There is nothing better then making a pita with real pastry you have made at home. I have a problem with making pita with the paper-thin commercial filo, its good for sweets but not for pita. In Greece you can buy any kind of pastry in the size for a pita dish, puff (σφολιάτα), crust pastry, kourou pastry (an unleavened pastry) and others, as well as the fine filo we know of here that is good for baklava and galaktobouriko.
In Australia the pastries that are puff and short crust from the supermarket freezer are small square sheets too small for a pita and are also too thick.
I will tell you where to find filo for pita like you make at home, as if you have rolled it out with your own broomstick or curtain rod.
There is a Greek food shop, Harry’s Factory Outlet, at 1292 Centre Road, Clayton, that is paradise for those of us who like to cook Greek – and not only Greek as I have seen many other people of ethnic backgrounds shopping there.
Harry Laspas stocks a homemade filo wrapped in plastic with a short expiry date as it is not frozen but I have been told that if I have sheets left over I can freeze them as there is enough for two pites.
It is round and fine enough without being paper thin and large enough for a big around pita dish. While you’re in there you might like to check out the imported Greek yoghurt: by the gods it is heaven on earth!
There is also goat’s cheese all the way from the motherland that does not taste or smell of goats as the local cheese does, and thyme honey that is the ambrosia of heaven. Try this yoghurt with thyme honey and a sprinkling of cinnamon and tell me that you have not gone to paradise. This pita recipe I made from the fine handmade filo I bought at Harry’s.
Happy shopping, and happy cooking. Kali Orexi!
