Sourdough Discard Pita Bread
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.
- Prep time
- 30 min
- Cook time
- 4 min
- Yield
- 8 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 225 grams water (about 1 cup, room temperature )
- 200 grams sourdough discard (about 1 cup, see recipe note)
- 25 grams olive oil (about 2 Tablespoons)
- 10 grams granulated sugar (2 teaspoons)
- 8 grams instant yeast (2 teaspoons)
- 12 grams salt (2 teaspoons)
- 35 grams whole wheat flour (about 1/4 cup, see recipe notes)
- 410 grams all purpose flour (about 2.5-3 cups)
Instructions
- 1
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.
- 2
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.
- 3
Cover dough and let rise for about an hour until doubled in size.
- 4
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.
- 5
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.
- 6
Oven Method: Place a baking stone in the oven. Pre-heat oven to 550ºF. 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.
- 7
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.
- 8
Let the pita cool before slicing in half and filling with toppings. Enjoy!