this which side do you like better today
I'm gonna show you how to make homemade
pita fluffy pocket filled pita it's
super easy to make don't be intimidated
by bread this whole thing including
proofing kneading resting all of that
two hours two hours for fresh homemade
pita everyone should do this so the
dough for pita is very simple I'm gonna
start by mixing some warm water you
don't want to use water that's too hot
because it will kill your yeast and that
is sad adding a little bit of sugar some
salt olive oil and this is instant yeast
and I'm gonna whisk this together with a
little bit of whole wheat flour so a
little bit of whole wheat flour adds a
nice nutty flavour but we don't want to
use too much because it makes it
difficult to develop the gluten and we
need good gluten formation to get nice
pockets in our pita so now that this is
dissolved and smooth I'm gonna add the
all-purpose flour to it because it's
such a small batch and it comes together
so easily I like to mix it all by hand I
like to start by just bringing it
together with my fingers into a shaggy
mess so once we get it to this point I'm
gonna start kneading because this is
such a wet dough I like to do all the
kneading in a bowl if you turn it out
onto a board you're gonna end up adding
so much flour to it you're gonna end up
with a really dry PITA
I'm just folding it over turning my bowl
just keep going and we want it to get
nice and smooth it's gonna stay a little
sticky this is a wet dough the recipe
says to delicately fold it in a bowl for
10 minutes or you can do this for like
three your choice the choice is yours
I've been eating for about ten minutes
and you can see now the dough is nice
and smooth and soft it's still a little
sticky but that's what we want and now
I'm going to transfer it to a clean bowl
with a little bit of olive oil just to
keep it from sticking and I like to get
it totally coated in the oil so we don't
get a skin now I'm just gonna cover it
with a damp towel and this is just gonna
take it an hour to proof we want it to
double in size my pita dough has rested
for about an hour and as you can see now
it is doubled in size it is alive poufy
and I'm gonna punch it down which is
very satisfying I think it's my favorite
part of making bread so I'm just gonna
eyeball this into 6 portions I'm just
gonna roughly form these into balls I
like to not have any flour on the
counter the friction will help you form
the balls properly and we're not pushing
down it's more of like you're moving the
dough in circles not pushing down you
don't want to squish it you just want to
do it until it's smooth and you get rid
of this butthole
you don't want anybody home see that it
can help sometimes if you're a beginner
to use two hands and you can see I'm
just pushing it around
I'm not squishing it onto the table just
keep it in this circular motion we're
not pushing down being really gentle
there's a little size discrepancy but we
just eyeball that it's homemade it
doesn't matter I'm gonna cover it up for
just a little bit they need to relax
just a moment we're not trying to proof
it right now we just need to let the
gluten relax so it's ready to roll it's
really important to roll your pita out
thin enough we want to be at no more
than a quarter inch thick if it's too
thick you're not gonna get a pocket it's
just gonna be bread this is so do you
want a pita with a pocket just want to
roll it about a quarter inch thick way
easier than making for office so this
dough you can see is like rolling really
easily it's very soft and supple that's
because it's got so much moisture in it
and that moisture is gonna turn into
steam as soon as we stick it in the oven
and give us that nice big pocket
okay so now I'm gonna pitas all rolled
up I'm gonna cover them up with this
same damp towel just to make sure that
doesn't get like a crust on the surface
and they're gonna proof for just half an
hour they're gonna have a little bit
puffy and that's what we that's when
they're ready to bake the pita has now
proofed for half an hour and you can see
got a little poof going on check it out
it just looks like it's a little plumper
happier fluffier I have a preheated
baking steel my ovens as hot as it goes
and as soon as I get it in there I'm
gonna flip it over okay are you ready
are you ready it's gonna happen fast
okay and do what's gonna happen is the
exterior of the pita is gonna set right
away from the dry heat while on the
inside we're creating steam and because
the outside is set we're gonna be able
to like poof into a nice pocket one the
pita poof's it's done if you leave it in
there long enough to get color on the
top it's gonna dry out if you want a
little bit more char on there the best
thing to do is after this first bake you
can char it on the other side in a
cast-iron pan oh look it's there see ooh
check it out this is a nice flavors in
pita and I like to use these silicone
tipped tongue so I don't rip a hole like
I just did I rip the hole in it
check out this pita pocket whoo homemade
bread does not need to be intimidating
this stuff only takes two hours start to
finish so go ahead do this tonight make
PITA