Homemade Greek Pita Bread

And then Greece created their Greek pita bread, and no other bread wanted to be eaten ever again…

… Not completely true, but it could be. Because there’s no possibility of going to a Greek barbecue and there isn’t any Greek pita bread involved in the whole fiesta. Coming by Greek pita bread is more difficult than one can think though. For me living in Sweden, I haven’t found Greek pita bread anywhere! You find the different Arabic pita breads everywhere but no Greek one. Things obviously need to change, but until they do I had to give you the possibility of eating Greek Pita Bread. Take little bit of your time and make this delicious recipe!

What is Greek Pita Bread?

There’s a difference between pita breads depending what country you get it from. Greek Pita bread is not the (Lebanese) one you cut on the side to fill it with. Greek pita bread is flatter and you place the filling on top of the bread to then fold the sides and eat it… more like a tacos? I guess that’s the most accurate explanation.

This is simple to make.

Yes, you heard right. This recipe is so simple to make and you don’t even need to use the oven to make this recipe. You fry these delicious breads in - preferably a cast iron skillet pan, but an ordinary frying pan works too. Love this!

How do you serve the Greek Pita Bread?

Most often with/for souvlaki or gyros in Greece. You can get the recipe for all of that in this souvlaki post. Or simply to any kind of barbecue food.

Do you have dough left?

If you have pita bread dough remaining, you can even make small French rolls of them. They get very soft and delicious! Simply roll the dough to balls, place on a lined baking sheet and place in the oven for approx 7’.

Greek Pita Bread

INGREDIENTS:

750 g bread flour

500 ml lukewarm water

4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

7 g dry yeast

1.5 tbsp sugar

1.5 tbsp table salt

+ Oregano, olive oil and salt for garnishing

HOW TO MAKE:

• Pour the lukewarm water into a bowl. Add and dissolve the dry yeast with the sugar.

• Add half of the flour into the bowl, stirring, then add the salt and the extra-virgin olive oil.

• Continue to add flour stirring until the mixture becomes dense enough to be worked on a wooden board.

• Knead the dough and add more flour if necessary, at least 10 minutes more until the Pita mixture becomes smooth and elastic.

• Divide the Pita dough into approx 16 to 24 portions, depending on the size of Pita you desire, and shape them into balls. Place them on a lined baking sheet and cover the dough balls with a kitchen towel. Place warm and let them ferment to double size for at least 30’.

• Place the skillet over heat and cover the bottom with a thin layer of olive oil.

• Use your fingers to press out, or a rolling pin to roll out, your dough balls into approx 15-20 cm rounds. Once flatten, cook the Pita as soon as possible for approx 2’ per side.

• If the first pita doesn’t turn out good, don’t stress. If it’s your first time making pita you probably need a few pitas to guess the right heat intensity and cooking time.

• Repeat the process until all pitas are done.
  

---