Last updated on January 31st, 2024 at 07:50 pm

Whole wheat pita bread is delicious, healthy, fun and easy to make. This pita bread recipe is quick, easy, tastes great and can be made in a home oven or wood fire oven.

Homemade Whole Wheat Pita Bread Recipe

Making whole wheat pita bread at home is a fun, fast and inexpensive accompaniment to any meal. Made with just a few common ingredients, pita bread can really help add some versatility to breakfast, lunch or dinner. Pita bread extras can also be frozen or turned into pita chips so I recommend making more than you need.

How to Eat Pita Bread

Paired with just about any protein, a range of different vegetables, salads and dips, this pita bread recipe is excellent as a part of your baker’s toolbox. One of our go-to meals is to pair pita bread with falafel, hummus, babaghanoush or shawarma. Another great way to use them is to simply serve warm pitas (covered with a towel to keep them moist and warm) alongside dips, stews or soups.

Tips For Puffy Whole Wheat Pita Bread

The dough is smooth when rolling. Make sure to use enough flour when rolling out your pita bread to prevent it from sticking.
Preheat your baking surface. This will vary depending on the surface but it should be very hot! Make sure your baking steel/stone, cast iron or wood oven is fully saturated with heat so that it can help provide a full puff on your whole wheat pita bread.
Use a very hot oven. While you can use a home oven and get good results I think a wood oven or pizza oven provides the best results.

What You’ll Need:

While your method may vary depending on your oven here are a few tools you’ll need for making pita bread.

Wood oven or pizza oven.
Baking stone/steel
Large cast iron pan
Rolling pin
Stand mixer
Transfer peel (to get the pitas into the oven after rolling)

While you can mix this dough by hand if you do not have a mixer it is much quicker and easier to use the machine.

Pita Specs:

Yield	12 X 100 grams
Total dough weight	1200 grams

Ingredients:

Weight	Ingredient	Bakers %
343 grams	Bread flour	50%
343 grams	Whole Wheat	50%
480 grams	Water	70%
3 grams	Sugar (optional)	.5%
17 grams	Instant active yeast	2.5%
14 grams	Salt	2%

Einkorn Pita Bread

Using einkorn as a direct substitute for whole wheat makes a great variation in this recipe. Einkorn is one of the oldest known grains and is said to have many health benefits. Most importantly the einkorn gives the pita bread an almost buttery flavour that tastes great even on its own. For this version I am using whole grain Einkorn from Flourist.

Whole Wheat Pita Bread Dough:

Place water and sugar in bowl and stir.
Add yeast. Stir and let rest for 5 minutes.
In separate bowl, combine whole wheat and hard white flours and salt; make well in centre. Add yeast mixture to well and stir to combine.
Knead until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes). Place a little vegetable oil on the palms of your hands and smooth all over dough to prevent crusting.
Cover with plastic wrap. Let rest for 20 to 30 minutes or until doubled.

Divide and Shape:

Divide dough into 100 g portions.
Roll each into ball and let rest for 5 minutes.
On lightly floured surface, roll dough into ¼-inch thick circles. Let rest for 2 to 3 minutes. Dough must be rolled out evenly to ensure even cooking, and never allowed to dry out prior to baking.

To Bake the Pitas in a Wood Oven:

Heat the wood oven to between 600-700ºF/315-375ºC. Depending on your wood oven this can vary drastically in time due to the size and ability to retain thermal mass.
Gently slid the pita from a loading peel onto the hearth deck of the oven.
The pitas will begin to puff in about 60 seconds and may take up to 3 minutes to finish. Do not let them take on too much colour as this will dry out the pitas.
Remove them from the oven stack and cover with a towel so they stay moist.

Baking Pita Bread in a Home Oven With a Cast Iron Pan:

Preheat oven to 450ºF/270°C. Preheat cast-iron pan. Heat broiler.
Place pita rounds in heated cast-iron pan. Place the pan under broiler until pita begins to rise and puff and bottom develops brown flecks.
Place on baking tray in oven for 2 to 3 minutes to finish baking.
Remove the pita from the oven, stack and cover with a towel to prevent from drying out.

Baking Pita Bread on a Steel or Stone in a Home Oven:

Preheat oven to 450ºF/270°C with a baking steel or baking stone.
Place whole wheat pita bread rounds onto the preheated baking steel or stone.
Allow them to puff fully (about 90-120 seconds) before flipping them over for the final seconds.
Remove the pita from the oven, stack and cover with a towel to prevent from drying out.

Other Delicious Baking Recipes:

If you enjoyed this recipe for whole wheat pita bread, make sure to check out some of our other baking recipes like our sourdough rye pretzels or our 100% whole wheat sourdough recipe.

Whole Wheat Pita Bread Recipe Card: