Let’s take a trip to Greece to discover the recipe for Pita Gyros

Among the typical Greek dishes, pita gyros stands out, a sort of kebab sandwich made with pork enriched with salad, vegetables and tzatziki sauce.

Pita gyros, often simply called gyros, is a typical Greek dish . Similar in some respects to the Turkish kebab , it is prepared with pork cooked on a rotisserie spit and served cut into strips in the famous pita bread.

Inside this sort of sandwich, usually consumed as street food , we also find fresh tomato, chips, salad and tzatziki sauce . If you are nostalgic for Greece or simply love experimenting with ethnic cuisine, don't miss this recipe!

How to prepare the pita gyros recipe

1. First prepare the pita , the classic bread in which the meat is served. Pour the flour into the bowl of a stand mixer (you can also do it by hand) and add the water in which you have dissolved the yeast . Only lastly add the salt and a spoonful of oil .
2. When the dough has come together, remove it from the hook and leave it to rise in a bowl, covered with cling film, until it doubles in size.
3. In the meantime, prepare the meat by having your butcher slice it very thinly. Cut it into strips , season it with oil, salt and pepper and spread it out on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Cook at 180°C for 30 minutes .
4. After about two hours the dough will have doubled in volume: take it and divide it into 4 equal parts .
5. Roll them out with a rolling pin to form discs about half a centimeter thick, oil the surface and bake at 250°C for 5 minutes .
6. Also prepare the vegetables: wash the lettuce , slice the tomato and onion and keep them aside. When the bread and meat are ready, form the pita by filling it with all the ingredients and completing with plenty of tzatziki sauce . The dish is ready!

In this video you can see all the steps of preparing the bread and making the actual gyros.

Conservation

We advise you to store the bread separately , keeping it for a maximum of a couple of days in a paper or plastic bag, and the filling . Cooked meat and vegetables, also kept separate, can be kept in the refrigerator for a couple of days , closed in airtight containers.

Origin and history of pita gyros

Also known simply as gyros, this dish, now the street food par excellence of Greek cuisine, is a reinterpretation of the better-known doner kebab . It was Turkish immigrants who brought it to the Hellenic Peninsula in the early 1900s. Here, however, beef and lamb were replaced with pork (not permitted in the Muslim diet) while the spices and cooking technique remained unchanged.

In fact, gyros itself derives from the Greek term γύρος , meaning that it rotates. The secret of the dish lies in the marinade of the meat : once cut into slices it is flavored with oregano, thyme, garlic, onion, black pepper and lemon juice (if you have time you can also do it at home, before cooking). It is then skewered on a large vertical rotisserie and cooked over an open fire . This way it will remain crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside.

Like all dishes that become famous, variations are plentiful. There are those who prepare it with chicken and those who also add chips and feta . In Zakynthos everything is made tastier by adding roast fat to the sandwich while in Corfu it is customary to enrich it with tomato sauce. Finally in Epirus , the meat is much spicier. If you have the opportunity to taste it in traditional taverns or taverns , it will most likely be served to you on a plate .

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