Best-Tasting Pocketless Pita Bread (Soft and Delicious!)

Pocketless Pita Bread

Pocketless pita bread has always had a special place in my heart. I know, I'm sounding a bit dramatic but it's true! Let me tell you why.

When I lived in Arizona some years ago, we enjoyed eating out on the weekends (we still enjoy eating out, except that there are only about, mmmm, five decent dining options to choose from here in Rexburg, Idaho. LoL!). One restaurant we visited frequently was Hajibaba, a little hole in the wall, if you will, offering the best middle eastern food I've ever had in my life. It's won a bunch of awards and has made it to the newspaper headlines quite often.

I say "hole in the wall" because this restaurant is not what you would say a stunning, take-your-breath-away type of restaurant. It sits on the corner of a street mall in the Tempe area, and aside from being a dining place, it's also a marketplace selling middle eastern goodies. So yeah, not impressive when you walk in, but the food totally makes up for it. Because they don't have to deal with maintaining a fancy place with high overhead costs, the food is very affordable. Honestly, I think they should charge more because of how delicious it is (and they give large portions, too!).

Well, the reason I bring this up is to give you a bit of background as to the time when I fell in love with pita bread. At this restaurant, they give you a basket with  3-4 pieces of warm and delicious pocketless pita bread, ready to be dipped in hummus or eaten with your main dish.  This is their "chips and salsa" sort of speak. And even though their food never disappoints, their pita bread takes the whole dining experience to another level.

The recipe I'm sharing with you today is my "copycat recipe" to this amazing pita bread. I love it because of how soft the pitas turn out. They are kind of on the thick side too and are very pliable. The trick is to roll them to about 1/8 inch thick and when cooking them on the nonstick skillet, watch them bubble and thicken up. Then you turn them on the other side and cook for another minute or two. The key is to not cook them at too high of a temperature to allow the inside to cook well without getting too brown on the outside.

And who's to say you can only serve this awesome pocketless pita bread with middle eastern or greek food? Not long ago I served this pocketless pita bread with my favorite creamy chicken noodle soup from scratch and it was a big hit. You could make your favorite sandwich with this bread too. The possibilities are endless!

I tell ya, it may be easier to buy pita bread, but they will NEVER be this good. In fact, I like them even better than the regular pita pocket bread that's found at the grocery store, which is dry and not very tasty. I think these will become your favorite for sure!

Now, let me show you the simple steps to make this amazing pita bread (for more details on each step, refer to the recipe):

Pocketless Pita Bread

Mix all the ingredients in the Bosch Universal (Watch How-to video on how to add flour to the Bosch Universal here).

Place your dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a kitchen towel, and let the dough rest for about an hour or until it doubles in size.

Shape this beautiful dough into 16 round pieces.

Flatten the round pieces one by one and cook them on both sides for a few minutes.

And here's the end result:

Delicious, right? I want to eat one RIGHT. NOW.  It's not good to write a blog post on pita bread when I still haven't had dinner, I tell ya.

Are you ready for the recipe? Let's do it!

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Ingredients:

• 1 cup water, warm
• 1 cup milk (2%), warm
• 1 TBLSP SAF instant yeast
• 3 Tbsp olive oil (plus more for coating the dough and oiling the pan)
• 3 tsp salt
• 5-6 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting counter)

How to do it:

• Mix the water and milk and warm up until lukewarm. Add to the Bosch Universal.
• Add the oil and salt--mix well. 
• On speed 1, add the flour slowly until the sides of the bowl come clean (watch my video showing how to do this!). CAUTION: The flour amount is an estimate--add flour slowly and stop when the sides are clean. You may end up with leftover flour. 
• Knead the dough for 3-4 minutes.
• Let the dough rest in the same Bosch bowl (or transfer to an oiled bowl) until double in size (about an hour). 
• Divide dough into 14-16 parts (it all depends on how thick you want them)
• Warm up the skillet to medium to medium-high and, flattening one piece of dough at a time to your desired thickness, place in skillet and cook for a few minutes or until it kind of bubbles. Turn over and cook another minute. Place on a clean kitchen towel and wrap (this is what turns it into a soft and pliable goodness!)
• Do the same with the rest of the dough. Keep the dough covered as you work to keep it from drying out. 
• Enjoy!

 

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