Lebanese pita bread

A flat and round rolled out yeast dough in the oven suddenly starts to… breathe?!?
How can that be?! Why does this Lebanese pita bread in the oven separate exactly in the middle? Why does it puff up and turn into a mini balloon?!
“Crazy world!” I used to think as a child – and my mother would laugh at my amazement.

“This is magic dough!” she whispered in my ear. “As soon as I point at it with my magic cooking spoon (actually she used a fork – I realised years later…), I blow air into it and the bread becomes a balloon *whoooosh*!” she told me and took the next loaf out of the oven. “See?”.

Now, decades later, I bake this bread myself and still don’t know how it comes about that the bread puffs up like a balloon. Even the all-knowing oracle “Google” has not yet been able to give me a concrete and credible answer. If you know: please please please share your secret with me!

Well, let’s accept it for now… The Lebanese pita bread is delicious in any case!

At that time, there was no flatbread to buy in our area. So she had no choice but to bake it herself. My mother used to bake a few kilos of dough into pita bread. It didn’t survive very long, though, considering that you could make so many delicious wrapped brides (that’s what they call wraps in Lebanon) with it. We just wrapped everything in the pita bread. One of my favourite wraps was with homemade chips and ketchup ^^

But also dipped in delicious olive oil and zaatar – or with labneh and cucumber… I could go on forever. But now you’re coming! Bake your own pita bread and watch the magic happen in the oven.

A little hint

Preparation in the oven alone has always been a bit tricky. Temperature and timing have to be right! My mother is very inventive when it comes to achieving desired results. For example, she used to put a rack on the cooker, turn the hob on full and give the flatbread proper heat from below directly on this rack before putting the flatbread in the oven again for a short time. It’s a lot of work, but it always paid off.

Update: I revised and improved the recipe in July 2021

I have actually managed to make the perfect flatbread even more perfect! I experimented a lot with different types of flour, resting times, temperatures and baking times. My aim was to make the flatbread as good in a normal oven as if you had bought it (and even better!!). It should definitely always rise like a balloon, be perfect for dipping and it should be really nice and elastic so that you can also roll it into wraps. I’ve now succeeded and of course I’m passing the new recipe straight on to you.

There is one important step you should not forget when preparing the bread: After you have baked the bread, it should be placed in a plastic bag after cooling. This is the only way to ensure that it remains elastic and perfectly rollable even a day later.

Pita bread also works from the pan

I have now also tried the flatbread in the pan and it works wonderfully here too. You just have to bear in mind that the bread doesn’t rise like a balloon and remains more compact. The heat in the pan creates a few toasted aromas, giving the bread a slightly different taste and texture.

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Recipe for Lebanese pita bread

Want to learn more about the cuisine of the Levant? Then take a look at my guide.