Whole-Wheat Pita Bread

13 November 2020

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These whole-wheat pita bread are easy to prepare and require few ingredients. Delicious soft and great to pair with homemade hummus, salads or foods cooked on the barbeque.

I love making flatbread because it is so easy and quick, compared to making bread loaves.

You can make them either in the oven or on the stovetop. Each method produces soft and puffy bread which is freezer friendly.

You might also like my cherry tomato and basil focaccia, or my delicious naan bread recipes.

If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and other readers knowing what you think! And don’t forget to take a picture and tag me @thegourmetlarder or hashtag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram or Facebook. I love seeing what you’ve been baking! 🙂

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INGREDIENTS

For this recipe all you need are these ingredients:

Yeast – ferments the natural sugars in the flour and releases carbon dioxide, but because the dough is elastic and stretchable the carbon dioxide cannot escape, causing the dough to rise.

Using fresh or dried yeast, click here for further guidance!

White bread flour – is made from hard, high-protein varieties of wheat, which have a higher gluten content than other flours. Gluten is the substance that makes the dough more elastic and stretchable, giving the final baked bread its fluffiness and lightness.

Wholemeal flour – Wholemeal flour is generally made from a variety of grains but in some circumstances can be 100% wheat in the UK. It is an unrefined flour, made from grinding the whole grain. Wholemeal can also contain a variety of grains e.g. rye, spelt, corn, barley or buckwheat. Both Wholemeal and whole wheat flour will work in this recipe and add more flavour to the bread.

Olive oil – enhances the texture, flavour, and moisture of bread. Also free fatty acids in the oil, make the dough softer and easier to handle.

Caster or granulated white sugar – provides food for the yeast to activate.

TIP: I highly recommend adding salt to your doughs and pastry. Salt helps balance out the sweetness and richness. It also elevates the other ingredients, bring out the best characteristics of any recipe. I recommend Maldon Sea salt flakes or Cornish sea salt.

EQUIPMENT SUGGESTIONS

I think I have said it before that I am not a big fan of plastic, so I like this type of glass measuring jug for calculating my liquids.

Measuring Spoons Set, Magnetic Stainless Steel

These measuring spoons are really handy for getting the right measurements of those small ingredients. I also like the fact that they are magnetic, sticking together and narrow to fit into spice jars.

Rolling Pin with Removable Silicone Thickness Guide Rings, Beech Wood (40 x 3.9 cm)

I love this rolling pin, its variable guide rings make rolling out biscuit doughs, pizzas, or flat breads so much easier!

Please check out my Shop for a curated collection of some of my favourite baking equipment. The Gourmet Larder is an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

TIP: I highly recommend using metric measurements and a digital kitchen scale, rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes on this blog are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.

NUTRITION

Serving: one pita bread

Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on factors such as precision of measurements, brands, ingredient freshness, or the source of nutrition data.

I strive to keep the information as accurate as possible but make no warranties regarding its accuracy.

I encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

STORAGE AND FREEZING

These pitas are best enjoyed fresh and hot out of the oven.

Freezing: You can also freeze them baked for up to 3 months. Warm them up in the oven from frozen

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Wholewheat Pita Bread

Preparation:15

Baking:5

Proving:1

Total:1 20

Servings: 10 pitas

These whole-wheat pita bread are easy to prepare and require few ingredients. Delicious soft and great to pair with homemade hummus, salads or with meats cooked on the barbeque.

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INGREDIENTS LIST

300 ml water (at room temperature)
1 tsp caster sugar
10 g fresh yeast (3g fast-action dried yeast )
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (plus 1 tbsp for grilling)
200 g wholemeal bread flour (BL150)
280 g white bread flour (BL80)
1 tsp fine sea salt

Preparation

The dough: In a large bowl place, the milk, water and sugar and stir in the yeast. Leave to sit for 5 mins for the yeast to start working.
Then add in the olive oil, whole-wheat flour and 240g of the strong white bread flour and lastly the salt. Using your hands or an electric mixer, bring the mixture together into a soft dough ball. Gradually add in the remaining flour, continuing to mix until the dough begins to clean the sides of the bowl. Once this happens, stop adding the flour (you may not use all the flour)
Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead for 5 mins until you have a soft, smooth and elastic dough. Try to knead using as little extra flour as possible, just enough so that the dough doesn’t stick. Alternatively, you can mix it in a stand mixer for 5-6 minutes.
Proving: Once kneaded, place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a cloth or cling film and leave to double in size, approximately 45-60 minutes, it can take a little longer depending on the temperature in your home.
When the dough has doubled in size, divide the dough into 10 balls. Place the balls on a baking tray and cover them with a damp cloth and let them sit for 10-15 minutes, so they can recover from being handled.
Now decide which method you are going to use to bake them. If you are going to use the oven method, preheat the oven to 230°C fan / 480°F / Gas 10 and put a baking tray in the middle of the oven to get hot.
After the final resting, lightly oil your work surface and using a rolling pin, roll out each piece of dough to a circle 15 cm in diameter.

Oven method

Working in batches, place the rolled-out pitas directly on the hot baking tray (I was only able to fit 2 at a time). Bake for 3-4 minutes. Remove from the oven and cover the baked pitas with a clean cloth while you are working on the rest.

Stove top method

Place a pan over medium heat. Drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil and wipe off any excess.
Working with one pita at a time, cook the pita bread for 1-2 minutes on each side in the pan, until they puff up slightly. Keep baked pita covered with a clean cloth while you work on the rest.