Easy Gluten Free Pita Bread Recipe
Yeast Free & Gluten Free Pita Bread Recipe
How to Make Gluten Free Pita without Yeast & Only 7 Ingredients
It can be tough to find gluten free pita bread at the grocery store, but now you can make your own version at home! Made with a gluten free all purpose flour and a bit of yogurt, this recipe is like a cross between a hearty pita and a chewy naan bread. There’s no pita pocket, but the fluffy, bread-y texture satisfies just like a classic pita! I’ll show you how to make gluten free pita without yeast in just 30 minutes.
Not only is this gluten free pita bread recipe quick, but it also only requires 7 ingredients to make. The dough is super simple to prepare and easy to work with—perfect for making pitas of all different sizes. Personally, I like to make mini pitas that are great for dipping and snacking! I’ve also made medium pitas to serve with egg or chicken salad, but you can try your hand at larger pitas as well.
Yes, this gluten free pita bread won’t be exactly the same as a traditional pita. It doesn’t have the classic pita pocket, and it’s got a heartier texture that’s not quite as stretchy. But, this homemade version does satisfy my hankering for a fluffy, chewy, dippable pita—without any gluten! If you’re a fan of homemade gluten free bread recipes, this recipe is definitely worth a try.
Gluten Free Pita Bread Ingredients
- Gluten-free 1-to-1 flour (I used Cup4Cup Multipurpose, and I’ve also used Bob’s Red Mill)
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Plain yogurt
- Milk
- Coconut oil, melted
Is Pita Bread Gluten Free?
Traditionally, no—most pita bread is NOT gluten free because it’s made with wheat flour. If you’ve enjoyed the light, pillowy texture of a classic pita bread, that’s all thanks to the gluten in the wheat. At some stores, you may be able to find a gluten free pita bread option, but they tend to be rare or nonexistent.
Thankfully, we can make our own homemade gluten free pita instead! Of course, just bear in mind that our homemade version will inevitably be a bit different without the gluten.
What happens to bread without gluten?
Glutenis a stretchy protein found in wheat that adds elasticity to a dough—giving the bread a light, fluffy texture. So, naturally, without gluten’s magical stretchy properties, many gluten free breads turn out dense, crumbly, or downright cardboard-like.
For this reason, gluten free bread-making requires plenty of creativity and lots of recipe testing. Without the gluten, we need to incorporate other sources of stretchiness into our dough—like yogurt, eggs, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, and so on. (This is why you’ll see some of these ingredients in most gluten free flour brands!)
How Yeast Free Rice Flour Pita Bread is Different from Traditional
Unlike traditional pita bread made with wheat flour and yeast to help it rise, this gluten free pita recipe is made with a rice flour blend, as well as baking powder and soda in lieu of yeast. My personal choice of gluten free flour is Cup4Cup Multipurpose Flour, but I’ve also used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour in this recipe. In addition, I’ve added yogurt to give the dough more stretchiness, and to keep the end result softer and fluffier.
Altogether, this makes for a bread that’s like a blend between a pita bread and a naan bread. Soft and bread-y like a pita, but a bit heartier and with no pita pocket, like naan. Pita pocket or not, this gluten free pita bread has a similar flavor and can serve a similar purpose to any classic pita—perfect for dipping and snacking!
How do I make a vegan gluten free pita bread recipe?
Over the years, I’ve tried several different versions of this gluten free pita recipe, and the initial version was both gluten free and vegan. So, if you’d like to give this a try, have at it! Simply omit the ½ cup of plain yogurt and instead use a full 1 cup of milk of choice, warmed. (I originally used 1 cup warmed almond milk.) I and others have found success with this recipe for vegan gluten free pita bread in the past!
However, some other folks who made the vegan GF pita bread reported that their pitas turned out too dense or hard, which is why I decided to adjust the recipe by adding yogurt to the dough. Do whatever works best for you and your lifestyle!
Tips for Making this Gluten Free Pita Recipe
- Heat your wet ingredients before adding them into the dry ingredients. Just pop them into the microwave for about 30 seconds to warm them before mixing them into the dry mixture, and your dough will integrate much better.
- Do NOT over-mix the dough! While mixing the wet into the dry ingredients, stop mixing once the flour is just integrated enough that the mixture can hold its shape when pressed together, even if it’s still a bit crumbly. It won’t be a perfect dough! This is the most crucial tip, as overworking your dough may result in harder/less fluffy pitas once they’re baked.
