Half Whole-Wheat Pita Bread

This recipe, which uses (roughly) half whole-wheat flour and half white flour, strikes the perfect balance between healthy rusticity and soft, pillowy pita heaven. (For more on our pita bread, see our story.) Unlike many versions, it does not require a stand mixer.  Our recipe leans heavily on the technique so thoughtfully outlined by Annisa Helou in her pita recipe in Feast: Food of the Islamic World. It also draws from others by Claudia Roden (The New Book of Middle Eastern Food) and Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook (Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking). Note that our recipe calls for active dry yeast rather than instant yeast (they do not behave the same way, and require different measurements).

Be sure to have a large plastic zipper bag at hand when the hot, puffy pitas come out of the oven, even if you’re going to eat the pitas within a couple hours. Drop them right in and zip it up, so they stay soft and pliable; otherwise, they get stiff pretty quickly. 

They freeze super well. Last time I made them, we ate six right away, froze the rest, and they were perfect defrosted and popped into a 350 degree oven to warm for a few minutes. 

Makes 12 pitas. Besides a rolling pin, you will also need several clean kitchen towels or tea towels.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (plus additional for dusting)