Traditional Greek Tzatziki with Homemade Pita Bread

Opa! One of the best snacks out of Greece has to be tzatziki and pita bread. This recipe really tastes so much like they stuff you buy, the extra time is worth it!

There are a handful of steps for these two recipes so sorry for the lengthy post, but I included lots of photos to help with the steps. To prevent a runny tzatziki you drain as much of the liquid out of the cucumbers which takes a little time. Salt helps with this step, once you have cut, deseeded and grated your cucumber you place it in a strainer over a bowl. Sprinkle salt over the grated cucumber and let sit on your counter for an hour. Afterwards you will squeeze as much out using your hands then you are ready to mix everything together.

Now a little background on the pita bread. This is a yeast dough so rising is needed. I made both recipes at the same time because while you wait you can always work on your second recipe.

Kneading your dough by hand for about 7 minutes until it’s smooth.

Once you let your dough rise for 60 minutes and it has doubled in size, portion your dough into 6 pieces and form into balls. Let your dough rest and rise again for another 30 minutes.

Press the dough using your hands until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Then it’s ready to cook in a frying pan at medium heat.

A little photo description for both recipes now time for the recipes.

Traditional Greek Tzatziki

Ingredients:

- 2 cups plain greek yogurt

- 1 english cucumber, grated

- 1 teaspoon sea salt, for cucumbers

- 2 cloves of garlic, minced

- zest and juice from one lemon, 2 tablespoons juice

- 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped

- 1/2 teaspoon seat salt

- pinch black pepper

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions:

1. Slice cucumber lengthwise, scrape out the center with a spoon, then grate. Put cucumber into a strainer and set over a bowl. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of sea salt and stir. Let sit for 60 minutes.

2. Use your hands to squeeze out the salted cucumber over the sink, try to get ask much liquid out as possible.

3. Combine all remaining ingredients and let it chill for an hour before serving. (Chilling is not necessary but helps the flavour soak in) It will keep for a week in the fridge.

Homemade Pita Bread

Ingredients:

- 2 1/2 cups flour

- 1 cup luke warm water

- 2 teaspoons quick rise yeast

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- 1 teaspoon salt

- 1 tablespoon white sugar

Instructions:

1. Add water, yeast and sugar to a large bowl. Mix and let yeast active for 10 minutes, until it’s foamy.

2. Add flour, salt and olive oil and mix until dough is shaggy.

3. Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface and kneed it for 7 minutes until you have a soft slightly sticky dough. Add a little flour if your dough is too sticky.

4. Lightly oil a large bowl, place dough in the bowl, cover with a clean towel and let rise for 60 minutes, until it’s doubled in size.

5. After dough has risen, divide it into 6 pieces and form into little balls, place on pan cover with towel and let rest another 30 minutes.

6. Using your hands roll out each piece of dough until about 1/2 inch thick.

7. Heat a frying pan on medium high, cook one pita at a time, about 2 minutes on first side and another minute or two on the other side.

Serve your fresh pita bread with your chilled tzatziki. Such a fantastic appetizer for a gathering, for making a pita wrap or a side for a delicious greek supper I served mine with my greek salad and chicken.

This was delicious, fresh and packed full of flavour. The pita bread was soft and pillowy with a slight crunch on the outside and the tzatziki was just like the stuff you buy, but fresh! I will be making these two recipes often.

Enjoy!

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