Pide is probably one of the best-known Turkish dishes and is frequently offered as a takeaway (just like lahmacun) – but the ratio of dough to filling often seems wrong to us. We prefer our pide with a thinner and slightly crispy dough so that the flavor of the filling comes through better.
And that’s where it all starts, namely with the dough, which, as with a pizza, determines the final result. And this dough is much easier and quicker to make than the much more elaborate pizza dough.
All you need is standard wheat flour, some dry yeast (or double the weight of fresh yeast), salt, sugar, yoghurt, olive oil and lukewarm water.
Water, sugar and yeast are stirred together and left to stand for a few minutes, then all the ingredients are mixed together to form a homogeneous dough. This can be done completely by hand in under 10 minutes. A food processor does some of the work for you, but you still have to knead a little by hand. The dough does not have to be completely smooth yet.
The dough ball is gently rubbed with olive oil, placed in a bowl and covered with a plate, cloth or foil. It is left to rest in a warm place until it has doubled in volume. This takes about an hour, but can take longer depending on the ingredients, temperature and even the weather; doughs are complex and tricky structures. Anyone who prepares a lot of them knows what we are talking about.
Now the dough is kneaded once more on a very lightly floured work surface, which naturally causes it to lose volume again. It should now be as soft as an earlobe, as you often hear in Turkey. It is then divided into 4 – 6 pieces, which is best done with a dough scraper, which we recommend for every household. 4 pieces for very large pide, 6 pieces for smaller ones that fit better in the domestic oven.
The pieces are formed into balls, as we have already explained for pizza dough.
These dough balls are covered again with a cloth and left to rest for 10 – 15 minutes. During this time, the dough rises again.
The rest is also very simple:
A ball of dough is rolled out in one direction only, it should take on an oval, very elongated shape. This is much easier than rolling out the dough into a circle.
It is best to now place the dough on a lightly oiled baking tray, on a tray with baking paper or, as we always do, on a Silpat mat on the rack.
Next, the topping of your choice is applied with a spoon, not too thick and not too thin. A thickness of 4 – 5 mm is a good guideline. Leave a free edge of just under one centimeter.
Now you fold the edge over the filling on both long sides by about 1 cm and twist the pointed ends once or twice so that they hold together (and look pretty, of course). Here is an example of our pide with Turkish Kaşar cheese, Sucuk (Turkish beef sausage with garlic) and spring onions.
You can now brush the edges with milk or egg (or a mixture of the two) and sprinkle sesame and/or nigella seeds on top. It all tastes great, but we’re keeping it simple today.
Bake in a preheated oven at a medium temperature of 220 degrees (without fan) for about 12 minutes or until the edges start to brown.
Done!
The hot edge is now sometimes rubbed with a little butter so that it shines beautifully. We don’t do that either.
The pide is always cut crosswise into strips so that it can be enjoyed by hand.
Now we explain two typical preparations for the topping:
Spinach and feta cheese
Spinach leaves and leek are washed thoroughly, onions and garlic are peeled, and feta cheese is broken or cut into cubes.
The onion is sautéed in a little olive oil over a medium-high heat. We like to add a little dried chili here.
When the onion is translucent, the garlic is added and also sautéed for about 2 minutes until it starts to smell fragrant.
Next, the finely chopped leek is added to the pan and sautéed for a further 3 minutes.
The spinach is roughly chopped and added to the pan in batches. It has a lot of volume, but quickly wilts under the heat. It just needs to be stirred in again and again.
Then season with salt and pepper and remove the pan from the heat. Finally, crumble the feta cheese over the pan and mix in. Once the pide is baked, it looks like this:
Ground beef
A classic. You need ground beef, onion and paprika or tomato paste (or a mixture of the two). We like to add very finely diced, colorful peppers, today Turkish pointed peppers. It is seasoned with salt and cumin, and we also add baharat.
As with köfte, the onion must be grated into the meat, its juice ensures that it remains soft and juicy. In addition to a very good grater, we always recommend a safety glove for the kitchen – from experience.
All of this is mixed together very thoroughly with your hands and should then be left to rest in the fridge for an hour or longer so that the flavors combine. It is applied to the pide raw in a thin layer and cooks during baking.
After baking:
To finish: Top your pide with whatever you like. If you take it out of the oven three minutes before the cooking time and add an egg, for example, you can make something like this:
Enjoy.
And may the taste be with you.
Ingredients (for 4 – 6 pide):
For the dough:
450 g standard wheat flour
3 – 4 g dry yeast (half a packet)
10 g salt (2 tsp)
5 g sugar (1 tsp)
60 g yoghurt
30 g olive oil
200 ml lukewarm water
For the topping – please note, the quantities given are each enough for the entire dough!
Spinach & feta cheese:
500 g spinach (fresh or frozen, but spinach leaves)
1 leek
1 medium-sized onion
2 – 3 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper
400 g feta cheese
Meat:
400 g minced beef
1 medium onion, finely grated
1 tbsp paprika or tomato puree (or mixed)
1 level teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon each of cumin and pul biber (chili flakes)
We also add: 1 tsp Baharat
Other options:
Coarsely grated cheese (Turkish Kaşar, Gouda and/or Emmental)
Turkish sucuk (beef sausage with lots of garlic)
Spring onions
Egg
And above all: whatever comes to your mind!
