Meat-filled Pita Flatbreads

Delicious savory meat pies made with homemade dough and an aromatic meat filling!

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I’ve shared my cheesy feta stuffed pitas and olive-filled flatbreads, so now I’m giving you tasty meat-filled pita flatbreads. They’re savory little meat pies you can fill with ground beef, lamb, chicken, or even turkey. The dough is homemade, and I’ve perfected it over the years to make it easy to put together with simple ingredients. It always comes out pillowy soft, and delicious. You can make the thick and fragrant meat sauce days ahead of time or weeks if you freeze it, but it only takes about 30 minutes to put it together. The two together make for a fantastic appetizer, snack, or meal!

How you’ll amaze family and friends

Buttery, soft homemade flatbread

Tender meaty beef

Thick, sweet, and tangy tomato sauce

Comforting, savory, homemade pitas stuffed with delicious beefy tomato sauce!

Here’s what you’ll need

For the Dough:

• Lukewarm water
• Granulated sugar
• Active dry yeast
• Flour
• All-purpose flour
• Salt
• Olive oil -try the one in our shop straight from Crete!

The Meat Filling:

• Olive oil
• Ground beef -sub ground lamb, chicken, or any ground meat you like
• Onion -finely chopped
• Crushed tomatoes
• Salt
• Freshly cracked black pepper
• Ground cinnamon
• Optional: a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
• Fresh parsley -finely chopped

How to make Meat-filled Pita Flatbreads

Make the Dough:

1. In the bowl of a tabletop mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine the first four ingredients together.
2. Whisk them together and let the yeast activate for about 8 minutes.
3. The yeast is active as soon as a puffy cloud appears at the top of the mixture.
4. Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk together.
5. Add the flour mixture to the yeast mixture along with the olive oil.
6. Knead on low speed for 10 minutes.
7. Transfer the dough to a large bowl greased with olive oil and toss the dough to coat.
8. Cover the bowl and place it in a warm place to rise until doubled in volume.

Assemble the Flatbreads:

• Add the olive oil and onion to a skillet.
• Cook over medium heat until soft and golden -about 8 minutes.
• Add the scallions and cook for 2-3 minutes until softened.
• Remove from heat, add the remaining filling ingredients to the pan, and mix together.
• Preheat the oven to 400 °F, 200 °C.
• Transfer the dough to a clean work surface and divide it into 8 or 16 equal portions.
• Press each portion into a flat circle and divide the filling equally between the dough portions.
• Fold the edges of the dough over the filling and press it into a disc.
• Place all the filled portions of dough onto baking trays lined with parchment paper and sprinkled with semolina.
• Set aside to rest for 20 minutes.
• Brush the top of each disc with melted butter or olive oil and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.
• Bake for 15 minutes on the center rack of the preheated oven.
• Move the tray to the top rack and bake for an additional 8 minutes or until golden.
  
  
  

Serving

There’s so much meaty filling in these pitas that I love to serve them for lunch or light dinner with a salad. You could even make a tray of them to serve as appetizers. If you have kids running around all summer like I do, one will make a great afternoon snack to hold them off until dinner. Now that I think about it, the kids would love these turned into pizzas. So, try making them with the meat sauce on top with cheese! Let me know how you serve them and what you serve them with, and enjoy! Kali Orexi!

More Delicious Bread Recipes:

• Olive-filled Flatbread
• Cheesy stuffed Pitas
• Greek Bread Rings
• Soft homemade Pita Pockets

Continue to Content

Meat-filled Pita Flatbreads

Yield: 8-16 pitas

A delicious savory meat pie made with homemade dough adn an aromatic meat filling.

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Ingredients

For the Dough:

• 2 cups lukewarm water
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup flour
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil

The Meat Filling:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 15 oz (425g) crushed tomatoes or half the amount
• salt, to taste
• freshly cracked black pepper to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• optional: a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

Make the Dough:

In the bowl of a tabletop mixer that has been fitted with the dough hook attachment combine the first 4 ingredients together. Whisk them together and let the yeast activate for about 8 minutes. The yeast is active as soon as a puffy cloud appears at the top of the mixture.

Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk together. Add the flour mixture to the yeast mixture along with the olive oil. Knead on low speed for 10 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a large bowl that has been greased with olive oil. Toss the dough to coat. Cover the bowl and place it in a warm place to rise until doubled in volume.

Add the olive oil and onion to a skillet. Cook over medium heat until soft and golden. About 8 minutes.

Add the scallions and cook for 2-3 minutes until softened. Remove from heat. Add the remaining filling ingredients to the pan and mix together.

Assemble the Flatbreads:

Preheat the oven to 400 °F, 200 °C.

Transfer the dough to a clean work surface and divide it into 8 or 16 equal portions.

Press each portion into a flat circle and divide the filling equally between all of the dough portions.

Fold the edges of dough over the filling and press it into a disc.

Place all of the filled portions of dough onto baking trays lined with parchment paper and sprinkled with semolina.

Set aside to rest for 20 minutes.

Brush the top of each disc with melted butter or olive oil and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.

Bake for 15 minutes on the center rack of the preheated oven. Move the tray to the top rack and bake an additional 8 minutes or until golden.

Kali Orexi!

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