What bracha are pita chips? They are (what looks like) pieces of crunchy and flavored pita… although I’m not sure if it was made into a pita first. Would this be mezonot or hamotzei? They say that it is twice baked from a normal pita.
Answer:
In principle, once baked into a pita, the berachah will be hamotzi — although deep frying small pieces can change the berachah to mezonos. If the pita is only re-baked, it will certainly retain the hamotzi blessing.
Yet, in this case the pita was baked into a crunchy snack. Crunchiness is one of the properties of pas haba bekisnin, and in particular where it is clearly a snack and not something intended for a meal, the berachah will be mezonos.
In addition, the pita is “flavored,” and there is room to assume that it was baked with ingredients other than water, again making its berachah mezonos.
Therefore, assuming that this is how the pita was initially baked, the berachah for the chips will be mezonos and al hamichyah. Please see the comments below for further clarification.
Best wishes.
I just visited a facility that we certify and they make pita chips. they receive mini pitas from a manufacturer of pitas that are already baked but not well done they then put it in a spicy tumblr which adds the spices and flavoring. and then is often baked until it becomes crisp like a chip do you still maintain your position that this is pas bkisnin and doesn’t need a hamotzei? Although its eaten as a snack, lmaseh it was originally made onto a bread and didn’t change with frying or bishul. Please clarify
If the pitta bread is baked before as regular bread, and can be eaten as bread (even if not well done), it follows that the berachah will remain hamotzi even after it is made into chips. This is because once made into regular bread, the bread will not lose its status by being cut up and re-baked (see Mishnah Berurah 168:62; see also Minchas Yitzchak 1:71:8; Yaskil Avdi 1:9).
Only if the initial baking is for the purpose of “chips” then the berachah will be mezonos (see also Kehilas Yaakov Berachos 16).
Best wishes again.
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