Pita or pitta ( or US ) also known as Arabic bread, Lebanese bread or Syrian bread, is a soft, slightly leavened flatbread baked from wheat flour, which originated in the Near East, most probably Mesopotamia around 2500 BC. It is used in many Mediterranean, Balkan and Middle Eastern cuisines and resembles other slightly leavened flatbreads such as Iranian nan-e barbari, Central and South Asian flatbreads (such as naan), and pizza crust.
The first known mention of the word in English was in 1936. The English word is borrowed from Modern Greek πίτα from the Byzantine Greek πίτα 'bread, cake, pie, pitta' (attested in 1108) possibly from Ancient Greek πίττα or πίσσα 'pitch/resin' or Ancient Greek πικτή (pikte), "fermented pastry," which may have passed to Latin as "picta" cf. pizza. It was received into Levantine Arabic (as fatteh, since Arabic lacks the sound /p/). Other hypotheses trace the word back to the Classical Hebrew word patt פת (literally "a morsel of bread"). It is spelled like the Aramaic pittÉ™á¹Ä/pittÄ (פיתה), from which it was received into Byzantine Greek (see above). Hypotheses also exist for Germanic or Illyrian intermediaries.
- In many languages, the word 'pita' refers not to flatbread, but to flaky pastries; see börek.
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Puffed up, freshly baked pita bread on a conveyor belt.
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Pita stuffed with falafel and salad.
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Pita with avocado, cucumber and pepper
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