Grilled Rosemary Pita Bread

My husband makes the most amazing pita bread. Last week I experimented a little bit with the recipe and turned the regular pita bread that we usually bake in the oven into a rosemary pita bread that we cooked on the grill.

And the results were delicious!

The dough puffs up so well on the grill and gives the bread a little smoky flavor, as well as leaving behind those great telltale grill marks.

AND on a hot summer day you won’t even have to turn the oven on to get fresh, tasty bread. Can’t beat that! If you’re not a rosemary fan (I’m sorry), then you can always leave it out to make a plain pita.

We ate our rosemary grilled pita bread with grilled chicken tenders tucked inside, and it was amazing! Next time I’ll have to make some tzatziki sauce to finish it off… yum!

The original recipe comes from our Williams-Sonoma Bread cook book, but I’ve adapted it slightly. And if you don’t have the Williams-Sonoma cook books, they’re really really good! We own the whole series and use them all the time.

Grilled Rosemary Pita Bread

1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
Pinch of sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 1/2-4 cups flour
a few sprigs of rosemary, chopped (as course or as fine as you would like)

1. Sprinkle the yeast and sugar over 1/2 cup of the warm water. Stir to dissolve. Let sit for about 10 minutes, until foamy.

2. In a mixer (I used my Kitchen Aid), use the paddle attachment to combine the remaining 1 cup of water, oil, salt, and 1 cup of the flour. Beat for 1 minute on medium speed, then stir in the yeast mixture. Beat in the rest of the flour and the chopped rosemary, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Switch to the dough hook. Mix on low speed for about 3 minutes until the dough is stiff and sticky, adding 1 Tbsp. of flour at a time if the dough sticks. Place the dough into a deep oiled bowl, and turn it in the oil to coat it. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 1-1 1/2 hours.

3. Once the dough has doubled, turn the grill onto medium-low heat. Divide the dough on a lightly floured board into half, and then divide each half into 5 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Let the dough balls rest for 10 minutes. You can roll out each ball, or form the rounds by hand. I prefer by hand. Each ball should be rolled into an approximately 6 inch round.

4. Place the rounds on the grill, and cover the lid. Check the bread frequently, as it will only take a couple minutes per side to puff up and cook. Flip the bread over and grill the other side, and then remove from the grill when the bread is puffy and looks completely baked. Stack the finished pitas on a plate and cover with a dish towel to keep warm while you grill the rest of the pitas.

Serve warm. Makes 10 pitas. You can easily double the recipe to make 20, which is what we did for our family of 6.You can eat the pita plain, dipped in olive oil, or with your choice of meat or chicken. We ate ours with grilled chicken, but this would also taste great with beef or gyro meat.

Enjoy!!

And while the grill is still hot, you could also try making some easy grilled corn, or my coconut macadamia mango crusted mahi mahi. These chocolate no-bake cookies, chocolate cake, or Special K bars would also make a great dessert!

xo, Laura

About Laura