I decided to make another attempt at pita bread. For some reason, flour tortillas, naan and pita breads aren’t great successes for me, but I don’t give up. Especially as I’d bought a couple of packages of pork souvlaki on sale and a tub of tzatziki to eat them with.
This time, I used Chef John’s recipe and, as expected, they did NOT puff up. The frying temp (medium-high) in the cast iron pan charred areas of the pitas, in the time frame recommended. I reduced the temperature to medium and the remaining pitas looked better.
I tried baking one of the pitas at 425 deg F and ended up with crispy bread by the time the bread got the golden colour I was aiming for. It was tasty as a vehicle for eating hummus with in any case.
And then I decided to make some pita pizzas with the rest of the dough. Both pizzas were topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese.
After baking for about 8 minutes at 425 deg F, torn prosciutto was placed on both and julienned fresh basil on one before returning the baking sheet to the oven, for a few more minutes.
White pita pizza – extra virgin olive oil, caramelized onions, grated Grana Padano and mozzarella cheese. I topped this one with some prosciutto as well, though I forgot to take a picture.
Oh well, everything was still edible.
Cooking is Fun ... Really!! 
Not just edible! They all look delicious!
Thank you. I’m thinking of making some more cause I have most of a container of hummus left to eat. I may try baking at 500 deg F on a preheated metal baking sheet since I don’t have a pizza stone though.
The next time I try to make flatbread I will try baking them because making them on the stovetop took too long!
I can only fit two on the baking sheet but at least I don’t have to stand for 5 min per flatbread flipping the ruddy things.
All these look delicious! I also have problems with naans…. I am going to try a new recipe soon and hope it’ll be THE good one.
Sometimes I wonder if there are foods better bought from a special bakery than attempted at home.
I’ve made pita a couple time and ended up with mostly flatbread, lol! Oh, well, it was very tasty and I use it for a whole lot of things. But I still want to try again…
Frying them in a cast iron pan gives you more success in terms of edible pitas, even if they don’t puff. Using the oven for making pitas is similar to making naan … fiddly getting the thickness of the breads right and making sure the oven is hot enough. I’ll try again one of these days.
Well ovens are all different, too! Me, too. But I love just about any kind of pita!
I wish I had some pita in the house right now … still have most of a tub of hummus to get through. 🙂