- Your pitas don’t need to be perfect. Don’t worry about making perfectly round pitas—let them be rustic! If you’re open to making mini-to-medium sized pitas, I think these work best.
- Monitor as they bake and flip once slightly browning on the bottom. Your gluten free pita bread won’t need long in the oven. After about 10 minutes they should be ready to flip, but monitor them the first time you try this recipe to make sure they don’t overbake!
To see how this recipe is made—along with the rest of this bento lunch box—check out my Bento Box Breakfast & Lunch video!
Gluten Free Pita Bread Recipe
Ingredients
Gluten Free Pita Bread
- 2 cups gluten-free 1-to-1 flour, I used Cup4Cup Multipurpose
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup plain yogurt
- ½ cup milk
- 1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk dry ingredients together.
- Whisk together yogurt, milk, and coconut oil. Heat in the microwave for 30 seconds.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix to combine, but do not over mix! Dough will be sticky, not dry, and should hold together. (Stop mixing once flour is just integrated enough that the mixture holds its shape when you press it together—even if it’s still a little crumbly. Overworking the dough may result in a harder/less fluffy texture after baking!)
- Sprinkle flour onto parchment-lined baking sheet(s). Scoop dough with cookie scoop or spoon, roll it into a ball, and use hands to flatten each ball into a circle. Dough should be about ⅛–¼-inch thick. Don’t worry about making them perfectly round—let them be rustic!
- I used a 4-teaspoon cookie scoop to make mini pitas, but I’ve also made medium pitas with ~2-Tbsp sized dough balls. You could also try making larger pitas!
- Transfer pressed dough circles to prepared baking sheet.
- Bake 10 minutes, until pitas are puffing up and slightly browning on the bottom. Flip and bake another 2-3 minutes.
- Allow to cool about 5 minutes before enjoying!
- Store in a zip-top bag or airtight container at room temperature for 5-7 days. In hotter or more humid climates, you may want to store in an airtight container in the fridge.
- To revive pitas after storing, try microwaving for 10-15 seconds, or pop into the toaster oven for a few minutes!
- Yields ~24 mini pitas, or 12 medium pitas.
37 Comments on “Easy Gluten Free Pita Bread Recipe”
I made this recipe and added 1 extra cup flour and instead of yogurt and milk I used 1 cup almond milk and 1/4 cup white vinegar. Also added 2 eggs. It came out Amazing. Thank you!
Hi JC, thank you for trying our GF pita recipe – we’re so glad it turned out well for you! Thank you for sharing the adjustments you made to the recipe as well. I know that information will be helpful to others who make the recipe, and you may have even improved our recipe, so thank you! We’re excited to try out your method 🙂
I am not sure what went wrong. I used bobs 1:1 and followed the recipe exactly but the dough was crumbly and once baked was hard and too dry tasting to eat. I do appreciate the time and effort it takes to come up with these alternative recipes! Bummed it didn’t work out this time.
Hi Abby, thank you for trying our gluten free pita bread recipe and sharing your feedback with us. We’re so sorry to hear it didn’t turn out as expected! It is a bummer to have a recipe that doesn’t work out. Unfortunately with homemade gluten free bread recipes, there can be a lot of variability in terms of how the final product turns out. Often, this can be related to the type of gluten free flour that’s used. We’ve heard from others that their GF pita turned out hard and dry, so you’re not alone!
Although we’ve used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 GF flour in the past, we’ve had the best results when we use Cup4Cup’s Multipurpose GF flour. The ingredients in these two varieties of flour are similar, but not exactly the same! The Cup4Cup flour contains cornstarch and milk powder (which Bob’s does not), and I wonder if these ingredients make a difference in producing a more moist and fluffy gluten free pita.
We’ll have to test this recipe again using Bob’s and see what happens. Until then, if you’re wanting to give this recipe another try, consider using Cup4Cup multipurpose flour if you can find it. Or, you could try adding some cornstarch with your Bob’s 1:1 flour to see if that makes a difference! We appreciate you being here and offering such kind feedback 🙂
Hi! How can I make this dairy free and use as a replacement for the yogurt
Hi there, great question! We’ve tried several different versions of this gluten free pita bread recipe over the years, and our first version of this recipe was GF and vegan. If you’d like to make this dairy free, you can omit the ½ cup of plain yogurt and use 1 full cup (instead of a ½ cup) of milk of choice, warmed. (We originally used warm almond milk.) We found success making vegan gluten free pita bread in this way, as have others who tried it out!
