Home made pita bread is very easy, and it's much better than the thing you see in the supermarket.
Chef's notes
** You can make the dough with a stand mixer which is much easier, but it's always better to knead with your hand.
** You can sprinkle some cheese or spread some Zatar with olive oil on top of the dough before putting it in the oven .
Steps
1
Making the dough
Ingredients
1 package of active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 C luke warm water
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 C bread flour
1 tsp of olive oil
Combine the yeast with the sugar and let it foam .
Next add the salt and 1 C of flour and mix, then start adding more flour until the dough come's together into a ball.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it's smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turn it over to coat, and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise until double in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
2
Baking the bread
Preheat your oven to 500 degree with a pizza stone in the lower third of the oven for about half an hour.
Punch the dough down, divide it into 8 pieces, and gather each piece into a ball; keeping all of them lightly floured and covered while you work. Allow the balls of dough to rest, covered, for 15 minutes so they will be easier to roll out.
Using a rolling pin, roll each dough ball into a circle that is about 8-inches in diameter and 1/4-inch thick. Make sure the circle is totally smooth, with no creases or seams in the dough, which can prevent the pitas from puffing up properly. Cover the disks as you roll them out, but do not stack them up. Put 2 pita rounds at a time on the hot pizza stone and bake for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the bread puffs up like a balloon and is pale golden. Watch closely; they bake fast. Remove the bread from the oven and place on a rack to cool for 5 minutes; they will naturally deflate, leaving a pocket in the center. Wrap the pitas in a large kitchen towel to keep them soft.
