Root Source: Pita

by Cookthink

what you should know It's a testament to pita's versatility that you can have it with many prepositions. You can serve food in a pita, on a pita, with a pita, around a pita, beside a pita, and between a pita (though not, as far as we know, during a pita).   the world's flat(bread) This slightly leavened, wheat flatbread is a cousin to similar breads across the globe: naan, chapati, piadina, roti and even pizza, which some consider to be a modern derivative of pita bread.   we picked pockets Though modern pita eaters are used to splitting an arc around the bread's perimeter to form a pouch, traditional pita was used mostly to scoop dips and salads and to wrap loosely compiled sandwiches (like shawarma). The pita pocket is a modern creation.   it's all pita The shape, texture and significance of pita changes according to where you go in the world. The Lebanese pita is more of a rounded rectangle, and the pouchless Turkish pita tends to be softer and chewier. what you need To make your own pita, you're best off using a pizza stone. We prefer a rectangular stone to the increasingly popular round stones. The curved, serrated blade of this KAI-made stainless steel knife easily slices delicate breads without tearing them. That's important when you're filling a pita. Claudia Roden's The New Book of Middle Eastern Food will inspire you to eat more pita and to learn about the pita-loving regions of the world. what you do It's worth the time and work to make your own pita. We love Cook & Eat's pizza stone method. We like having pita on hand to make sandwiches from leftover salads, meat and vegetable dishes. A pita filled with hogwash's apple-walnut chicken salad or Karina's peanut broccoli and chicken stir-fry makes a fast and filling lunch. You can't really call it a panini, but that's pretty much what this pressed pita with ham, Brie and apple is. We've said it before and we'll probably say it again (after this time): pita bread makes an incredibly crispy pizza crust. Try this mozzarella, black olive and basil version. Pita goes hand-in-hand with lamb kebabs and Middle Eastern condiments like hummus and baba ghanoush. featured recipe Open a cold beer, get out the caul fat and start rolling meatballs for this delicious Sheftalia In Cyprus Pita. It's the featured recipe of this weeks Root Source Challenge and it comes to us from  Ivy and her Athens-based blog Kopiaste.