It's All Greek to Me

Every once in a while my family needs a Greek fix. Most often I make Greek meatball stuffed pitas topped with tzatziki sauce. Homemade pitas are fun to make and are so much better than the cardboard store bought ones.



In the bowl of your mixer, pour 2 cups of water. Add 4 1/2 teaspoons of rapid rise yeast.


Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 teaspoons of sugar or honey and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.


Slowly add 4 cups of flour beating until you have a smooth satiny dough.


Cover and allow to rise until doubled in bulk.


Form into 3 inch rounds and allow to rise.


On a floured surface, roll them into 5-6 inch disks.


Bake in a 500 degree preheated oven on a pizza stone for 6-8 minutes. They should puff up into pillows. If you have some that stay flat, keep them aside and i will show you what to do with them later.


For the tzatziki, you need yogurt. If you are using regular yogurt, strain the liquid out using cheese cloth and a strainer set over a bowl. It can take a couple hours for it to drain.


Seed a couple cucumbers by scraping them out with a spoon.


Slice the cukes, sprinkle them with salt and drain in a colander over a bowl.


This is the regular yogurt after it has drained.


You can see how much liquid it gave off.


You can also use good Greek yogurt which is thick enough that it does not need to be drained. I had both on hand so I mixed them together.


Place the drained cucumbers in the bowl of your food processor along with about 5 tablespoons of fresh dill. Add 2 diced garlic cloves and some salt and pepper. Pulse until smooth.


Add the cucumber mixture to the yogurt.


This is a new product from Philadelphia cream cheese. It comes in 4 flavors and I chose garlic to use in my tzatziki. I like to add cream cheese to make it richer and this new cooking creme is the perfect consistency to just stir into the mix.

Tomorrow I will show you the rest of the sandwich recipe.

Comments

I'm drooling and maybe Teddy will be tomorrow when the sandwich is done?
the pitas look great. i have to try and make them....i saw that Philadelphia cooking sauce the other day in a magazine...and was wanting to try it...i have a pasta dish that i make with cream cheese...i am putting the sauce on my grocery list....

making your Spring pasta salad tonight...

kary and teddy
Hey bro, don't leave me hangin! (That's my cool rap talk. When a middle-aged white woman says it, it's even cooler.)
Anonymous said…
Stuffed pita with tzatziki is sooo delicious! To long since I ate that. But I´ve never made pita myself. The ones we can buy here needs to be put in the owen for a couple of minutes to taste good, otherwise they taste a bit of yeast.

Have a great day!
Christer.
Anonymous said…
oh my gosh that looks good and I'm trying the cream cheese in it too,, sounds over the top good.I made pitas once but thought it was a lot of work for so few but you're right they do taste better.I think I should use your recipe though,, its probably better than theone I used, everytime I come here I leave hungry,,
You will make a total homemade bread maker out of me yet! I can hardly wait for the rest of the recipe. I could eat Tzatziki Sauce on everything.
Guillaume said…
Ah I love Greek cuisine!
Anonymous said…
Oh how delicious! Is that cucumber-yogurt sauce similar to the ones they serve in Greek restaurants? I have been looking for a recipe for years and each one I have tried just were not the same. I am wondering if it is due to not draining the yogurt nor have I tried dill.
Anonymous said…
That looks so good!

Teresa
Rosemary said…
Jaz as usual my mouth waters when I read your blog. Love both recipes....
I. Have. To. Make. These. NOW!