Pita Bread is surprisingly easy to make, and it's a delicious flatbread with a built-in pocket for all the delightful things you can come up with you want to stuff inside.
In a medium bowl add: 308g bread flour, 77g whole grain flour, 15g sugar and 10g salt.
Mix it with your fingers to distribute everything evenly.
Then add 25g olive oil, 225g sourdough starter (fed and risen to its peak) and 211g water.
Mix until all the flour has been hydrated.
Then flour your counter and knead the dough until it's smooth; adding extra flour as needed so, you have a tacky but not sticky dough.
Ferment the dough
Put the dough back in the bowl, cover it and let it ferment around 6 hours at room temperature until the dough has doubled in size.
After it's doubled, put it in the refrigerator until you need it. It can easily stay in the fridge for up to one week.
Pre-shape the pitas
Heat your oven to 260°C/500°F with a baking steel inside. Alternatively, an inverted baking sheet.
Divide the dough into 8.
Shape each piece of dough into a ball and tighten the surface by pushing the dough up into the center of the ball, turning the dough about an eighth, going for as many iterations as it takes.
Place all the balls under a dishtowel. Let them rest for 20 minutes.
Shape the pitas
Roll out each ball into a very flat round piece of dough. Go for as thin as you can without tearing the dough.
Place each disc under dish towels so that they don't dry out.
You should be ready to bake after about 20 minutes.
Bake the pita
If you want to make them on the stovetop, go to the next section.
If you are very agile, you may be able to bake more than one pita at a time, but since they bake so quickly, I suggest that you bake them separately if it's your first time.
Open the oven, add a pita to the baking steel and close the oven.
Bake for about 1½ minutes. In the last 30 seconds the pita should puff up like crazy. If it doesn't puff up, extend this time until it does.
Then open the oven and flip over the pita using a spatula.
Bake for one minute more.
Put the pitas on a wire rack until you finish baking.
Make on cast-iron skillet
Heat a cast-iron skillet to the highest heat possible for 15 minutes.
Put a pita on the pan and wait for it to puff up 1-2 minutes.
Flip it over and bake another minute on the other side.
Put on a wire rack while preparing the rest of the pitas on the skillet.
Video
Notes
The pita bread can be used immediately, cooled down, stored in a plastic bag and reheated later, or frozen for up to 3 months.