My inspiration for blog topics often comes from unusual origins. The idea for preparing this Turkish flatbread —pide (pronounced “pea-day” in Turkish) — was born in an airport business lounge. Over the years, I’ve traveled to Istanbul dozens of times and enjoyed pide throughout Turkey in various forms, but I never considered baking pide until I spent a few hours between flights at the Turkish Airline business lounge in Istanbul.
Airline lounge food is usually terrible — too-fatty, too-starchy, too-salty and rewarmed too long. But this lounge is unique. It serves daily a revolving menu of excellent Turkish foods and drinks and is always packed with travelers, eager to sample assorted meze, crisp salads, hot dishes of various kinds, breads and desserts.
On a previous visit to this lounge, I noticed a long queue near a bank of ovens, but I failed to explore it closely as many other food offerings caught my eye. On a recent trip, however, Weldon and I found a table in front of the pide station and watched Turkish bakers ply their craft as a long line of travelers formed. I joined the waiting travelers and a few minutes later filled a plate with assorted pide. Wolfing down a few warm slices, I finally understood the reason for the eager crowd. For another hour or so until flight time, we were mesmerized by the Turkish bakers’ ability to produce countless pides each hour. With eager anticipation, we craned our necks into the ovens to watch the pale pides bake into golden crispiness. I knew then and there that I had to replicate this magical baking experience and learn more about Turkish pide.
Rolling out the dough
Topping with minced meat
Meat pides ready for baking
Assembling cheese pides
Cheese pides ready for baking
Pides ready to eat
Pide, a long, oval-shaped yeast flatbread made from wheat flour, (often misnamed a cousin of the Italian pizza to the irritation of Turkish cooks) is one of the breads essential at Turkish meals. In one form or another, pide is traditional in all regions of Turkey and, whether baked at home or at a communal wood-fired bakery (firin) or purchased at ubiquitous pide stalls (pideci), unites families and friends at daily meals and at various life-cycle rituals. Pide is a must on Turkish tables, especially to break the fast during Ramadan.
Pide is versatile. It can be plain, lightly sprinkled with nigella or sesame seeds and served alongside other food. In Turkish vernacular, however, pide generally refers to a flatbread topped with meat, such as minced lamb or beef, onion and black pepper (kıymalı). But pide also can be filled with a myriad of other combinations such as meat with sautéed tomatoes and bell peppers (kuşbaşılı), all vegetable (sebze), mushrooms and spinach (mantar ve ıspanaklı), cheddar cheese, village cheese and parsley (kaşar peyniri, köy peyniri ve maydanoz, spinach and cheese (kaşar peyniri ve ıspanaklı), and cheese and pastrami (kaşar peyniri ve pastirmali).
Some Turkish food historians claim that pide dates back to the 1850s, when bakers in the small town of Bafra, near Samsun, along the Black Sea coast, started topping their bread with minced meat. Pide from the Black Sea region (karadeniz pide) are known for using butter in the dough and as final basting before serving. As pide recipes spread from Turkey’s north to the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea coasts where olives grow, olive oil was substituted for butter. Pide aficionados claim that butter gives pide a satiny appearance and a crispy crust.
Although there are countless recipes for pide dough, many Turkish bakers, like those in the airline lounge, use one dough recipe with different toppings. Depending in the topping used, pide is baked both open (açık) as most are, where the dough is folded around the edges and the filling is visible or closed (kapalı) so none of the topping is visible. Some cooks crack an egg or two over an open pide toward the end of baking, so that slices can be dunked in the runny yolk.
I adapted Ghillie Başan’s classic pide recipe* for the base of my pides. This recipe makes two large pides and can be made with either butter or olive oil. I made both doughs: the butter dough from the Black Sea coast and the olive oil dough from southern Turkey to test whether there were significant differences in flavor and texture. As a test, I baked a portion of both doughs as seeded pides. The results were delicious – crunchy on the outside with a soft interior. The butter dough had a lovely sheen after the final basting.
Most Turkish home cooks make one type of pide for a meal, but I made three versions to try different topping combinations. The minced lamb vegetable topping is adapted from Ozlem Warren at ozlemsturkishtable.com. The spinach cheese filling is my adaptation of several Turkish recipes I found on the internet. The pepper cheese filling I created from memory of similar pide I had in Istanbul.
