Think of pita as a bread-based accessory: Like Mary Poppins’s never-ending tapestry bag, a humble pita can pack in a deceptive amount. It is relatively sturdy, providing you are careful with your use of condiments, which makes it an excellent lunch conveyer. It is cheap, readily available at even the most basic corner shop, and a dream to store. We always freeze ours as, frankly, who would dream of eating an untoasted pita? To heap more praise on to its wheaty shoulders, it is far healthier and more portable than its cousin, the wrap. When our kitchen cabinets are at their most bare, we can usually find a pita knocking around our tiny freezers, and thank god for that.
Prepping your pita
Do this while waiting for your cup of tea or coffee, or waiting for the shower to get warm. It doesn’t matter if it cools down as you’re not going to eat it hot—just make sure that it doesn’t burn, as the more toasted and hard it becomes, the less malleable and harder to fill it will be. Toast and, once cool, slide the tip of a sharp knife into the edge of the wide side of the pita, carefully sliding it round. Jiggle it a little if necessary to ensure that the cavity is as deep as possible, taking care not to make any holes in the bread.
Packing your pita
The pita is a versatile thing, but it benefits from close wrapping. We would recommend tightly wrapping in foil (the firm texture of the foil helps it to keep its shape) or, if in a pinch, a double layer of plastic wrap, for added tightness, will do.
Filling your pita—9 ideas
All the following go very nicely indeed in a pita. If you feel like more salad, you can pad the bottom out with some chopped lettuce, tomato, and cucumber, add your filling of choice, and finish off with more salad on top.
• Ready-made falafels, squashed, with hummus or tzatziki and chili sauce
• Paul Missing’s special chickpeas