How to Reheat Pita Bread: Secrets from the Middle East (3-4min)

Pita is best from a bakery like this one in Haifa, Israel.

In the U.S. a place like that is hard to find, but with a few tricks supermarket pita can be turned into the next best thing.  

Here’s how:

Step 1

Place the pita over an open range flame at medium low heat.

Step 2

Wait for it to puff (approx. 45 seconds).

Step 3

Turn over and repeat.

Bonus Step

The first three steps come from my Palestinian friend Sabrina and her big family up in Yonkers, New York.  I’ve consumed many warm pitas with cheesy eggs and hummus at their kitchen table. 

It was my friend Dina, raised in UAE, who taught me how to take it to the next level.  Dina places her pita over the gas flame, just as Sabrina’s family does, but after it has puffed with hot air, she immediately returns it to the plastic bag it came from.

The pita steams with its own hot air inside the bag creating that fresh from the oven balance between toasted and chewy.

Try it for yourself and let me know what you think!

Warning Warning

Am I really advocating the use of plastic and all of its carcinogenetic evils?! 

Yes, I sort-of am.

Do not microwave your canned-soup-lunch in a Ziploc container everyday, but on the odd occasion that you want a perfect pita, I say spurge on a little plastic—At least until your neighborhood gets its own ancient oven.

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