This Greek pita is a very easy bread to make. And the results are extraordinary. It’s soft. It’s fluffy. It’s puffy. It’s fragrant. And with a crisp yet tender exterior. If you told me it was baked in a wood-fire oven, I would believe you! Yet it’s easily made on the stovetop.
Enjoy with a great dip like Tzatziki Greek yogurt sauce or Hummus, or as a wrap for just about anything. More ways to enjoy pita are just above the recipe.
I love all kinds of bread. Although, a little is usually enough for me. Not so when this Greek pita is around. My husband continues to be amazed at the intensity of my appetite for it. I literally crave it all of the time.
A lot is going for this Greek pita bread. It’s flavorful, fluffy, and to round out its virtues, has a beautifully crisp outer texture.
It’s also an extremely convenient bread to make, taking just a few minutes of your time to mix, with a relatively short and simple leavening process. Then it’s basically like flipping pancakes!
No wonder after thousands of years, flatbreads like Greek pita remain a big part of the Mediterranean diet! You might have noticed that it’s a firm favorite at my house. I’m guessing it will have a permanent place in yours as well.
This Greek pita recipe is one of our go-to flatbread recipes. Easy to make, and easy to love. It’s no-knead, and made on the stovetop, like our Turkish Bazlama bread.
Key Ingredients
Along with bread flour, a touch of whole wheat flour and salt, yogurt, semolina and olive oil are key ingredients.
- Yogurt – Yogurt adds great flavor, contributes to moisture and tenderness, and helps get a nice golden color with a thin crisp crust that is uncommon with other flatbreads. I also think the addition of yogurt makes the pita taste and feel fresh longer.
- Semolina – The semolina in the dough adds to the bread’s wonderful texture.
- Olive Oil – A little extra virgin olive oil blended into the dough, as well as brushed or drizzled on each side, enhances both moisture and flavor—and makes it irresistible.
Yeast – The Leavener
I like to use baker’s yeast (fresh compressed yeast) or active dry yeast to leaven the dough. Here’s a quick summary of their differences:
Fresh baker’s yeast (fresh compressed yeast) – rises quicker, stays active longer, and allows for multiple rises. This makes it an overall more forgiving and flexible leavener than the dry yeast found in granules.
Fresh baker’s yeast can be found in little foil-wrapped blocks in the refrigerated aisle of some grocery stores. To use, cut off the portion you need, and store the rest in the freezer.
To activate, fresh compressed yeast doesn’t need warm water like dry yeast does. You can actually just crumble it over the flour. However, you can dissolve it in tepid water, if you like, to help ensure it mixes well into the flour—especially if you are mixing it by hand.
- Active Dry Yeast is very convenient. I usually have some on hand, and like to use it as a backup. To activate, it requires warm water.
Beginner’s Notes – Hot water will kill either kind of yeast, and its ability to leaven the bread. A good water temperature range is around 105-110℉ (40-43℃).
Don’t have a thermometer? You can test the temperature by dipping your finger in the water. If it feels too warm, let it cool to a little warmer than tepid before mixing with active dry yeast (tepid is fine for fresh yeast).
Traditionally, pita bread in Greece was made with leftover dough (scraps) from bread making. In those days, with no chemical leavening, all bread was basically sourdough bread. The ingredients were: flour, water, salt. No yogurt or dairy was used.
Tips on making Greek pita
Pita is easy to make, but a little wisdom and a few tips make it even easier. These tips also apply to other flatbreads, like bazlama Turkish bread.
Dough Tips
- Tip – Ambient temperature affects how fast dough rises. Warmth speeds it up, cold slows it down. Factors like the seasons, or whether you have centralized air and heating, among other things, will play a role in how long it takes for your dough to leaven.
- Tip – Workspace – Clear a workspace in your kitchen before you start. You want enough elbowroom to easily roll out the dough, with room on the side for the dough and rolled out dough balls.
- Tip – For Soft & Fluffy Pita – The thicker the rounds of dough, the softer and fluffier the pita. The thinner the dough, the less fluffy the pita. If too thin, it can turn out tough.
Cooking Tips
Tip – Master how to flip the pita into the pan – Take a few moments to get this down and your life will be full of rounder pitas, with none (or far fewer) hitting the side of the pan.
The Hand Flip – With your hand in front of you, flip it palm side up, then flip it back to palm side down.
You’ll do the same thing with each circle of dough: flip your hand palm side up, gently place a round of dough on your palm, then hover it a safe distance over the center of the skillet and flip your hand palm face down, dropping the dough onto the center of the hot surface.
- Tip – The First – The first pita will usually not turn out as the best of the lot. Is this a rule of physics? The temperature of the pan may not be there yet, and whatnot… It’s highly likely, however, that someone will still enjoy it, maybe even devour it.
Tip – Quick and Hot – Lower heat means more time on the skillet, and tougher bread. You want the heat to be high enough to cook each pita relatively quickly.
If it’s taking more than 30 seconds before bubbles start to form on the top side of the pita, try raising the heat. On the other hand, if the pita starts to char before it is able to fully cook, adjust the heat down until you find a balance.
- Cooking alone or with help? When I’m cooking pita by myself, I roll them all out together first. Then I drizzle them with oil, and focus on the cooking. With two people, one person can roll out the dough for the next pita while the other is cooking.
Helpful Tools
Here are the tools I use and recommend for making pita.
- Digital Scale – A digital scale is a joy to use with any kind of bread. It makes measuring much faster and easier, with less to clean (the tare button is such a treasure).
- Glass Bowls – One for mixing, one for rising. Of course you can use any kind of bowl, but it’s nice to see how much the dough has risen through the glass.
Flexible Dough Scraper – An all around helper, from scraping the dough out of the bowl, portioning it, gently transferring the dough balls, carefully prying stuck pita dough rounds from the work surface, scraping dough off surfaces to clean up…
- Rolling Pin – Optional, with or without handles. You can also flatten the dough into pitas by hand.
- Oil Drizzler – Adding an olive oil spout to a bottle, or using an oil decanter is faster than brushing oil on the dough or bread.
- Cast Iron Skillet or a Griddle – Cast iron is ideal for making pita. (A nonstick skillet will work as well, but since it cannot get as hot as cast iron, the pita will take longer to cook.)
- Spatula – A big pancake spatula works well. Once the pita is in the skillet, my husband usually reaches for a thin metal fish spatula for flipping and transferring the cooked pitas to the cooling rack.
- Cooling Rack – Placing the pitas on a cooling rack keeps the bottom of the stack from getting soggy from condensation.
Serving Suggestions
Greek pita isn’t just for souvlaki and gyros—although it certainly is a great combo! There are no limitations to how you can enjoy it. Here are a few ideas:
- As a wrap for all kinds of things, such as:
- gyros, meatballs, or even meatloaf (Slice it, spice it and saute it up!)
- souvlaki, kebabs with any grilled meats, seafood or roasted vegetables
- scrambled eggs and potatoes, for breakfast (in place of tortillas)
- With dip – Enjoy with delicious tzatziki, eggplant dip, or hummus.
- Pizza – How about making little individual pizzas with your favorite ingredients. This is when you thank yourself for having stashed some homemade pita in the freezer.
- Alone – While pitas make great wraps, scoops for dips, or pizza bases, this pita is so tasty that I love to eat it as an accompaniment with main dishes, in lieu of sliced bread or bread rolls.
The Recipe – How to Make Greek Pita
Tip – To send yourself a list of the recipe’s ingredients, click the black text (on mobile) or email buttons below.