However, we did also hear from other folks who tried our vegan version and found that their GF pitas turned out too dense or hard – which is why we changed the recipe to add yogurt to the dough. Just something to keep in mind as you experiment in your own kitchen! Hope this helps 🙂
It tastes just like regular pita!
I agree with you Joe, this gluten free pita bread recipe turned out surprisingly fluffy and bready! I wouldn’t know the difference if we hadn’t made it 🙂 So glad you enjoyed it!
Can I stuff the dough with ground beef and bake all together?
Hi Maisa, we haven’t personally tried stuffing this dough with meat or any fillings prior to baking, so I can’t speak to how that might turn out. It sounds tasty and you’re welcome to experiment with it! Although, because this is a gluten free recipe, I worry that it might not hold together well enough. I wish I could be more helpful!
Hi, could I ask for a metric information? Or what is the size of the cup? Thanks
Hi Oksana, here is the metric information for the flour and the almond milk:
296g gluten-free 1-to-1 flour (2 cups)
237 mL warm almond milk, or milk of choice (1 cup)
I hope this helps! 🙂
Can these be frozen?
Hi Pat, we’ve stored these gluten-free pitas in the fridge, but we haven’t tried in the freezer yet. They might freeze alright if you wrap each individually before freezing – just be prepared that, because they’re gluten-free and made with coconut oil, they might become more crumbly after thawing from frozen and reheating them!
Any more suggestions about “gluten-free 1-to-1 flour” – there are many ingredients in these pre-made mixes, and many often contain soy and corn – which are both common allergies, not to mention stabalizers or additives like xantham gum which are quite expensive. Thanks in advance for any input.
Hi Jess, you make some great points about the ingredients in many gluten free 1-to-1 flours. I suppose there’s a bit of a trade-off: to get rid of the gluten but still retain a flour that works well for baked goods, many brands rely on various additives.
Personally in our kitchen, we like the the Bob’s Red Mill GF 1-to-1 flour, and the Cup4Cup GF Multipurpose & Wholesome flours. Ultimately, it’s tough to find a gluten-free flour blend that’s ‘perfect’ in terms of ingredients, but we can look for and choose the best options to suit our individual lifestyles and budgets. The brands mentioned are two of the best options for us!
The other option with homemade gluten-free baked goods is to look for recipes that don’t use GF flour blends. Search for recipes made specifically with whatever type of flour you want to use – rice flour, oat flour, almond flour, etc. That way you avoid the blends and potential additives! We have a GF Honey Oat Bread made with oat flour and a GF Almond Flour Bread if you’d like to check those out 🙂
Hi, has anyone in this thread tried this same recipe but making larger pitas, rather than mini pitas? If so, did it turn out ok and, if so, what, if anything, did you have to change in the recipe? Thank you!
Hi Anne, we haven’t personally tried making larger pitas, but hopefully someone in this community can help you!
In general, taking a recipe from a smaller size to a larger size (like a mini muffin vs regular muffin) will require you to increase the bake time. Larger pitas will just take a bit longer to cook through! Best to monitor them closely as they cook though 🙂
Do you recommend melting the coconut oil. If so, is your measurement for melted coconut oil? Thank you!
Hi there, so sorry for the confusion! Yes, we recommend melting the coconut oil, and the measurement provided is for melted coconut oil. I will clarify that on the recipe straight away – thanks for bringing it to our attention!
I have a question If I replaced the all purpose flour with almond flour do I have to increase the baking powder and baking soda or would it stay the same?
Hi Tamara, we haven’t tried this specific recipe with almond flour instead of the gluten free all purpose flour, so I can’t say for sure how to adjust the recipe to accommodate the almond flour. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful!
Hi – had the same issue as Jess. Used a 1:1 flour with xantham gum and made sure it was sticky. I even only let them go 9 min and kept an eye on them. No puff at all, just cracked little hockey pucks. Nothing like the beautiful ones in your picture! Bummer! Was really looking forward to it with my chicken shawarma! Not sure what else to change.
Hi Julie, I’m so sorry that this recipe didn’t turn out as expected! It’s tough to say what the specific problem might be here. And it is indeed a bummer, we made these several years ago but they turned out so nicely when we did!
If you’re following the recipe as directed, my best guess would be that your baking powder and/or baking soda may be slightly-less-fresh than is ideal. To be honest with you, we aren’t a huge baking crew, and we keep our baking powder and baking soda for long stretches… BUT, I have heard from true bakers about the importance of fresh baking soda and baking powder for quality baked goods. Perhaps that is affecting the crumbliness of your bread?