My oven is smaller than the commercial bread ovens used at the airline lounge. Thus, I made my pides about 12-14 inches (30.5-35.6 cm) long, rather than the 20-24 inch (50.8-61 cm) versions prepared by the professional bakers. I divided each prepared dough into thirds and used ⅓ of the olive oil dough each for the plain and the meat pide and ⅓ of the butter dough each for the spinach cheese and pepper cheese pide and I divided the fillings as well. I used the remaining dough for the seeded pide and saved the extra fillings for future baking.
I encased the minced lamb vegetable pide entirely in olive oil dough as did the airline lounge bakers. The resulting pide has a thin, soft browned crust and a complex, moist, subtly spicy, hearty filling which could be a wonderful lunch by itself or a great addition to a meze dinner.
The bases for both the spinach cheese and pepper cheese pides were assembled out of the butter dough. These pides, however, have generally lighter ingredients than the minced meat pide. The combination of wilted, tender baby spinach, white cheddar and feta, flavored with lemon zest, produces a delightfully fresh taste and fragrant aroma. The pepper cheese pide has the seductive sweetness of bell peppers and onions on a gooey, cheesy base. Both of these open pides have a nice balance of crisp pastry edges and endpoints with a soft interior.
The only perceptible difference I noticed between the two doughs was that the olive oil dough is much softer after proofing and easier to roll out thinly than the butter dough. But both versions produced a delicious result, each tasty on its own: a soft, slightly chewy, bread with olive oil and butter flavor respectively.
I am glad that I added these pide versions to my baking repertoire and encourage you to bake pide for an upcoming meal. I provide detailed instructions so preparation of the dough and one of the toppings is quite simple and does not take a long time. I am now fantasizing about other flavor combinations I can bake in the future.
Pide, adapted from Ghillie Başan, Classic Turkish Cookery*
For the dough:
1 pound (450 g) all-purpose flour
¼ ounce (7 g) dried yeast or ½ ounce (15 g) fresh yeast
½ teaspoon sugar
6 ounces (175 ml) 110°F (43.3°C) water
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons olive oil or melted butter
For egg wash:|
1 egg + 1 tablespoon olive oil to brush the pide
Pide topping ingredients
For seed topping for 2 pides:
1 teaspoon nigella seeds or sesame seeds, or a mixture of ½ teaspoon of each
For lamb vegetable topping for 2 pides:
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
14 ounces (400 g) minced lamb or beef or mixture
½ green bell pepper, finely diced|
2 medium tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and diced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 bunch parsley, chopped, half into meat mix, half for serving
For spinach cheese topping for 2 pides:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
7 ounces (200 g) baby spinach leaves
½ zest of half a lemon
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground|
4 ounces (113 g) white cheddar, grated
2.65 ounces (75 g) feta
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup parsley, finely chopped
Sea salt to taste (check saltiness of feta before adding)
For pepper cheese topping for 2 pides
1 red bell pepper, large, thinly sliced
1 green bell pepper, large, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
6 ounces (170 g) white cheddar, grated
3 ounces (85 g) feta
Salt (check saltiness of feta before adding) and pepper to taste
In a large mixer bowl, mix 6 ounces (170 g) flour, sugar, yeast and water into a wet dough. Cover with plastic wrap or lid and set aside in warm spot until dough bubbles and doubles in size.
Place bowl with dough on stand mixer. Mix in remaining flour and yogurt, salt and olive oil or butter and knead with dough hook at high speed until the dough releases from sides of the bowl, approximately 3-4 minutes. Remove dough hook. Cover with plastic wrap or lid and leave to proof until doubled again. This rise may also be done in a warm spot (approximately 1½ to 2 hours) or in the fridge overnight and up to 24 hours. (Overnight proofing in the refrigerator slows down the rise but allows flavor to develop.)
Once doubled, divide dough in half if making full-size pides or in thirds if making the smaller versions. Shape dough halves or thirds into balls and place on the oiled cookie sheet to rise covered with plastic wrap until again doubled.
