I'd like to emphasize or tweak a couple of these points. As background, the first time I saw pitas being cooked was in a Middle Eastern bakery in Vienna, VA, using a smallish tandoor that stood in the middle of the floor. With a tandoor, you get a lot of radiant heat from the coals at the bottom, a lot of transmitted heat going into the pitas from where they are slapped onto the inside of the tandoor near the top, and convective heat from the hot air rising up from the coals. The closer your can come to these conditions, the better. So a well-preheated baking stone/steel and very high oven temperatures are helpful. I go for 500 deg F, near the top of my oven's settings.

Any sticking while rolling out the disks will probably prevent puffing, so use lots of flour on the bench and on top of the dough ball. Keep replenishing it and keep moving the disk of dough around. Make sure not to roll the edges thin, because they usually stick when you do that.

A perfectly round shape isn't critical but defects are. The bottom on the dough ball always has defects because the dough will have been pinched together there, so try to keep this to a minimum. Don't pinch or repair the balls except on the one and only bottom side. Also keep track of which side is the bottom and *make sure* that side goes into the oven facing down. I haven't ever read this but I only started to get consistent success after I learned to make sure to keep the bottom side down. I also keep this side down during rolling, but Vivian seems to be able to turn the shape over during rolling and still get the pita to inflate. If you do, make sure not to get any sticking, but I have been able to roll the dough balls all the way without turning them over - with the help of enough flour.

After I slide the disks into the oven - I do two at a time - I try to mimic the tandoor's coals by turning on the overhead broiler. I've nervous about drying out the top before it pops, so I only keep the broiler on for maybe 15 or 20 seconds at this point. My pitas pop quickly, usually in two minutes or less, and I turn the broiler back on for a little after they do. Don't bake them much longer, because you don't want the tops to get too dried out or overcooked.

I think you will find, once you get success paying attention to these details, that you can make almost any wheat-based dough to pop, as long as it's not too wet or too dry. Sourdough works just as well as using instant dry yeast - of course, you have to let it bulk ferment long enough - and tastes better. As a starting point, figure on 65% hydration, but that will vary depending on the kind of flour or flours, etc. The feel of the dough and how it rolls out is really the thing to get familiar with.

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