Lebanese Pita Bread (Traditional Khubz)

4.60 from 5 votes

Lebanese Pita Bread (Traditional Khubz)

Making your own Lebanese Pita Bread is not as difficult as you may think! This recipe includes 3 different methods to make this quintessential Levantine flatbread.

Prep Time15

Rise time1

Total Time1 15

Course: Appetizer, Brunch, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine: Levantine, Middle Eastern

Servings: Pitas

Author: Luay Ghafari

Cost: $5

Equipment

Baking stone, Pizza stone, or baking steel

Ingredients

1 cup Water - 240 grams
2 ¼ tsp Instant yeast - 1 packet / 7 grams
½ tsp Sugar - 2 grams
2 tbsp Olive oil - 30ml
¼ cup Whole wheat flour - 35 grams
2 ½ cups All Purpose Flour - 350 grams
1 tsp Kosher salt - 5 grams

Instructions

Prepare the Dough

Mix. In a large bowl, combine the water, yeast and sugar. Mix well. Add the olive oil, flour and salt. Using a wooden spoon, mix until shaggy.
Knead. Knead the pita dough on a clean work surface until you have a soft and supple dough ball.
Rise. Transfer the dough ball to an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place in your kitchen for 1 hour (until doubled) or overnight in the fridge (if proofing in the fridge, allow the dough to come to room temperature before you proceed with the recipe).
Form. Divide the pita bread dough into 8 equal pieces and shape into smaller dough balls. Leave the dough balls to rest on your counter for 10 minutes, covered with a kitchen towel.
Roll out. Working with one dough ball at a time, roll it out into a thin round about 1/8 of an inch thick using a rolling pin. The dough circle should be about 6-7 inches in diameter. You can roll the dough balls into discs as you bake them, or you can roll them all at once and keep them covered so they don’t dry out. Make sure to give the discs a few minutes of rest before you bake, this helps the air bubbles form in the dough which will expand and form the pocket when baked.

Baking Option 1: Oven Method with Pizza Stone

Preheat oven. Place your pizza stone on the middle rack of your oven and preheat it to 475F/240C.
Bake. Quickly transfer a dough disc to the hot pizza stone, spray the pita and the pizza stone with some water from a spray bottle to create a little steam, shut the oven door quickly. If the pizza stone is warm enough, the pita should puff creating a large air pocket. Bake for 2-3 minutes until lightly browned. Flip and bake for another 30-45 seconds. The pita should remain mostly pale with some splotches of browning.
Keep warm. Using tongs, transfer the cooked pita to a tortilla warmer or a towel. Make sure to keep the cooked pitas covered so that they can soften before you eat them.

Baking Option 2: Oven Method with Baking Sheet

Preheat oven. Place an inverted sheet pan (or baking steel) on the middle rack of your oven and preheat it to 475F/240C.
Bake. Quickly transfer as many dough disks to the piping hot sheet pan as you can, leaving a few inches of separation between them, spray the pita and the hot pan with some water from a spray bottle to create a little steam, and shut the oven door quickly. The pitas should puff creating a large air pocket. Bake for 2-3 minutes until lightly browned. Flip and bake for another 30-45 seconds. The pita should remain mostly pale with some splotches of browning.
Keep warm. Using tongs, transfer the cooked pita to a tortilla warmer or a towel. Make sure to keep the cooked pitas covered so that they can soften before you eat them.

Baking Option 3: Stove Top Method

Warm Pan. Place a wide frying pan with lid on your stove set on medium-high heat. Carefully transfer a rolled-out pita to the pan, lightly mist with water from a pray bottle, and cover the pan to seal in the steam.
Cook. After 45 seconds, lift the lid. Flip the pita and wait another 30-45 seconds. The pita should not brown completely. Little brown spots are fine, but the flatbread itself should remain quite pale.
Keep warm. Transfer the cooked pita to a tortilla warmer or a towel. Make sure to keep the cooked pitas covered so that they can soften.

Video

Notes

Nutritional information is approximate.

Refer to the post above for detailed step by step photos including for each method.

Important tips to getting the best results:

Don't skip the preheating process! Your oven must be pre-heated and if you're using a pizza stone, let it pre-heat for an additional 10 minutes to get nice and hot.

Thin Dough: Roll out your pita dough thinly, usually about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Thinner dough will puff up better in the high heat of the oven.

Nutrition