In the meantime, prepare the desired topping:
For plain pide with seeds: Measure out nigella or sesame seeds alone or combine the seeds
For minced lamb vegetable pide: Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a wide frying pan. Stir in onions and peppers and sauté for 2-3 minutes over medium heat until softened. Stir in tomatoes and sauté for another 2 minutes. Pour in lemon juice and season with salt and ground black pepper. Turn heat off. Cool mixture to room temperature. Place minced meat in a bowl and combine with the cooked vegetables. Mix well.
For spinach cheese pide: Heat oil in a frying pan over high heat. Add onion and fry for 3-4 minutes until golden. Add spinach and fry for 2-3 minutes until wilted. Add cumin and black pepper, but taste feta for saltiness before adding salt. Mix well. Remove from heat and leave to cool until ready to assemble pide. In a separate bowl, combine both cheeses and parsley and set aside.
For the pepper cheese pide: Heat oil in a frying pan over high heat. Add peppers and onion and fry for 3-4 minutes until softened but not colored. Add garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Combine cheddar and feta cheese. Add pepper, but taste for saltiness of feta before adding salt.
Preheat oven and baking stone to 400°F(200°C).
Beat an egg in a small bowl and mix it with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
Shape the risen dough into oval-shaped pide. Dust both sides with flour and roll out into a boat shape about ⅜ inch (1 cm) thick. The dough should be really thin. Prick dough all over with a fork. Transfer each pide to a sheet of baking paper or a baking peel, sprinkled heavily with flour. Then proceed to assemble and bake as follows:
Assembling and baking plain or seeded pide, create a border by denting dough around the edge and down the length in rows with fingertips. Paint egg wash on pide and sprinkle with nigella or sesame seeds or seed mixture. Transfer to oven and bake pide for 10 – 15 minutes, until golden with a crisp crust.
Plain pide with egg wash
Seeded pide ready for baking
Baked seeded pide
Assembling and baking lamb vegetable pide, spread meat filling down the center of the dough leaving a 2-inch (5 cm) border around the edges. Smooth and flatten filling and fold in border from both sides to cover the filling, pinching along the center and at ends to create an oval boat shape. The meat filling should be completely covered. Paint pide with egg wash and prick surface with a skewer to release steam. Transfer to oven and bake pide 20- 25 minutes, until lightly golden with a crisp crust.
Baked lamb pide
Assembling and baking spinach cheese pide, arrange wilted spinach down the middle of the pide dough, leaving a 1-inch (2.5 cm) edge. Distribute cheese mixture evenly over the surface. Fold edges onto the filling to create a border. Using your thumb and forefinger, pinch the pastry border together so that it stands up around the edge, forming points at both ends. Paint pide edges with egg wash. Transfer to oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, until cheese melts and edges brown.
Assembling spinach pide
Spinach pide ready for baking
Baked spinach pide
Assembling and baking pepper cheese pide, spread and smooth the cheese mixture down the middle of the pide dough, leaving a 1-inch (2.5 cm) edge. Distribute pepper and onion mixture evenly over the surface. Fold edges onto the filling to create a border. Using your thumb and forefinger, pinch the pastry border together so that it stands up around the edge, forming points at both ends. Paint edges with egg wash. Transfer to oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, until cheese melts and edges brown.
Assembling pepper pide
Pepper pide ready for baking
Baked pepper pide
Once golden, transfer pide to a wire rack. Baste pastry with olive oil or butter, if you wish. Once cool, cut into slices for serving.
If you would like to try pide with an egg on top, then remove one of the vegetable pide 5 minutes before the end of baking and carefully crack an egg in the middle of the pide. Return to the oven and bake for another 4-5 minutes, taking care not to overcook the egg; it should be just set with the yolk still runny.
To keep pides soft and warm, when fresh out of the oven, cover with a dry towel and wrap in aluminum foil. Pides can also be reheated before eating by sprinkling lightly with water and placed in a hot oven 350°F(180° C) for 5-8 minutes.
Bon appetit! Afiyet Olsun!
* Ghillie Başan and Jonathan Başan, Classic Turkish Cookery, Taurus Parke Books, London, 2005.
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