Pide is basically a Turkish version of a yeasted olive oil based bread, like a flatbread or a pizza. They usually come in elongated oval shapes, that look like little kayaks. They are stuffed with filling in the middle, everything from cheese, to meat, to vegetables.
For the dough, the ingredients are very basic. You need regular all purpose (plain) flour, olive oil, salt, sugar, instant yeast and lukewarm water.
The water should be warm to the touch, but comfortable enough to be able to keep your hand in it, like tepid bath water. If it’s too hot, it’ll scald the yeast and the dough won’t rise.
How To Make Turkish Pide
Although the recipe calls for instant yeast which doesn’t technically need to be activated with the sugar and the water, it’s a good way to check if your yeast is still valid. When bubbles form, you know that the yeast is fresh and that the dough will rise!
Here, I opted for a cheese version which is so easy. You just mix together your cheese of choice with an egg to bind the cheese.
I opted for a blend of mozzarella and kashkaval cheese and feta cheese. I also used some fresh parsley for seasoning, and just a sprinkle of black pepper.
My Attempt At Kaşarlı Pide, A Turkish Cheese Bread
Delicious blend, because the mozzarella and kashkaval are both mild and melty and stretchy, and the feta is tangy and creamy so it’s a beautiful contrast.
There are many versions out there for a minced meat pide, if that interests you. I would love to do a version of these with egg. Maybe sojuk and egg!
Since the dough itself is vegan, with no egg or milk in sight (intentional from my part!), it’ll be very easy to do some vegan variations.
Frojalda Turkish Cheese Bread
Mix together the dough ingredients (first, by mixing the sugar, salt and yeast together, and adding the lukewarm water, then by adding the oil and the flour.
The best part is that it’s a very easy to mix dough, and you don’t need a stand mixer or anything of that type. I mixed everything together with a spatula, and at the very end used my hands to just knead together any flour patches until the dough was cohesive. Less than 30 seconds of kneading!
The dough should rise in a warm place for an hour until about doubled. Some suggestions would be to turn on the oven for a couple minutes, turn it off, and have the dough rise in the turned off but slightly warm oven.
Pide (turkish Flat Bread) With Sheep's Cheese Filling
Another good place to have dough rise is the laundry room or on top of a washing machine, or even on top of your refrigerator.
After the dough has risen, divide it into 8 equal sized balls. Roll each ball out into an oval shape, then pinch the ends together to make that oblong kayak like shape.
Once all the dough has been shaped, you can fill it with your filling of choice. I like to roll the edges of the dough back over the filling a little (you can see this demonstrated in the video under the nutritional facts).
Turkish Pide With Cheese & Eggs
Traditionally, these are baked in a wood or clay oven, but they bake up beautifully in a regular oven. Just make sure the oven has heated up to temperature before placing the pides inside. I like to brush the edges of the pastry with an egg wash for a golden color, but this is completely optional.
Bake until edges turn golden, the cheese is melty and bubbling. This will take around 20-25 minutes at 200 C (390F). Enjoy warm, preferably with a cup of tea!
Pide will keep well in the fridge for 2-3 days tightly covered, and they freeze beautifully for 2-3 months. You can thaw out individual ones for a light meal or snack.Turkish cheese pide is as delicious as it is comforting. Here’s a version which adds an egg for extra comfort –and all the tips you need for that perfectly crispy pide base.
Turkish Easy Cheese Buns
Pide is often referred to as “Turkish pizza”. An easy, shorthand way of describing what pide is to a foreigner. In actuality, it’s so much more than that. It’s also confusing because another Turkish classic, the lahmacun, is also often referred to as Turkish pizza.
Its place in the local cuisine and history is second to none, including its Italian cousine. In fact the words pide and pizza likely both originate from the Arameic
So you’ll forgive me for thinking that calling this “Turkish pizza” is selling pide short. It’s very much got its own history, its own merits – and its own particular flavours that keeps people coming back.
