Whole Wheat Pita Pocket Bread Free PD Recipe
- Cuisine: American, Middle Eastern
- Skill Level: Easy
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Direct link to this recipe: https://protectivediet.com/recipe/whole-wheat-pita-pocket-bread/
With my recipe and Pro Tips I guarantee you will enjoy making perfect, pillowy soft, high fiber, immune boosting, autophagy promoting pocket bread as much as me. With every puffed pocket I squeal with excitement sharing my successful shortcut updates, innovative techniques, and modern tools to support outstanding results in your workplace for wellness. Since 2010 I’ve documented my sustainable health transformation with plant-based recipes, lifestyle lessons, and nutritional support. My original pita bread video is a visual testimony of the healthy slim down I experienced while I enjoyed my daily bead on a Protective Diet. With The Protective Diet Microbiome Population Project, we will adopt a lifestyle to protect, populate, and manipulate our microbiome for immunity, metabolic function, and optimal health while eliminating allergies, obesity, disease, and food cravings.
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Ingredients:
- 3 cups organic white whole wheat flour or 450 grams hard white wheat berries milled finely
- Additional ¼ cup flour placed in a small bowl and set aside for rolling
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon sea salt, optional but recommended
- 1 ½ cups water
Directions:
- Watch video, read Directions, and Notes and Pro Tips before you begin for outstanding results
- In a large mixing bowl, that will fit inside your Instant pot bowl, add flour, salt, and yeast; mix dry ingredients with a Danish dough whisk or fork to distribute yeast and salt
- Add the measured water to dry mixture and combine using the dough whisk or fork
- Pour dough mixture out onto counter top and knead with hands for three minutes
- Place the smooth dough ball back into the mixing bowl
- Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap
- Place into the Instant Pot, secure IP lid, and set to yogurt incubation for one hour
- Place approximately ¼ cup flour or 2 Tablespoons milled wheat berries in a small bowl for rolling pitas
- After an hour, place the oven rack and an unlined baking sheet closest to the heat source in the oven
- Preheat oven and baking pan to 500 degrees
- Remove dough from bowl and knead again for 3 minutes
- Cut into eight pieces, roll into balls, and dip each ball into the bowl of flour making sure to coat both sides
- Dust countertop with flour
- Using a rolling pin, roll dough balls out into circles
- Set rolled pitas on floured-dusted counter to prevent sticking
- Remove preheated baking pan from oven and gently place two pitas onto the pan
- Return pan to the oven and set a timer for four minutes
- Remove baked pitas and transfer to a towel-lined bowl to keep warm
- Repeat baking the remaining pitas
Notes & Pro Tips:
- The heat source in a gas oven is usually at the bottom and at the top in electric ovens
- Don’t forget to preheat your pan
- Flouring the counter isn’t necessary on the first or second knead, but flour is needed when rolling out the pitas
Pita Puffing Tips:
- Knead dough for a full three minutes, and don’t forget to knead again for three minutes after proofing
- Cut and round dough balls as demonstrated
- Dip kneaded dough balls in a bowl of flour and roll thin
- If raw pita sticks to the counter when rolling or when transferring to the hot pan small tears or tiny holes may occur which will release steam when baking preventing your pita from puffing to create pockets
- The steam that builds inside the pita is what makes it puff
- Be gentle when placing raw pita on the hot pan to avoid tears or tiny holes that will release steam
- Happy Pita Puffing!
