Soft, stuffable vegan pita pocket bread bakes in less than 3 minutes on a baking stone. Extensive tips for recipe success. Tasty, enriched recipe. No refined sugar.
Put water, hemp seed, and maple syrup in a blender. Blend on high for one minute or until hemp seed is fully dissolved.
Pour blended hemp milk into the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle with yeast and let it bloom for 5 minutes.
Whisk in olive oil, whole wheat flour, and salt. Don't add the all-purpose flour until the whole wheat flour is dispersed in the liquid. Stir in the all-purpose flour to make a rough dough.
Knead dough
Attach a dough hook to the mixer. Knead on medium setting for 8 minutes. If you have a KItchenAid mixer, setting 4 is just right. The dough will be stretchy and slightly sticky when finished.
Alternatively, knead by hand until the dough is smooth and elastic. Don't use too much flour.
First rise
Oil hands and a large bowl lightly with olive oil. Scrape dough into the oiled bowl and cover. Let rise until fully doubled, approximately 45 minutes to 90 minutes, depending on room temperature.
Section and rest dough
Lay a sheet of parchment paper on a large cookie sheet. Moisten two thin tea towels and wring them out well.
Lightly flour a countertop. Divide dough into 2 pieces. Using floured hands, shape the dough into two round discs. Cut each disc in equal quarters as you would a pie. You will end up with 8 pieces of dough on the counter.
Keep all the sectioned pieces of dough loosely covered with the damp tea towel while working.
Take out one piece of dough and flatten and stretch it out a bit while holding it in your hands. Then, pull the edges up and tuck them into the center, like a belly button. Pinch the top of the dough together to form a smooth round ball. Dust very lightly with flour and place seam-side down on the parchment-lined cookie sheet. Keep balls of dough covered with the second damp towel while working.
When all the balls of dough are shaped, set a timer and let rest 10 minutes.
Preheat pizza stone
Place a pizza stone on the middle rack of your oven and preheat it to 500 degrees.
Roll pitas
Lightly dust a large, smooth work surface at least 24 inches long with flour. Use flour sparingly while rolling, but do keep the dough from sticking to the counter.
Take one piece of dough from the cookie sheet. Flatten it gently with your hands to 4 inches before rolling with a rolling pin. This helps disperse air pockets evenly without popping them. Roll the dough to 6 inches. This thickness is just right for 8 pocket breads.
Rub the top side of the first rolled pita with flour when you finish rolling it out. Use flour more generously at this point. Flip the pita and lay it with the floured side down for the final rise. Set a timer for 25 minutes and continue rolling out the remaining pitas.
If you will be using a Super Peel, you can leave the individual pitas to rise directly on the countertop. However, if you will be using parchment, transfer each pita back to the cookie sheet after rolling it out. You may need an addition cookie sheet lined with parchment.
Keep the rising pita bread covered at all times with damp tea towels.
Bake
Select the pitas that were rolled out first. Use a spatula to carefully transfer 3-4 pitas at a time to a Super Peel.
Alternatively, trim the parchment paper they are resting on to sections with 3-4 pitas.
Transfer rolled pocket bread to the hot baking stone and watch as they bake through the oven's glass door. You want to catch the moment they all have puffed into balloons. Take care not to overbake the pita. If one doesn't puff, go ahead and flip them all anyway.
Gently flip the puffed pocket bread and close the oven door quickly. Bake for one more minute.
Put the baked pita breads in a large bowl and cover the bowl loosely. Repeat until all the pocket breads are baked.
Store
Homemade pita pocket bread is best eaten the same day it's baked. However, any leftovers can be frozen and thawed later to enjoy. Wrap them well before freezing and store them for up to 3 months in the freezer.
Notes
Ingredients
Make sure to use stone-ground whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour as specified for optimal results. For example, whole wheat pastry flour will make the dough too wet, and white bread flour will make the pitas tough.
Baby pita pocket bread
This recipe will make 8 medium-sized pitas. However, you can divide the dough to make baby pitas or larger bread as desired. Just roll the dough to ⅛th-inch thickness.
Timing
The temperature of your kitchen will determine how long your rise times are and may vary from the recipe. Here are the starting guidelines:First rise - After kneading the dough, let it rise for 45-90 minutes until doubled.Rest sectioned and shaped balls of dough for 10 minutes.Second rise - This one is important. Set a timer for 25 minutes after you finish rolling flat the first pocket bread. Bake - Don't overbake the pitas, or they will be dry. The first side may take as little as one minute to puff up into a balloon. That's when you want to flip them right away and bake them for one more minute.
Rolling
Flatten individual balls of dough gently with your hands to 4 inches before rolling with a rolling pin. This helps disperse air pockets evenly without popping them.Flour hands and counter lightly during therolling stage. Use as little as necessary.Roll pita pocket bread to 6-inches. This thickness is just right for 8 pocket breads.Rub the top side of the pita pocket bread with flour when you finish rolling it out. Use flour more generously at this point.Flip the rolled pita and lay it with the floured side down on the counter or the parchment-lined cookie sheet for the final rise. Remember to cover it with a damp towel.
More essential tips for success
Measure flour with a scale for best accuracy.
Cover sections of dough at all times during shaping and rising with a damp tea towel.
Preheat oven and baking stone before rolling out pitas.
Flour the baking peel with all-purpose flour and rub well into the cloth.
Transfer pitas to the peel with a wide spatula taking care not to pierce the dough.
Watch pitas as they bake through the oven glass door and flip them over gently as soon as all three have puffed into balloons. This can take as little as one minute.
Turn pitas over once they have puffed and close the oven door quickly to bake one minute longer.
Baked pita pocket bread should be pale with only a few areas of golden brown. Over-cooking pocket bread will make it dry and less flexible.