Grilled Pita Bread from Fine Cooking Magazine, June/July 2010

The best laid plans of mice and men oft go askew, especially with a 4 year-old in the house. I had planned to make moussaka yesterday, having gotten the yen for it several days ago. However, one activity led to another and before we knew it we were getting home around 9pm and my day was gone. So, I figured I'd made it for dinner tonight and went to get the eggplant out of the fridge, where it happened to be shoved earlier just to get it off the counter. Unfortunately, when the eggplant was shoved in, it ended up at the back, where the coils are and as a result, got a bit frozen, thus ruining it and my plans (until I can get to the store for more because I still have the yen).

So, I had to get creative and come up with other dinner plans. A friend had just given me some of her fresh garden vegetables and we had leftover chicken. When I have a cucumber in my hand, my mind automatically goes to either a cucumber and tomato salad, a cold Armenian soup with yogurt and cucumber called jajukh or Tzatziki sauce. Since I haven't introduced my family to jajukh yet and my husband doesn't like tomatoes, I settled my Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki Sauce.

This was a decision also based on the fact that Fine Cooking has a beautiful section called "Flatbreads on the Grill" in the June/July 2010 issue. I was very interested in the first one, the Grilled Pita Bread and figured it would be the perfect bread to put under my souvlaki. So, forward I went.

It's a simple recipe with just a few ingredients. Unfortunately, I don't own a stand mixer so I did as much of the mixing as I could with my hand mixer and then when I felt it straining, I floured my board and let elbow grease take over the kneading. I had to use almost 1/2 cup more flour than the recipe called for. The instructions did mention that if the dough was too wet, we could add more flour 1 teaspoon at a time, but it was way to wet for such small amount adds. At least it's easy enough to know when the dough is smooth, elastic and no longer sticky so there aren't any worries about messing it up.

In fact, my daughter wanted to help so she got a small piece and kneaded her little pita alongside me. She then shaped it in a ball and put it in a small greased bowl like I did with my big portion. When both had risen, we took them out, shaped them into disks and let them rise again. Supposedly, we're supposed to split ten 6-inch disks between two baking sheets, but I wasn't able to do that so I had to use my board as well. Not a big deal, but there it is.

When the dough had risen, I cooked the bread as told and it all came out beautifully. While the bread easily opened into a pita, I used it as flatbread for the souvlaki and it was outstanding. The tablespoon of honey added just a touch of sweetness without turning it into a sweetbread. The texture was just a little chewy, but also tender and soft; just like it was supposed to be.

Personally though, I prefer making these on the stove top where I can regulate the heat better and I don't have a bed of coals radiating heat next to me (instead of directly under the pan) in 90 degree heat.

I will make these again, but I won't make them on the grill. I don't find it necessary for taste and since it's in a cast iron skillet, grill marks don't matter.