Living in a country quite close to Greece and Turkey, made it impossible for me to love certain traditional dishes from these amazing cultures. Dreamy sweets, olives, citrus, cheese you name it and I’ll love it. I’m a foodie, can’t help it.
But there is one dish (sort of) that almost all southern European cultures share: pita bread! Let’s take a few seconds to nod all together that this ridiculously easy type of bread is just too delicious. And super easy to make.
It comes in different shapes, sizes and combination. From Greece to Turkey or Lebanon, they all love it. Probably because it requires pretty much 0 cooking skills and less than 30 mins to put together.
Related: Best Homemade Pizza Dough
I keep bragging about how easy it is to make pita bread, but it was not easy for the boy and myself to discover the perfect recipe. We tried different ingredients (with yeast, without yeast, with olive oil, without olive oil, etc), different proportions and so on. Let’s say it was quite a journey to discover how to make homemade pita bread. I pretty much all the time go for this no yeast version because I don’t have the patience. But you can try it with yeast any time, no problem.
No-Yeast Pita Bread Recipe
Servings: 2 | Prep. Time: 10 mins | Waiting Time: n/a | Cook Time: 10 mins | Temperature: Medium-Low | Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients:
- 80 grams flour of your choice
- 50 ml water
- a pinch of salt
Method:
1. Mix all the ingredients together until you get a nice, round ball of dough. It shouldn’t stick, yet it should be soft. Divide the dough into tiny balls, according to how large you want the pitas.
2. Put your trusty pan over the stove and let it get nice and hot. I prefer to use a non-stick pan, but a cast-iron one will do.
3. Using a rolling pin, roll out the ball dough. This will make the pita evenly thick.
4. Place the rolled out pita on the hot pan and let it bake for a couple of minutes on each side.
Told you you don’t need much.
What is really cool about this recipe is that pretty much every type of flour will do. Because there’s no yeast, even rye flour will do (usually beside white flour, the other types will need much more time to rise or they won’t rise too much at all. Trust me. Been there, done that).
You probably noticed I gave you the ingredients for just two portions. That’s not because I’m trying to starve you. But this is the ratio we found to give the perfect dough consistency. So keep the 80 grams flour/50 ml water in mind in multiply it for the desired number of pitas you want. Also, some types or brands of flour might absorb more or less water, so don’t add everything at once.
I prefer to use a non-stick pan for baking them, just because I don’t have a cast-iron pan. But a hot cast iron will do too.
Once the pita bread baked on one side – you’ll notice tiny bubbles forming on the surface – flip it over and let it bake on the other side for 30 seconds or so.
Repeat these steps until you finish the dough.
Make it crispy
If you want your pita crispy, simply don’t cover it.
Make it soft
Right after it’s baked, place the hot pita bread in a fresh kitchen towel and cover it; the steam will soften them and they will be flexible.
And… uhm, yeah. That’s pretty much it. Told you! Ridiculously easy. I feel dumb it took two people so many tries to figure this recipe out. That’s why I decided to share it with you.
Pita bread is a handy recipe to know. You can use it as a side dish, enjoy it with hummus, make wraps with it. You name it; the possibilities are endless. Here are some other recipes that can be used with pita bread:
Do you like pita bread? Are you buying it or baking it at home?
52 comments
I’t doesn’t puff up. I tried 3 times with whole graind flour. Honestly it’s a struggle because it lacks stickyness. Maybe it should have been fine powder flour…
Hi Simon,
It doesn’t have to puff up – only if the pita is thicker and has some air bubbles in it. But otherwise, it shouldn’t puff up, because there’s no yeast in it. Especially if you use whole grain flour, which makes the dough and pita more dense.
I suggest to mix all purpose white flour with whole grain flour – 50/50 should do. Make sure you mix both flours well and also knead the dough until it gets smooth.
Hope this helps and please let me know how it turns out.
I’m using gluten free flour and it doesn’t bubble or puff up. What am I doing wrong? And how do you stop the pan from smoking and burning the pita even on low heat.
Hi Tia,
First things first, what type of pan are you using? Cast iron pans usually smoke if they’re new. My guess would be that the pan is too hot when you put the pita. Try moving it to the smallest burner your stove has.
As for the bubbles, it might be because the pita gets heated up too fast and burns before it bakes. The lack of gluten might also explain the lack of bubbles.
Also, it doesn’t always puff up (like it does in one of my photos) that happens only if there is an air bubble left in the dough.
Hope this helps, please let me know how it worked out.
Just wondering if you use plain or self raising flour for these? They look amazing.
Thank you! I used plain flour. You can use whatever type you want/have: white, whole gain, gluten-free, you name it.
I don’t think self raising flour is used for any type of bread, but more for baking, since it has baking powder in it, not yeast. We don’t really have self raising flour around here either.
My husband is Greek and he loves pita – and it just so happens to be his birthday today, so I’m going to make this! Can’t wait & love how easy it is 🙂
Happy birthday to your husband, Yolanda!
