Pita Gyros: a journey through taste between tradition and flavor

And here is the iconic dish of Hellenic cuisine! Much more than a street food, we can say that it is an authentic experience of local gastronomy that mixes tradition, flavors and aggregation. Now famous throughout the world, it will not be difficult to find it even walking around in any European city, but if you want to enter the true Greek atmosphere, then you will have to take a trip to Greece and you will see that in every corner of this wonderful nation, you will always find a pita gyros around the corner!

History and origin of pita gyros

Its roots are Greek, but the history is combined with Turkish influences since they dominated Greece for centuries and even reached the Romans. The word “gyros” ( “γύρος”) means rotation or more simply turn, referring to the method of cooking the meat that is cooked until it is roasted on a vertical spit that rotates continuously. Some people venture that its origins date back to the equally well-known Turkish kebab or Middle Eastern shawarma revisited and enriched with the unique touch that only the Greeks can give by adding a soft and warm pita, vegetables and the inevitable tzatziki sauce. It conquered the entire world in the 70s, becoming one of the most requested and loved street foods in the world.

Ingredients for pita gyros

A real pita gyros consists of a few but essential ingredients:

• Pita: soft flat bread, lightly toasted.
• Meat: pork or chicken, lamb or beef according to your tastes
• Fresh vegetables: red or white onions, tomatoes and lettuce Tzatziki sauce: the famous sauce made with Greek yogurt, cucumber, garlic and a touch of dill.
• French fries (optional) but who would give them up?

Recipe to make a perfect pita gyros

Here’s how to make a pita gyros at home and feel like you’re in Greece. If you want to do everything homemade here’s the recipe for how to prepare the pita, alternatively you can use the ready-made ones, the choice is yours.

Ingredients for 8 pitas:

00 flour 250 g

Manitoba flour 250 g

Water 300 ml

Dry brewer’s yeast 4 g

Fine salt 1 teaspoon

Extra virgin olive oil 30 g.

Pour the two flours into a bowl, in another bowl add the yeast, a little warm water and malt (or sugar if you don’t have malt) until you get a uniform mixture. Then add everything to the flour and combine everything with your hands.

In the remaining water, which must be warm, add salt and oil, then pour everything into the flours. Start kneading until you get a smooth and elastic mixture. Let it rise for about a couple of hours, covering it with cling film.

Once it has risen, divide the dough into 8 parts, creating 8 balls, then roll them out with a rolling pin to obtain 8 round sheets about 2 mm thick. Place the pitas on a baking tray lined with baking paper, well spaced apart, and then brush the surface with oil and water. Leave to rest for another 40 minutes, this time covered with a cloth, and heat the oven to 250° in static mode. Once the temperature is reached, bake for 5 minutes and your pitas will be ready. If you are not going to use them immediately, place them under a glass bell jar to best preserve their fragrance.

Let’s prepare the meat: let it marinate for at least a couple of hours before cooking it with garlic, salt, lemon juice and a good olive oil. Then cut it into thin slices and cook it on a grill or a skewer that even if not vertical, will still do its job. Then prepare the fresh vegetables, cut the tomatoes into slices, the salad into strips or if you prefer into whole leaves, the onions into wedges. The matchstick potatoes that will then have to be fried and be very hot when you compose the pita.

At this point you will have to do nothing else but assemble this wonderful food, roll out the pita, add meat, fresh vegetables, a generous spoonful of tzatziki sauce that you can find ready-made or even better make it yourself (https://www.meraviglioseisolegreche.com/ricetta-salsa-tzatziki/), the French fries and wrap the cone in paper towels to then enjoy it.

Nutritional properties of pita gyros

Pita gyros can be a balanced meal if prepared with fresh ingredients and in the right portions. It contains proteins from the meat, carbohydrates from the pita and vitamins from the vegetables. Tzatziki, thanks to Greek yogurt, provides probiotics useful for digestion. However, if you overdo it with French fries or sauces, the calories can increase (a pita usually has 617 calories)

Where to find pita gyros and how much it costs

Now you will find it everywhere, in typical taverns, in Greek restaurants, in street food stalls, in the latest fashion food trucks at a price that can be from 3 to 5 euros in Greek territory, abroad it can even reach 10 euros but it is still money well spent believe us.

So what to say, whether you decide to prepare it at home or eat it on the go, pita gyros always remained an experience to do and with every bite, you will be on the sunny Greek coasts, what more could you ask for?