THE GREAT
PITTA PUFF
One tiny bread maker. Six proper pittas. And that glorious moment when flat dough suddenly turns into a bread balloon.
The actual PN100.
This is the black Panasonic SD-PN100 the recipe is built around. No generic bread-maker stand-in. The batch stays within its compact 250 g flour scale and uses the Dough programme to do the mixing, kneading and first prove.
Six pittas. One small batch.
Ingredients
- Lukewarm water160 ml
- Olive oil1 tbsp
- Strong white bread flour250 g
- Sugar1 tsp
- Salt1 tsp
- Fermipan Red yeast1 tsp
Into the PN100
- Add water and olive oil first.
- Add flour, then sugar and salt.
- Add yeast last.
- Run the Dough programme.
- Divide into six pieces, roughly 65–70 g each.
- Rest 10 minutes before rolling.
Six little dough balls.
Give them ten minutes under a light cover, then roll evenly to around 4–5 mm thick. That short rest relaxes the gluten and stops each piece shrinking back like an edible trampoline.
Hot oven. Hot tray. No compromise.
Heat the oven to around 240°C conventional / 220°C fan. Preheat a heavy tray, baking steel or pizza stone at the same time. The dough needs an instant blast of heat to generate steam fast enough to create the pocket.
Then: WHOOMPH.
Moisture becomes steam, the two surfaces separate and the pitta inflates. Standing in front of the oven watching bread puff is entirely reasonable behaviour.
Wrap them while warm.
As soon as they come out, loosely wrap the pittas in a clean tea towel for 5–10 minutes. The trapped steam keeps the crust soft, flexible and easy to fill.
Soft. Bendy. Tearable. Stuffable. Exactly right.
Garlic butter pitta.
Melt butter with crushed garlic, parsley and a pinch of salt. Brush it onto the bread while it is still hot. The butter disappears into the blisters and the entire situation becomes slightly dangerous.
Build the monster.
Grilled chicken, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, red onion, garlic yoghurt and chilli sauce. Do not under-fill it. The pocket exists to be tested.
The soup dunker.
Make the pitta slightly thicker, brush it with olive oil and tear it into big pieces beside creamy chicken soup. At this point bread is no longer merely food. It is cutlery with flavour.
One dough. A ridiculous number of dinners.
Change the dough.
Wholemeal: 125 g strong white + 125 g wholemeal. Seeded: sesame or nigella on top. Herb: oregano, thyme or rosemary. Spicy: chilli flakes, smoked paprika and black pepper.
Why didn't mine puff?
Usually the oven or tray was not hot enough, the dough was too thin or uneven, or the surface dried before baking. Even a non-puffed pitta still makes excellent dipping bread, toast or pitta chips. No bread gets left behind.
Make six. Save a few.
Cool completely, stack, bag and freeze for around 2–3 months. Reheat in the toaster, oven, air fryer or microwave. A tiny splash of water before reheating helps restore softness.
Small machine.
Big puff.
Very good bread.
The SD-PN100 is not just a loaf machine. It is a compact dough factory — and this is exactly the sort of recipe that proves it.
PN100 Pitta Bread Project · Full-width hero edition.