FROM INDIA TO THE ADRIATIC
Pitta, pita or pide, however you say it, ‘pide’ reigns supreme over a broad geography stretching from India all the way to the coast of the Adriatic. In Anatolia alone there are a thousand and one varieties of it. The meat-filled and tahina-flavored pide of Kayseri, the country pide of Kastamonu, the ‘open’ and ‘closed’ pide of the Black Sea’s Uzungöl region, the meat-filled bread of Konya, and the famous Aegean pide constitute the unmatched products of the art of baking in Turkey.
In fact, pide is a variety of flat, almost unleavened bread baked either on a hot metal sheet or in a tandour oven. Besides the varieties of pide mentioned above, Ramazan pide, which differs from all of them in its taste and composition, was invented exclusively for this holy month. No source has yet been found concerning its inventor, but viewing it as a cook I can say that it is a product of extraordinary genius. Just as pide cannot be made from just any flour, so too it is not always possible to procure the special flour it uses.