Trader Joe's pitas ruined my lunch
I wanted to make arayes for a while, and recently bought some ingredients from TJ's, including the pita bread. You might be able to see from the image how the bread came apart during the prep and cooking process. Here's the story.
The pitas open to form a pocket, and one side (let's call it the bottom) was substantially thicker than the other, the top. The bottom was, by observation, about four times thicker than the top That made the top weaker, and you can see that it didn't take well to being stuffed with a light mixture of seasoned ground beef. It tore and pulled away from the bottom in several places, some of which are visible and highlighted.
I felt that I could live with the imperfections, at least as far as lunch was concerned, but the situation got worse. The bottom cooked beautifully, and developed a nice, firm crust. However, when flipping the pita, the top, being much thinner, got soggy from the oil and meat juices, and became flacid and started to disintegrate in a few spots. The bottom also absorbed the juices, but being thicker could handle the additional moisture.
I tried making another one, taking greater care in the stuffing process and cooked with substantially less oil in the nonstick pan (I added no additional oil to the pan), and the results were the same. Clearly, at least for this and similar purposes, the TJ's pita is an inferior product. It was a shame as the dish has great potential, and in this instance was diminished by a poor quality ingredient.