Again, this is just my best guess about what might be going on. My other recommendation would be to try refrigerating your dough for 10-15 minutes before shaping into discs and baking. I wish I could be more helpful, thank you so much for your feedback! We will have to try baking this recipe again to see how it turns out for us and if there’s any way we can improve it.
Oh jeez. Just pulled mine out the oven.. they are flat little rounds. Super crumbly. Any suggestion as to what happened? I used Glutino pantry flour. I wonder if it turned out so flat because the flour doesn’t have any xantham gum in it?
Any tips??
Hi Jess, thanks so much for trying out the recipe, but I’m so sorry to hear that they didn’t turn out as expected! Your idea about the xanthan gum is a good one – we used Bob’s Red Mill gluten free 1-to-1 baking flour which DOES have xanthan gum in it, and that can make a difference in terms of the elasticity vs crumbliness of a GF bread.
Other than that, it’s hard to say what the problem might be or how to remedy it. You could try a new GF flour, or you could try adding some xanthan gum to the recipe. Or, it may be a small detail in the recipe gone awry, i.e. using warm almond milk, being careful to not overmix the dough, ensuring that the dough is sticky and not too dry before preparing to bake it, etc.
And the simplest suggestion is to cut down on the bake time and to monitor your GF pitas as they bake, they may have baked for just a bit too long! My apologies that I can’t be more helpful, but I hope that one of these suggestions may prove useful for you. Thanks again for trying the recipe and do let us know if you try it out again! Stay safe 🙂
Used this recipe as a place to use up some sourdough starter discard. Just finished baking,and it turned out amazing. Not sure what i actually ended up with… somewhere between a pita and a foccacia. Beautiful, perfect crumb. Was great dipped in seasoned olive oil. Definitely not easily recognizable as gf bread.
The details: my starter is 50/50 buckwheat and brown rice flour. I used equal parts discard and gf ap replacement flour, but ended up needing to add some extra gf ap flour to get the dough to the right consistency. I also used olive oil instead of coconut oil, and accidentally added an extra tablespoon of the oil.
For baking, i used my silicone mat, which performed well. I made more sandwich sized breads (12 from a doubled-ish batch), but the amount of whole grains definitely means a single round is a meal or more.
I think everything else was a match to the recipe. Next time I’m thinking I’m gonna mix in some seasoning… like, a greek blend or zatar.
Thanks for the recipe.
Not all gluten flour is the same, for best results, you need to use the same one. Which gf flour did you use?
Great point! We used a gluten-free 1-to-1 baking flour from Bob’s Red Mill – it’s a blend of white rice and brown rice flour, along with a few other ingredients 🙂
https://www.bobsredmill.com/gluten-free-1-to-1-baking-flour.html
hi; I’ve really enjoyed these with gf flour, and am wondering if buckwheat flour (or a blend of gf and buckwheat) would work?
Hi there! So glad to know that this recipe worked for you with GF flour 🙂 thanks for giving it a try! We haven’t personally tried this recipe with a buckwheat flour or buckwheat flour blend, so I can’t say for certain whether or not it would work. You could do some experimenting and find out!
If you’re looking for specific GF bread recipes using buckwheat flour, we do have a vegan gluten free bread recipe that uses buckwheat flour:
https://mindovermunch.com/recipes/vegan-gluten-free-bread/
Delicious
So glad that you enjoyed! Thanks for trying out the recipe 🙂
Hi there,
Thanks for this recipe – I was just wondering though, how long can we store this bread without losing the freshness and what is the best way to store it?
🙂
Hi there! This gluten free pita bread is best stored in an airtight container (like a zip-top bag or a storage container) at room temperature and it should last for about 5 days, maybe up to a week.
It can vary based on the weather/climate where you live, how hot/humid it is. In a more humid climate, you may want to store in the fridge so it will last longer! 🙂
amazing recipe! I made exactly as the recipe directed- I used a store brand GFF with xantham gum in it as Bob’s cup for cup is hard to source and very expensive in Australia. I made the bread to serve with chicken shawarma (instant pot by Jeff Eisner- tots amazing btw) and some hummus and tzatzki. I used the bread to soak up all the lovely shawarma sauce. It was so good it will be my go
to recipe now after so many failures with other recipes. And it was so quick to make too! super easy and delicious as well as versatile. thanks for sharing!!
We’re so glad to hear this gluten free pita bread recipe worked out for you, Natalie! That sounds like an incredible meal, and it’s great to know the bread held up when served with your shwarma. Thanks so much for giving the recipe a try and sharing how it went with us! 🙂