Sourdough Discard Pita Bread

If you bake sourdough often you know how wonderful discard can be. It might not have the same rising power of fed sourdough (it does have some) but it adds a depth of that fresh bread flavor. 

Since we can’t rely on it fully for rising but it will provide some leavening, we’re able to use a little less commercial yeast (and using less of it also improves flavor!). Plus, you get to use up that discard you’ve been storing in the fridge =) 

Recipe origins 

I had been making Reem Kasis’ recipe from the palestinian table. I was SO happy I’d finally gotten a pita recipe to do its puffy thing in the oven (no other recipe has worked for me before!) and I kept making it again and again, building in modifications that worked better for me: a little less whole wheat so it would be softer, using discard to improve the flavor, adjusting the leavening to accommodate the discard, then adjusting the flours and liquid accordingly…etc. And then I landed on this recipe and I am just so happy with it that now I make it twice a week! I’m hoping that you’ll be making this one just as often too =) 

Recipe Ingredients 

Yeast: active dry yeast. You can use rapid rise (instant) yeast instead if that’s what you have. 

Discard: unfed sourdough that’s less than a week old. 

Milk: Warmed to touch (if you can dip your finger in it and find it comfortably warm, that’s good – if it’s too hot you can wait to use it or use colder water and add the water first to the bowl with the yeast. Too hot of a liquid will kill the yeast. 

Water: warmed to touch, it should *not* be too hot. 

Sugar: fine granulated sugar. Just a tablespoon, it’ll help the yeast bloom and rise. 

Olive oil: we’re using just a bit, it helps flavor the bread and give more elasticity to the dough. 

All purpose flour: of a medium protein content like 11%. 

Wheat flour: I usually have white whole wheat on hand but if you’d like to use whole wheat go ahead, just add another tablespoon of water to the dough. 

00 flour: 00 flour refers to how finely it was ground (an Italian classification). I have this on hand for making pizza dough and focaccia but if you don’t, use all purpose instead and  add 2-3 tablespoons of extra water. The benefit of 00 flour is that it’s finer, made from durum wheat so it will yield weaker gluten strands so the bread will be much more tender. I have swapped in AP for this and structurally it worked, but it still wasn’t as soft as when I used the 00.

Salt: fine sea salt is finely ground so it absorbs into the dough more easily than kosher. If you are using table salt, use half the amount. 

How to make pita bread with sourdough discard 

Bloom the yeast: add the yeast, warm milk and warm water to the bowl of your stand mixer. Over the yeast sprinkle the sugar then leave it for about 5 minutes until it foams: 

Add the rest of the dough ingredients (the flours, olive oil, salt, and discard): 

Knead until the dough comes together in a sticky, shapeless ball. The bowl of the mixer will be mostly clean. 

Transfer to an oiled bowl (or remove the dough, oil the mixer bowl then put the dough back in), toss the dough around the oil then seal for the first rise: 

After the first rise

When the dough is almost doubled in size, deflate it onto a floured surface and divide into 12 pieces:

Roll each piece into a ball, first between your palms and then on the counter to make it tight and seal it, pinching the bottom together:

Cover the doughs with a thin, damp tea towel (I use a flour sack which I spray with water) and let them rest for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven & prep baking pans by greasing then lining them with parchment paper (the grease helps hold the paper in place).  

One by one, roll out the dough balls into about a 6-8 inch circle. Turn the dough 45 degrees after every roll. 

When you place the dough on the prepared pan to bake, place them so that the bottom side of the dough ball (where you can see the pinched part) is on the pan.

If I’ve rolled them around 6 inches diameter I can fit three on a single cookie sheet. I’ll keep two cookie sheets and alternate one in the oven and one out, cooling and getting ready to go back into the oven.

It’s OK to reuse the parchment paper, don’t bother changing it. Wait until the sheet is mostly cool before placing the dough on it to bake.

Bake them for about 5 minutes, keep a close eye on them. Around the third minute they’ll start puffing up and some of the edges will turn golden brown.

