Thick Pita Bread
A thick pita that can be used for shawarma or a lamb burger
Servings 6 servings
Equipment
- 1 Baking Stone — pizza stone or steel
- 1 Stand Mixer
- 1 Baking Sheet with Wire Rack
- 1 Wooden Peel
Ingredients
- 14 2/3 oz King Arthur Bread Flour — 2 2/3 cups
- 2 1/4 tsp Instant or Rapid Rise Yeast — one packet
- 10 1/2 oz Ice Water — 1 1/3 cups
- 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1 Oil Spray
Instructions
- Whisk flour and yeast together in the bowl of the stand mixer. Add ice water, oil, and honey on top of the flour mixture.
- With a dough hook, mix at low speed until all of the flour is moistened, 1 to 2 minutes. Let dough stand for 10 minutes.
- Add salt to the dough and mix on medium for speed until the dough forms a satin and sticky ball that clears the sides of the bowl. Approximately 6 to 8 minutes.
- Transfer dough to a lightly oiled surface and knead until smooth, approximately 1 minute. Divide dough into 6 equal parts
- Shape dough pieces into tight and smooth balls. Transfer, seam side down, to a rimmed baking sheet coated with oil spray. Spray top of dough balls with oil spray.
- Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 16 hours and ideally 24 hours.
- One hour before baking pitas, adjust baking rack to the lowest position. Set baking stone on rack and heat oven to 450F.
- Remove dough from refrigerator. Coat one ball generously with flour and place on well floured surface, seam side down.
- Use the heel of your hand to press ball into a circle. Using a rolling pin, gently roll to a 6 to 7 inch circle, adding flour as necessary to prevent sticking. The pita should be a quarter inch thick.
- Repeat with 2nd dough ball and use a pastry brush to remove excess flour. Transfer pita rounds to a wooden peel, making sure the seam side is down.
- Slide both pita rounds carefully on to the baking stone and bake for 2 minutes. Flip pitas (they will not be fully browned).
- Bake until puffed and lightly browned in the center of the second side, approximately 2 to 3 minutes.
- Transfer pitas to a wire rack to cool, covering loosely with a clean towel.
- Repeat shaping and baking the remaining dough balls.
- Let the pitas cool 10 minutes before serving.