Ingredients
- 1¼ cup water, lukewarm
- 3¾ cups bread flour
- ¼ cup whole wheat flour
- ¼ cup semolina flour, fine
- 2 tsp (¼oz) active dry yeast, or ½oz (14g) fresh compressed yeast
- ¼ cup (2oz) plain yogurt, whole
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 1½ tsp salt
Instructions
Mix the Dough
- If using active dry yeast – warm the water on low heat up to a max of 110℉ (43℃). Testing with the tip of your finger, it should feel warm, but not hot. If using fresh yeast – keep the water at room temperature water, crumble in the yeast and stir until dissolved.
- Mix the bread flour, whole wheat flour and semolina in a stand mixer with a hook attachment set at low speed (or in a large bowl with a spoon.)Sprinkle the active yeast granules on top, then add the water (or pour on the fresh yeast dissolved in water.)
- Add the yogurt, olive oil and salt, and mix well on low speed in the stand mixer (or with your hands) until smooth and soft, and all the flour is well incorporated into the dough, about 1 minute (or about 5 minutes by hand.)
First Rise (Dough)
- Drizzle the bottom of a large mixing bowl with a teaspoon of olive oil (to prevent sticking). Transfer the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Second Rise (Dough Balls)
- Lightly flour a large surface big enough to work on and let rest 6 dough balls.
- Transfer the dough to the work surface and with a dough scraper divide into 6 equal pieces. You can estimate or use a scale (about 5oz, 145g each).
- With your hands lightly floured, shape each piece into a ball by pulling opposite sides up from underneath and pinching them together at the top center. Continue from different sides until you have a taut ball. Place smooth-side up, about 2 inches (5cm) apart, on the floured work surface.
- Lightly dust with flour and cover with a tea towel. Let rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes.
Shape into Pitas
- Prepare work area: To avoid sticking while rolling the dough, make sure your work surface is smooth and clean of any dough, then dust it lightly with a mixture of half flour and half semolina.
- Flatten into rounds: Gently roll each dough ball back and forth twice (or flatten by hand), then give it a quarter turn and and repeat (lightly flouring the surface whenever the dough starts sticking) until each is 7 to 8 inches (18-20cm) round and ¼ inch (6mm) thick. Drizzle the tops with olive oil.
Cook
- Preheat a cast-iron griddle or skillet over medium-high heat until very hot.
- Using the palm of your hand (or pancake spatula), flip a flat pita round oiled-side down onto the dry hot skillet. Immediately drizzle the top of the pita (avoiding the pans surface) with olive oil. Cook until bubbles appear and the bottom develops a nice color, about 1 minute. (If bubbles haven't appeared after about 30 seconds, adjust the heat up.)
- Flip the pita and cook until golden on the other side, about 1 more minute. (If needed to prevent charring, you can flip the pita a few times. Adjust the heat down if necessary.)
- Repeat, stacking the pitas on a wire rack to cool. (If necessary, remove any charred flour from the pan after a few pitas. I use tongs with a damp paper towel.) Serve warm.
Storing
This Greek pita keeps in the freezer so well that I usually double or triple the recipe, and freeze all but today’s portion. I highly recommend it. Then thaw and rewarm at your convenience.- At Room Temperature, the pitas stay well for about 2 days. Store in a breadbox or any stainless steel pan with a lid, or a paper bag. Reheat to refresh the texture.
- In the Freezer: Freezes well for up to 3 months. If frozen the first day, reheating refreshes the texture beautifully – like freshly made. Take out of the freezer 15 to 30 minutes before reheating.
Reheating
For the best texture, rewarm on a hot dry skillet for about 30 seconds on each side.Making Ahead
Besides the convenience of freezing cooked pita, you can also refrigerate or freeze uncooked dough balls to continue making later.- Refrigerate any dough balls that you plan to cook within a day or two. Let them come completely to room temperature before rolling out, by taking them out of the refrigerator about an hour before cooking.
- Freeze dough balls for up to 3 months. Let come completely to room temperature before rolling out, by taking them out of the freezer 2 to 3 hours beforehand (or transferring them to the refridgerator the night before, and taking them out about an hour before cooking.
Nutrition Info: Click to Expand
Did you give this Greek pita bread a try? Let me know what you think in the comments below!