Pogaca (turkish Cheese Buns) Recipe
The first is a plain flatbread, usually eaten with dinner. You know, the type you often get at restaurants or see in bakeries. Sometimes with patterns made by the baker’s fingertips.
The second type is also a flatbread, but with topping. It’s usually shaped in a long oval, with the sides tucked in, making it resemble a boat in appearance. Sometimes they’re closed, like a calzone, but considerably more elongated.
As for toppings, they’re usually simple. No layering of sauces, cheese and other ingredients for endless combinations, as with Italian pizza. Just a few carefully selected combinations that have stood the test of time.
Turkish Cheese Pide With Egg (peynirli Yumurtalı Pide)
Most pide restaurants offer a traditional selection of 3-4 toppings: chopped meat & vegetables, minced meat, sucuk (spiced Turkish sausage) or cheese (sometimes with an egg on top). Most places also offer a “mixed” version, which is usually a mix of chopped meat, cheese and sucuk. Sometimes mixed, sometimes splitting the pide into three parts.
If venturing outside these most typical of toppings, pide restaurants will usually stick with traditional Turkish ingredients. My local pide restaurant, for example, offer toppings of kavurma (Turkish confit beef) and pastırma (Turkish pastrami).
The “anything goes” approach that give Italian pizza chefs a lot of freedom to make their own creations doesn’t exist in Turkey. At least for now.
Recipe Info Cheese And Herb Filled Turkish Bread Rolls Poğaça
Each chef will have their own recipe for the pide dough, which is a basic yeasted dough of flour, water and salt. With simple doughs like this, it’s all in the process and quality of the ingredients rather than the combination of ingredients.
It starts off with a wet mixture, allowing the yeast to come to life and the flour to absorb a lot of the water. This helps make the dough easier to work with and helps avoid a dry pide.
After that, I add the remaining flour and use a mixer to help knead the dough to perfection. It’s important to knead it for long enough so that the gluten has time to develop. This is crucial for getting a dough that’s easy to work with and doesn’t “break” as you start rolling it out.
Turkish Cheese Pide With Chili, Honey, And Herbs
Unlike pizza, pide is rolled out with a rolling pin rather than stretched by hand. For best results, make sure to use a lot of flour! This helps in rolling out the dough more evenly. Just make sure to dust off any excess before topping.
Once shaped, I like to transfer my pides to a baking parchment before adding the filling. The pide masters of Turkey don’t do this, but for home cooks, it’s very helpful for a successful transfer from the kitchen table to the oven.
Turkish cheese pide, in fact any Turkish pide, should be eaten fresh from the oven. It’s at its best while it’s still hot from the oven and its cheese filling is oozingly melty.
Turkish Pide With Meat Filling, Cheese And Sucuk
I love a glass of cold ayran with my pide. Ayran is a Turkish yoghurt drink that goes really well with both kebabs and pide.
A salad great alongside. I like a simple chopped vegetable salad of the kind you find all over Turkey and the Middle East in summer.In winter, a few bitter green leaves (such as rocket or a mixture of baby leaves) mixed with a little pomegranate molasses (or balsamico) and extra virgin olive oil does the trick.
It’s quite common to start the meal with a bowl of soup before tucking into the pide. In that case, lentil soup is always a winner.
Peynirli Poğaça (turkish Cheese Buns)
A word on measurements: Unfortunately, volume measurements such as cups or ml don't work very well in baking. Flour may be lightly or tightly packed, and those 350 ml water may actually be 330 ml or 370 ml. In regular cooking, this doesn't matter. In baking, they may be the difference between a perfect result and complete disaster. For you to achieve the best results, I've therefore only given weights in grams and urge you to invest in a kitchen scale if you don't already have one.
A word on the cheese: In Turkey, I usually use taze kaşar and eski kaşar to make this pide, but you can use any cheese you like. Mozzarella of course works well as the main cheese, but so does any cheese that melts well and doesn't have too much flavour. Since the cheese is the main thing here, not supported by any sauce or herbs, I think it's important to add cheese with a bit more flavour as well. I recommend a good English cheddar.
Vidar Bergum is a cookbook author and writer
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