I am not sure if this is authentic Mediterranean pita bread, but this is the basic indian fulka/roti. This is our staple food.
Generally, the bread version that they serve as Pita bread is the one which a bit different. It is more chewy and fluffy. Maybe it’s the yeast that makes the difference.
Thanks for sharing though. Will help a lot of people.
Yes, the Greek version is thicker and fluffier indeed, but this is not Mediterranean pita bread. Romania is so close to Greece and Turkey and we have a lot of Turkish influence in our cuisine, or a mixture of both.
Had no idea how it’s called in India – we call it pita no matter if it’s fluffy or not. Glad I learnt something new today. Thanks for sharing, Anika! 🙏🏻
Very happy with the results of this! Thanks a lot for sharing Cristina. Was relieved to find it had no yeast too– no more yeast at the supermarket. I guess a blessing in disguise, why use it when you don’t need it.
A blessing in disguise indeed, Kate!
This recipe is quite old, but I’m so happy it’s still useful!
Stay safe!
What temperature should I bake it at?
Hi Rebecca!
The stove should be medium-low, to allow the dough to bake evenly.
I’ll make this more visible in the recipe too. Thanks for pointing it out!
These look SO GOOD – definitely going to try!!! I loooove pita with hummus.
Flour and I are no friends but this recipe seems easy enough! I love love love pita bread but never even thought of making it at home. Lol
I had no idea this recipe would be that easy without yeast! Thanks for sharing this!
-Jennifer
https://maunelegacy.com
I would love to try this. Pita bread is one of my favorites!!!! I love eating it with hummus!
Yes, it is great with hummus. You can check out the hummus recipe as well!
I love pita bread but I’ve never tried to make it myself before. I didn’t realize it was this doable! This is such a helpful tutorial!
xoxo A
http://www.southernbelleintraining.com
Wow! This is super simple to make. I love pita, but never looked up a recipe… If I would have know it was this easy to make… I am totally making homemade pita from now on. Thanks for sharing!
So happy you found it useful. Hope you’ll like it.
This is awesome! I had no idea it would be so simple to make! Three ingredients?? I love how it has no yeast because I’m so impatient!
This looks SO good! I love pita bread and now I’m gonna have to give making my own a try!
It’s super easy to make, so I’m sure you’ll be nailing it!
These look really good and it seems like they are super easy to make. I had no idea that it could be so simple!
This is so simple, I don’t know why I haven’t tried this before! I’m going to give it a go this weekend!
Hope you will like it, Patricia! Please let me know how it turns out.
Wow! That recipe sounds super easy! I may want to make this someday. Now, the challenge is what to put IN the pita bread!
You can try it with some hummus (you can find my recipe ) or with some fish tacos (recipe ).
This is brilliant and such a great snack for a little one! Thanks mama!
This recipe sounds SO easy. I love using pita bread for sandwiches and even pizza-type recipes so I’m excited to test out this recipe for that bread now!
xoxo, SS
Southern and Style
I had no idea it was so easy! Pita bread is my favorite.
It went the other way around for me. I thought it was easy; had to try different recipes before coming up with this one.
This sounds amazing! I love pita!
Perfect! I will be making this. I make homemade white bread, French bread, dinner rolls, and pizza currently. Time to Branch out!
What is it really that easy?! I was just telling my husband like a week ago that I wanted to learn how to make homemade pita bread! Can’t wait to try this!
I love pita bread! I haven’t had it in a while. I definitely need to try this recipe!
Looks so easy to make! I’ll have to try this!
This looks like such a simple recipe! I definitely will be trying this out 🙂 especially with the hummus!
Yes, please try it with the hummus. You’ll become addicted.
Um, yes please! I love pita! Especially when it is paired with hummus!
OMG…..I have certainly been missing out, thinking this is complicated, but I was wrong. Game Changer, for sure. THanks so much for the recipe and tips.
omg this is so cool! I have actually always wondered how to make my own pita bread!
This looks so good! Will definitely have to try. I love homemade food!
I don’t know why but I hate the idea and yeast – so this looks amazing! I can DEFINITELY making this. Yum!
This looks so simple! And then as I scrolled past I saw that you also have a recipe for hummus! Perfecto!
Haha, you’ve spotted it! The hummus recipe is 100% homemade – including the tahini (I can’t stand the idea of buying it when it’s so easy to make).
that’s what i’m looking for!!!, i will try it soon 🙂 thanks for share this recipe 😀
I live for pita, I have it literally other day. So cool to see a relatively simple recipe for it.
This looks amazing and much easier than I would have thought. I think it would be great to have these for the kids with some scrambled eggs and veggies before school. Thanks for sharing!
Tried them with veggies frittata. Honestly, I don’t think there’s any kind of food that wouldn’t go with pita bread. Hope your kids will like it as much as I do!