Perfect Pita Bread

Directions

1. 1
   Put flour, yeast, salt, and sugar into bowl.
2. 2
   Mix, then add oil and warm water.
3. 3
   Mix with spoon or spatula until you can form dough into a ball.
4. 4
   Dough should be a little moist but not super sticky.
5. 5
   Add a little water at a time if needed.
6. 6
   If you add too much, mix in more flour.
7. 7
   When you have a knead-able dough, dust a surface with flour.
8. 8
   Remove dough from bowl and knead for about 5 minutes with palm of hand.
9. 9
   You want to form a smooth ball like this :) When finished, grease a large bowl with a little oil, and put ball of dough in.
10. 10
    Cover with wrap and let rise for about one hour in a warm spot until fluffy, about double in size.
11. 11
    Preheat oven to 500F/260C.
12. 12
    Meanwhile, remove puffy dough from bowl, squish out air, forming into a ball again.
13. 13
    Separate into three even pieces.
14. 14
    Roll out into about 5-inch/12-cm rounds on a floured surface.
15. 15
    Lay out a baking sheet or lightly grease your baking pan.
16. 16
    Lay out pitas on pan and let rest for 15 minutes, uncovered.
17. 17
    Make sure your oven has had plenty of time to preheat; you want it hot!
18. 18
    Put pitas on bottom rack (if you have one) and bake for 5-6 minutes.
19. 19
    They should puff up, if not, let bake an extra minute.
20. 20
    (if they don't puff up, the oven wasn't hot enough)
21. 21
    Move pitas to the top or middle rack of oven and bake another two minutes to brown.
22. 22
    Wrap in a kitchen cloth to keep soft until serving.
23. 23
    Pitas are perhaps best filled with plenty of falafel ;) I have some recipes for falafel posted in the story section above!