Hello Mike, I make pita bread often and here is the recipe I use, somewhat
a combination of recipes from books and my MIL's way of making it, as well
as my own......I think one of the keys to good homemade pita bread is first
cooking it on the stovetop before baking in the oven.
Pita Bread
6 c. flour
4 1/2 t. active dry yeast (or 4 t. instant yeast)
2 t. salt
1 T. light olive oil (or vegetable oil)
2 c. warm water
In large bowl, mix flour, yeast and salt. Add water, then oil, and stir
with big spoon until water is all mixed in, then start kneading with hands,
adding more warm water a little at a time if it is too dry. Knead for at
least 5 minutes, until dough is elastic and shiny. Shape into ball, place
in lightly oiled plastic bowl, and cover with lid or plastic wrap. Let rest
at least one hour in warm place. Dough should rise almost double.
Place large towel or blanket on table. Squeeze baseball-sized balls of
dough, reshape into round balls, place on towel and cover with towel or
blanket. Let rest 10 min. On floured surface (wooden cutting board works
well), roll each ball with rolling pin, flipping over and rolling on
opposite sides to make rolling easier. Roll each ball until 6-12" in
diameter. Return onto towel. Flour surface and repeat with next round of
dough. Let rounds rest at least 30 minutes, covered by towel (or blanket).
Preheat oven broiler, with rack at 2nd position from top. Heat large
shallow skillet on top of stove to medium high heat. Place dough on skillet
and cook until bottom is lightly browned. The dough may start puffing
up--this is normal. Place on top rack of oven towards back. Watch carefully
because pita bread will burn easily under broiler. Rotate it every once in
awhile so that it browns evenly. It should puff and form a pocket. Do the
same with remaining dough, and remove from oven when light brown. You may
have 2-4 pieces of pita bread in the oven at once. Just make sure to keep
rotating them.
Place hot bread on towel, piling bread on top of each other as you take
them out. Let cool and keep covered with towel until all bread is baked. If
you are not going to eat all of it that same day, pita bread keeps very
well in the freezer (in a plastic bag). Just reheat individual pitas in
toaster oven, heated oven or microwave as needed.