough ball into a circle using a rolling pin; make each circle about 1/8″ to 1/4″ thick and 7” in diameter.
- Place the dough circles on the pizza stone (or on the oven grates). Bake for 2 minutes on one side, then flip and bake for 2 more minutes. Watch for the dough to puff up as it bakes!
- Remove the pita from the oven, gently compress the puffed bread, and wrap in a tea towel while still warm. Place the towel in a bag for about 15 minutes to capture the steam and allow for a naturally soft and chewy pita.
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Greek
Keywords: homemade pita bread, whole wheat pita bread, pita bread recipe
I watched the professionals do this when I was at a Greek cooking class last summer. It was amazing to eat the pita bread fresh out of the oven. If I remember right, there are quite a few steps to it, and it puffs up (looks like I remembered it right according to your directions)! I am generally not a big bread maker but I just might give this a try! :)
Thanks for the recipe! I have been wanting to give pita a shot but I was too chicken. Where do your buy your vital wheat gluten? I have never worked with that product.
You’ll have to try it out! I usually get vital wheat gluten at Fresh Market. It comes in a little box.
Love that this only makes 8 pitas! Can’t wait to try it, thanks for sharing :)
Barry made you that rolling pin I bet. Can’t wait to see the final recipe for whole grain bread too!
We got the rolling pin at a local art shop in here Indy…who is Barry?
Thank you for sharing this! We make a lot of middle eastern inspired food in our house and making ones own pita sounds like the perfect idea. I’m inspired!
I’m a little worried. I couldn’t get all the dry ingredients kneeded in. I only got about half. Perhaps there should be more liquid? My dough is super stiff and dry. I hope it goes well, I wanted to bring it to a get-together tonight. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
That’s weird! You could try adding a little more water. It should be slightly sticky to the touch. Let us know!
First batch didn’t puff up, so I tried making them thinner for the second round and those didn’t puff up either. The dough was very dry. Are you sure the proportions in the recipe are right? My bread recipes call for 1 cup water to 2.5 cups of flour. This calls for about double that.
By “oatmeal” do you mean dry uncooked raw oats, or 1 cup of cooked warm oatmeal?
Thanks!!
hi!
It calls for uncooked dry oatmeal. Make sure your dough is moist and not too dry when making it… Enjoy!
When calling for the cup of oatmeal; is this just a cup of rolled oats, or do you actually make oatmeal with the oats and water?
Hi!
It’s just rolled oats :)
I wanted whole grain pita but couldn’t find any in-store so decided to try making my own. They tasted great but didn’t puff up as much as they should have (though I have idea on that), so seperating them was difficult. They were pretty crispy too so I think baking them 30s less would help. I’m gonna try the recipe again because they made delicious breakfast wraps. Thanks for the recipe.
I have tries to make pita for years with moderate success but this recipe worked! Thanks for another fantastic recipe.
★★★★★