Sourdough Pitta Breads

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🟢 Beginner⏱ ~4 hrs🫓 8 pittas

Sourdough pittas that puff up into perfect pockets, with a soft, pliable crumb and a lightly charred, blistered surface. They cook in just a couple of minutes in fierce heat — I love doing mine in my Gozney pizza oven, but a hot home oven with a baking stone does the job beautifully too. Far better than shop-bought, and ideal for wraps, dips and grilled everything.

Ingredients

  • 500g Shipton Mill strong white flour
  • 320g water (64% hydration)
  • 100g active starter, at its peak
  • 10g fine salt
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Fine semolina, for dusting

Method

  1. Mix: Combine the starter, water and oil, then add the flour and salt. Mix to a soft dough, rest 20 minutes, then knead briefly or give it 2–3 sets of stretch-and-folds until smooth and supple.
  2. Bulk ferment: Cover and leave until risen by about a half and nicely bubbly — around 3–4 hours in my 22–23°C kitchen.
  3. Divide & ball: Divide into 8 pieces (~115g each), shape each into a tight ball, and rest under a cloth for 20–30 minutes so they relax and roll out easily.
  4. Roll: On a semolina-dusted surface, roll each ball into a disc about 4–5mm thick — even thickness is what lets them balloon. Let the rolled pittas rest a few minutes before baking.
  5. Bake hot — the puff: In a Gozney or pizza oven (~350–400°C), slide a pitta straight onto the stone and it will balloon in 60–90 seconds. In a home oven, preheat a baking stone or steel at maximum (250–280°C) for 45 minutes, then bake each pitta 3–4 minutes until puffed and lightly blistered.
  6. Keep them soft: As each pitta comes out, wrap it in a clean tea towel — the trapped steam keeps them soft and foldable rather than crisp.
Tip: The ballooning is all about ferocious, even heat hitting an evenly-rolled disc — the hotter the surface, the better the pocket. If one doesn't fully puff, it'll still taste great; warm it briefly and it'll soften right up.

That depth of flavour starts with a lively culture. Ours is live, organic and ready to bake in 2 hours.

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★ Tested in my kitchen

Recipe by Richard. I bake fresh sourdough every single day for the guests at the Airbnb we run, and I've baked and tweaked this one 50+ times before sharing it — so it's reliable enough to hand to someone making their first loaf.

My kitchen sits at around 22–23°C. I mix to a dough temperature of ~25°C (I check it with a probe thermometer), bulk ferment on the side, cold-proof overnight in the fridge, and bake in a cast-iron Dutch oven until the internal temperature hits ~98°C. The times in this recipe assume a similar setup — watch your dough, not the clock, and adjust to your own kitchen.

See how I bake — my kit, temperatures & hard-won tips →