Keep a plate nearby covered with a dry tea towel and as the pitas come out of the oven, place them on the tea towel and wrap it around the bread. This will keep them warm and absorb any condensation.

FAQ on Discard Pita Bread

Can I knead the dough by hand? 

It can be done!  It’ll take awhile but it will form into a very soft ball eventually. 

Can I make this without discard? 

You can make homemade pita without discard but this recipe was specifically built to use discard. Discard, a combination of water and flour, which has natural yeast in it changes the consistency of the dough and how much commercial yeast is needed. 

Can I use a baking steel or pizza stone? 

If you bake sourdough there’s a chance you have a baking steel or pizza stone. You can use that to bake the pitas, but you’ll want to set them on pieces of parchment paper then transfer them to the baking steel. Keep an eye on them, they’re done not by the timer but by when they’ve puffed up and the edges have gone a bit brown. 

Storing leftover discard pita bread 

After you’ve baked the pita, let them cool to room temperature then transfer them to a freezer gallon bag, seal and freeze. They’ll keep for a few months – whenever you want to eat a pita, set it in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, until soft and warm. These keep so well you won’t know that it wasn’t freshly baked! 

Note: this style of pita isn’t great for using as ‘pockets’ for sandwiches as one of the layers is too thin and tears easily. 

Sourdough Discard Pita Recipe 

Discard Pita Bread

The softest homemade pita bread enhanced with the flavor of sourdough. Easy recipe that requires no special tools.

Prep Time: 30 minutes mins

Cook Time: 30 minutes mins

Yields: 12

5 from 8 votes

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Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 240g whole milk warmed to touch
• 240g warm water to touch
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 450g all purpose flour (option to sub 100g of the AP flour with white whole wheat)
• 350g 00 flour if you need to substitute this with all purpose flour, add another 2-3 tablespoons of water to the dough
• 2 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt
• 100g sourdough discard
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Method

• In the bowl of a stand mixer , add the yeast, the warm milk and the water. Sprinkle the sugar over it and leave it for a few minutes. After about 5 you should see it starting to foam, this indicates it’s good to use.
• Add the flours, the salt, the discard and the oil and attach the dough hook. Knead the dough until it comes together around the hook and the bowl is mostly clean, about 5-7 minutes.
• Use a bit of olive oil to oil a large bowl and roll the dough around the oil to coat it (you can also do this in the bowl of your stand mixer, just take the dough out, oil the bowl then put it back in).
• Let the dough rise for about 2 hours, until it’s about doubled in size.
• Turn it onto a floured surface and divide it into pieces that are around 130g each (you’ll have 12 pitas). Shape each piece into a ball by rolling it between your palm and the counter and pinching the bottom to close it.
• Cover the dough balls with a damp towel cloth (I use a flour sack and spritz the sack with water) and let rest for about 20 minutes. While they’re resting, preheat the oven to 475 F.
• Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll out the dough balls to about 6 inches diameter, turning the dough 45 degrees with each roll to get a perfect circle and rolling on both sides. Place three of the rolled out pitas on a cookie sheet - not touching - with the pinched side (from when it was pinched as a dough ball) facing down. Keep the damp cloth on the other dough balls so they don’t dry out.
• Set a flour sack on top of a large bowl or plate.
• Bake the pitas for about 5 minutes, they’ll puff up in the last 2 minutes. Once they’ve puffed and the edges are turning golden, take them out and let them cool briefly on the pan then transfer them to cool fully on the flour sack. Loosely wrap the flour sack over the bread.
• Repeat with the remaining pitas, alternating cookie sheets (one in the oven, one cooling to go into the oven once the pitas are rolled out). It’s ok to keep using the same sheet of parchment. The last cookie sheet will just have two pitas on it.
• Eat immediately (or the day of!) If you have leftovers, store them in a freezer safe gallon bag and freeze. When you’re ready to eat them just warm them up in the microwave.

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