| Origin | |
|---|---|
| Region or state | Middle East, Balkans, Greece |
| Dish details | |
| Main ingredient(s) | Flour and water |
Pita or pitta ( /ˈpɪtə/ pi-tə) is a round pocket bread widely consumed in many Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and Balkan cuisines. It is prevalent in Greece, the Balkans the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula and Turkey. The "pocket" in pita bread is created by steam, which puffs up the dough. As the bread cools and flattens, a pocket is left in the middle.
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The English word is borrowed from modern Hebrew, Modern Greek, and perhaps Balkan languages. These all probably come from the Byzantine Greek πίτα 'bread, cake, pie, pitta', but that word's further etymology is "uncertain and disputed".[1] The word has now spread to Turkish as pide,[2] in Balkan languages: Serbian and Croatian pita, Romanian pită, Albanian pite, Bulgarian pitka, Modern Hebrew pittāh via the Judaeo-Spanish pita. Though the Hebrew word pittāh is spelled like the Aramaic pittəṭā/pittā, which is related to Levantine Arabic fatteh, they are not connected historically.[1]
Pita is now the western name for the Arabic bread called khubz (ordinary bread), other breads of Arab or Egyptian, or kumaj (a Turkish loanword properly meaning a bread cooked in ashes), all baked in a brick oven. It is slightly leavened wheat bread, flat, either round or oval, and variable in size. The tenth-century Arab cookery book, Kitab al-Tabikh by ibn Sayyar al-Warraq, includes six recipes for khubz, all baked in a tannur, which is like the modern tandoor oven, in its Chapter 13.[3] Historians believe its history extends far into antiquity, since flatbreads in general, whether leavened or not, are among the most ancient breads, needing no oven or even utensil for their baking. The first evidence of flat breads occur in and around Amorite Damascus.
Pita is used to scoop sauces or dips such as hummus and to wrap kebabs, gyros or falafel in the manner of sandwiches. Most pita are baked at high temperatures (450 °F or 232 °C), causing the flattened rounds of dough to puff up dramatically. When removed from the oven, the layers of baked dough remain separated inside the deflated pita, which allows the bread to be opened into pockets, creating a space for use in various dishes.
Much of pita's popularity in the Western world since the 1970s is due to expanded use of the pocket for a type of sandwich. Instead of using pita to scoop foods, people fill the pocket with various ingredients to form a sandwich. These are sometimes called "pita pockets" or "pocket pitas".
In Greece, pita is eaten with dips, such as tzatziki, and is a major component of pita-souvlaki and pita-gyros. These types of sandwiches involve the wrapping of souvlaki or gyros with tzatziki, tomatoes, onion, french fries and condiments into a pita bread.
In Turkey, pita (called pide) has a soft, chewy texture and is pocketless. The pizza-like foods called lahmacun are made with oval-shaped pieces of pide dough topped with finely chopped meat and herbs before baking. Pide also refers to another pizza-like food made of pide dough topped with different ingredients. Regional variations in the shape, baking technique, and topped materials create distinctive styles for each region. Such pides can include chicken, beef, cheese, potatoes, garlic and many other ingredients.
In the former Yugoslavia, pita is an extremely common dish. The word pita is a general term for burek (pastry with beef), sirnica (pastry with cheese inside), zeljanica (pastry with spinach inside), and krompiruša (pastry with diced potatoes inside), but nonetheless there are many other types of pita. It is a traditional dish, and is commonly eaten for any meal of the day. In Bosnia, among the local Muslims, a specially prepared somun with egg yolk and seasonings is a traditional bread for dinners during the fast in the month of Ramadan. In some areas it is known as pita sa (pie with).... mesom (meat), sirom (cheese), etc.
Pita chips are a baked bread made from pita bread, often seasoned. They are crunchier and thicker than most chips. They are available in different flavours and can be a substitute for regular potato chips.
In Palestinian cuisine, it is the custom to eat almost everything in a pita, from falafel, lamb or chicken shawarma and kebab, omelettes such as shakshouka (eggs and tomatoes) and hummus and other salads.
In Bulgarian cuisine, pita or pitka (Bulgarian: пита or питка) is served on special occasions. It is a round bread loaf, which can sometimes be flavoured. Its preparation and consumption can have a ritual meaning. For example, on the night before Christmas Eve, (Bulgarian: Бъдни вечер - badni vecher) each housewife prepares a pita and decorates it with symbols to bring fertility to the cattle and a rich harvest from the fields, as well as prosperity to each member of the household. She hides a coin in it. Whoever finds the coin will be the healthiest and the wealthiest of the family. Prior to marriage, a bride's future mother-in-law prepares a pita for the newlyweds and sifts the flour seven times, so that the pita will be soft as their future life together. Pita is also prepared for guests. A traditional welcome in Bulgaria includes pita and honey or salt. The meaning of this ritual can be found in the expression "to welcome someone with bread and salt" (since bread is an important part of Bulgarian cuisine - and as a Bulgarian proverb says, "no one is bigger than bread", and the salt is the basic ingredient that gives flavour to every meal).
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