Proofing Dough:
- The Instant Pot yogurt setting will incubate and stimulate live yeast microorganisms for a faster active rise
- This is also called proofing the dough—some ovens have a dough proofing setting
- This method keeps dough at a warm, even temperature
- Covering the dough with a lid or plastic wrap maintains a moist environment yeast microbes thrive in
- This method eliminates the step of activating the yeast in a bowl of warm water with sugar or applesauce and finding a consistently warm place to proof dough
- If you become distracted and the dough rises for 1 ½ to 2 hours, it will be fine, but longer rise times can affect the texture of your dough
- Choose a mixing bowl that will accommodate doubling of the dough volume while proofing
- Using a mixing bowl inside the Instant Pot insert eliminates having to wash two items, but you may place the dough directly into the Instant Pot cooking insert to proof it
Serving Suggestions:
- Fill the pockets of pita bread with pieces of Falafel and Jerusalem Salad for falafel sandwiches
- Use as a vessel for Creamy Hummus or French Onion Dip
- Fill with salads from the Middle Eastern recipe category
- Fill with Epic Egg-less Salad or Family Sized Mock Tuna Salad
- Serve with The Skinny Big Fat Greek Salad, Get Shredded Carrot Salad, Detoxifying Smashed Cucumber Salad, Shaved Fennel Salad, or a veg-it-up chopped salad
- Leftover Pita Bread can be wrapped or placed into a zipper bag and refrigerated or frozen
- Use leftovers for the PD Baked Pita Chips Recipe
- Pita Chips are excellent in Fattoush Salad
Spotlight on Protective Spermidine:
The top four sources of spermidine are the germ of fresh-milled whole wheat, soybeans, mushrooms, and green peas. Interventions, including spermidine, that delay aging and protect from age-associated disease are slowly approaching clinical implementation. One such agent, the natural polyamine spermidine, has prominent cardioprotective and neuroprotective effects and stimulates anticancer immunosurveillance in rodent models. Moreover, dietary polyamine uptake correlates with reduced cardiovascular and cancer-related mortality in human epidemiological studies. Spermidine preserves mitochondrial function, exhibits anti-inflammatory properties, and prevents stem cell senescence. Mechanistically, it shares the molecular pathways engaged by other caloric restriction. It induces protein deacetylation and depends on functional autophagy. Because spermidine is already present in daily human nutrition, clinical trials aiming at increasing the uptake of this polyamine appear feasible.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29371440/
Spermidine and The Microbiome:
As people age lower levels of spermidine are found in the body. This reduction could be due to spermidine’s dependence on the microbiome and autophagy for utilization. Seniors tend to host a monoculture of less diverse resident microbes weakening their immune system and promoting disease. A diversely populated microbiome depends on lifestyle factors often inhibited as we age. Most will develop conditions requiring medication that suppresses the development of a healthy microbiome. This dysbiotic state is associated with reduced activity level, shallow breathing, reduced socialization, reduced natural microbial collection, limited meal variety, and reduced raw, fermented, and plant-fiber intake to develop and feed the microbiome. With The Protective Diet Microbiome Population Project we will adopt a lifestyle to protect, populate and manipulate our microbiome for immunity, metabolic function, and optimal health while eliminating allergies, obesity, disease, and food cravings.
Responses
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Made these last night using the white wheat flour from the burger buns recipe and turned out great. Amazed I got the pockets! Thanks.
Sugar is used to activate the yeast. It is consumed by the yeast and will not tax your body or cause disruption in taste bud reprogramming.
Sara, in bread recipes the sugar is usually just a small amount to activate the yeast.
Hi Julie, I’m a bit confused. We add sugar? I thought PD was sugar free.
I have tried making pitas so many times without having them puff, Julie’s tip about rolling them out 2 at a time and then putting it on the hot pan immediately did the trick! They turned out perfect!!
I made these this afternoon. Not too bad for a first time pita bread maker! I did have one problem though. When I mixed the flour, water and yeast together, my dough was extremely crumbly. I had to keep wetting my hands in order to get it all together to form a ball. It still seemed extremely dry. I think that I may have overworked the dough a bit. Any suggestions?
I tried making Pita Bread years ago, and I didn’t get any pockets, so I never tried again. Until today. They were so simple to make, and they puffed up beautifully, forming perfect pockets. Best of all, my pickiest son thought they tasted great!
Could you use a different flour that would be gluten free, like oat or something else that you feel would work well?
Yes, Try the Oat Flour Flat Bread. It is this recipe using oat flour. Note that the pita will not form a pocket using oat flour.
Can I use whole wheat pastry flour instead of whole wheat flour (that’s all I have right now)?
I haven’t tested the recipe with whole wheat pastry flour. I’m not sure it will form a pocket. If you try it let us know?
Made these, but substituted sugar with sugar free applesauce. They still turned out great, and I was surprised at how much they actually puffed up.. Next time I’m going to have to roll them out thinner!
Ok hoping i can get some answers. but I just tried this out and used oat flour mixed with a small amount of almond flour and ground flax. It ended up really wet with using the same measurements of flour and water you did. so i added more oat flour to get the right consistency, it did rise ok. Then during baking they puffed up a tiny bit, but stayed mostly flat. I rolled them fairly thin, should i roll them thicker and try that way? Any suggestions? A friend of mine and I are looking for a non wheat based flour way of making these. Thank you.
I have made these several times and I love them. I have made pita chips and pizzas a few times. Very good!
I just made these pita bread. There may be a bit of a learning curve here… At least for me. Lol! The first few burnt and did not puff up. I think I was rolling them out too thin. The last few I made smaller and thicker. They puffed up just right and I am enjoying a yummy sandwich with one of them now!! Great recipe! I will be making these again ! Thanks Julie!
about how long would you leave the rolled out pitas before baking to prevent them puffing up into pockets? (for pizza crusts, for example).
They will work as pizza crusts even if they puff up they will lay back down. If you roll out and let rest about 10 minutes they will not open into pockets. You can also top this dough raw for pizza.