pitta the Israeli and western name for the Arab bread called khubzʿadi (‘ordinary bread’) or names meaning ‘Arab, Egyptian, Syrian bread’ or kumaj (a Turkish loanword properly meaning a bread cooked in ashes), baked in a brick bread oven. It is a slightly leavened wheat bread, flat, either round or oval, and variable in size. Typically the bread puffs up in baking leaving it hollow inside like an empty pocket, making it particularly suitable for stuffing to form a sandwich. The bread has a soft chewy crust and its interior is relatively absorbent.
