stovetop pita

After doing a bunch of chapati recently, I wanted to try the same cooking method for pita.  My pita dough: water 180 g warm, unbleached white 300 g, active dry yeast 5g, olive oil 12 g, salt 5g, sugar 10g. Mix, knead and stash in fridge until ready.  Can keep it in there for about 5 days and cook with it within an hour.

Tear off 40 g blobs of dough and round them, using scant flour to keep it from sticking, roll out as thin as you can, ca. 6" diameter.  Let rest a minute.  Preheat a dry pan, cast iron or any heavy bottom pan to a surface temp of about 400F (that's about medium on a big burner). Have some kind of perforated sheet pan on top of an adjacent burner.

Take the piece of dough and toss it in the dry pan for 40 seconds per side and then toss it on the perforated sheet until it puffs.  Flip and let it cook 10 seconds or so on the other side to get some charry marks.  Wrap the pita in a towel.  They'll stay nice and soft when cooled.

 First in the dry pan (400F surface)

Second side, about 40 seconds.

Toss over live flame that has a thin perforated sheet on it, until puffs, watch closely so it doesn't ignite.

Flip and cook the other side and get a tad of char on the other side too.

Final product.  Tender, soft, light, two layers, really nice.  I'm proud of these, much better than my oven baked pita.