Pitta is actually surprisingly easy to make at home – and trust me it’s so much more delicious than the pita you buy in the supermarket that has been wrapped in plastic for weeks.

Here’s how:

Ingredients:

Strong white flour, about 500gm
Packet of instant yeast
Olive oil
Lukewarm water
Salt, sugar, zaatar

NOTE: no precise ingredient measurements are given here because baking bread is not like baking a cake – it’s all about feeling the consistency in your hands knowing whether the dough needs more water, or more flour. You don’t want it too wet, and not too dry either. Don’t worry about this too much – just go with the flow and have fun 🙂

Here’s how to make pita:

1. Place about half the flour in a bowl.
2. Add the lukewarm water and yeast and mix to combine. Let it sit for about 20 minutes until the yeast has activated and is nice and bubbly.
3. Now add some salt, sugar and olive oil.
4. Gradually keep adding more flour while you mix everything with a hand mixer, using dough hooks.
5. Keep mixing until the dough has reached the appropriate consistency. Check out this video to know when dough is sufficiently kneaded.
6. Oil the surface of the dough with olive oil and leave to rise for about 2h or until double in size.
7. Divide the dough into about 8 equal balls. Roll these out and let them rise for another 20 minutes, while covered up with cling film so they don’t dry out.
7. Now roll out the balls into pittas using a rolling pin. Sprinkle generously with zaatar and some seasalt.
8. Heat a flat pan on medium heat. Fry each pita, one at a time, on the pan until cooked through (this should take a few minutes per pita). Delicious!