A very hot oven is a must in order to get that quick burst of steam inside. If the oven temperature is too low, steam won’t puff the pitas, and you’ll end up with duds. Turn the oven as high as it will go, and preheat the oven with a baking steel or stone,* which retains heat, thus aiding in the creation of steam.
Keep kneading for about 10 minutes. What you’re looking for is good gluten development: The dough should be soft but stretchy, yet not as tight as a wad of well-chewed gum. If you pull on the dough, you should feel some resistance. Does all this manual labor sound massively boring to you? Okay—you can use a stand mixer instead, especially if you’re doubling the batch. Use a dough hook and mix at low speed for eight minutes.
Roll out the pitas to no more than a quarter inch in thickness. This is one of the most important rules, since the dough needs to be thin enough that the heat can quickly penetrate to the center, creating that blast of steam and expanding the pocket before the dough becomes too rigid.
If the dough is too thick, it’ll get overly firm before the heat of the oven can swell the center. The photo below shows what happens when the pita is too thick. No puff!
