Dough Too Dry

• The moisture in pita dough turns to steam while baking, which causes the flatbread to rise and puff. If your dough is too dry, there won't be enough moisture to allow for adequate steam. Follow your recipe carefully; make sure you don't add any additional flour, even if the dough seems too wet, and try not to use too much flour when kneading and working the dough. Cover the pitas while they're resting to retain moisture. If they seem too dry, spritz each pita with water before baking.

Oven Too Cool

• In order to create a good environment for your pita bread to puff up, you need to use a hot oven. The hotter the oven, the more steam will be created, which is the key to getting a puffy pita. Ideally, you should bake them at 520 degrees Fahrenheit, or as hot as your oven goes if it can't reach this temperature. Ensure your oven is thoroughly preheated before you start baking.

Pita Placement

• Getting a good amount of contact area between the rolled out, unbaked pitas and the baking sheet is imperative. The heat from the baking sheet helps the pitas to puff up. As a result, if you don't put them down flat on the tray, they might not puff. Using a baking sheet that holds heat well is a bonus, though not necessary. A pizza stone is ideal, but a heavy ceramic or metal tray would also work well.

Opening the Oven

• As with baking cakes, if you open the oven too soon it can cause real trouble for your pita breads. As we've established, it's the steam that helps your flatbreads to puff, so an open oven will let out all the accumulated steam, potentially leading to flat pitas. Never open the oven until the amount of time prescribed in your recipe has passed.