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Sourdough Discard Pita Bread

Amy
Perfect homemade pita bread made with sourdough discard and instant yeast. This pita bread is light, fluffy and bakes up with a nice pocket to pack full of your favorite fixings.
5 from 4 votes
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 4 minutes
Rise Time: 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 34 minutes
Course Appetizer, Bread
Cuisine Mediterranean
Servings 8 pita

Ingredients
  

  • 225 grams water about 1 cup, room temperature
  • 200 grams sourdough discard about 1 cup, see recipe note
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 35 grams whole wheat flour about 1/4 cup
  • 410 grams all purpose flour about 2.5-3 cups

Instructions
 

Pita Dough

  • Kneading by Mixer: To the bowl of a stand mixer, add the warm water, sourdough discard, olive oil, granuated sugar, instant yeast and salt. Stir to combine. With the dough hook running, add the flour and knead for about 5 minutes, adding a Tablespoon or more flour as needed until soft, tacky and smooth.
  • Kneading by Hand: Mix together all the ingredients. Spread a little dusting of flour on the counter. Knead for 2 minutes until the dough comes together, adding small amounts of flour as needed. Let rest for 5 minutes, then knead again for another 2 minutes until smooth.
  • Cover dough and let rise for about an hour until doubled in size.
  • Seperate the dough into 8 equal pieces and roll into balls. Pull up the sides of the dough into the middle while rotating the dough in your hand. Then roll the ball on the countertop to seal the seam and place on the counter. Cover and let rise again, about 30 minutes to an hour.
  • Take one risen ball of dough and roll out into a thin circle. The thinner you can roll the pita, the better. Be careful not to "break" any holes in the pita or else it willl not rise with a pocket in the oven.

Baking Pita Bread

  • Oven Method: Place a baking stone in the oven. Pre-heat oven to 550 degrees. Once the oven is pre-heated for 30 minutes, roll a piece of dough out into a circle. Place the rolled out pita on a lightly floured board. Take a couple ice cubes and toss them in the oven before sliding the pita on the pizza stone. Quickly close the oven door and bake for 2-3 minutes until puffed up and lightly brown. Immediately remove to a plate and cover with a dishtowel. Repeat with remaining dough balls.
  • Pizza Oven Method: Pre-heat your pizza oven on high heat for about 30 minutes. Place the rolled out pita on a lightly floured board. Launch the pita into the oven and let it bake for about 1 minute until puffed up. Once puffed up, quickly pull the pita out of the pizza oven and rotate, putting the pita back in the pizza oven very close to the opening (this helps prevent the pita from over-baking and catching on fire). Let bake for about 20 more seconds. Remove to a plate and cover with a dishtowel. Repeat with remaining dough balls.
  • Let the pita cool before slicing in half and filling with toppings. Enjoy!

Notes

Sourdough Discard: 100% hydration sourdough discard is what I typically use. Depending on the hydration of your sourdough discard, you may need more or less flour.
Most of the time if you are having trouble with your pita bread puffing up, it's due to one of these issues:
  1. Pre-heated and hot oven
  2. Using a baking stone
  3. Added steam
  4. Pita dough is not dry (should stay covered before rolling)
  5. Dough rolled thin with no holes. 
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