Turkish Pide

Home made Turkish pide with easy to follow instructions.

Buy or find
White bread flour, 500g
Caster sugar, 1 tsp
Dry yeast, 10g/1 tsp
Water, 350ml, at room temperature
Salt, 10g/1 .5 tsp
Olive oil, 1 tbs, plus extra on top
Za’atar. to top
Kosher salt, to top
Nigella seeds, to top
Lemons, 2, quartered

Fillings
Potato, 1, diced and boiled and fried
Potato V2, diced boiled, spices, nigella, mint, dill, parsley, lemon
Brown onion, 1, diced
Mozzarella cheese, grated
Eggs, 2, whisked with a fork
Feta cheese, crumbled
Mersey Valley Cheese, crumbled
Silverbeet leaves, 4, washed and finely shredded
Tomato, 1, deseeded and diced
Fresh mint, parsley and dill leaves, washed and finely chopped
Large cherry tomatoes, washed and halved
Kosher salt
Chilli flakes

Do

Make the dough.

Making the dough involves blooming the year, finishing the dough mixture, kneading the dough and shaping the dough.

Blooming the yeast.

Add 350g flour, the sugar, yeast and water to a bowl. Mix these ingredients together, using the handle of a wooden spoon until well combined.

Place the bowl inside a plastic bag in a warm place at room temperature, tie the handles into a knot to prevent air from entering the bag and leave it until the mixture starts to bubble (around 30 minutes).

Finishing the dough mixture

Remove the bowl from the plastic bag.

Mix in the olive oil and briefly stir with a spoon to combine and then pour in the rest of the flour (150g) and the salt.

Stir again, using the handle of a wooden spoon until very well combined. (Make sure there are no loose or separate crumbs or flour, make sure they are all incorporated. If there are separate crumbs or flour, the folding method won’t work that well.)

Knead the dough, using the folding technique.

Kneading the dough

Complete the first fold

Remove the bowl from the bag.

Wet your fingers in a bowl of water or under the running tap.

Gather underneath a portion of the dough and fold it up and over itself towards the centre of the bowl. Rotate the bowl 1 quarter turn (90 degrees).

Repeat rotating and folding the dough until you have worked your way around the bowl and each portion of dough (more or less) has been folded towards the centre of the bowl.

Cover the bowl again and leave to sit for five minutes. Room temperature is fine, you want to avoid drafts.

Complete the second fold by repeating the instructions for first fold.

Complete the third fold by repeating the instructions for first fold.

Complete the fourth fold by by repeating the instructions for first fold. Leave to rest for 2 hours at room temperature out of any draft.

After the dough has rested, you have two options. You can use the dough today or refrigerate it and use it another day. I find it easier to work with cold dough and prefer storing it in the fridge until needed but the choice is yours.

Decide whether you are cooking the Pide today or tomorrow.

Shaping the dough if you are making Pide right away

1 Deflate the dough by running your dough scraper around the outside edge of the dough.

2 cut the dough into 6 equal pieces using a dough scraper.

3 Place each ball of dough on a floured baking tray and cover with a cloth for 20 minutes (the cloth prevents the dough from drying out while it rests).

Shaping the dough if you are making Pide later today or tomorrow

1 Deflate the dough by running your dough scraper around the outside edge of the dough.

2 Tip the dough into a plastic container and keep in the refrigerator until needed.

Make the pide.

Remove a tray from the oven and gently lift the pide off the baking paper, grab the ends and gently support the middle to hold it all together and place on the tray.

Spray with olive oil spray and sprinkle some nigella seeds and a pinch of salt.

Place the tray in the oven and bake until brown and the egg is cooked (about 10 minutes).

Remove the tray from the oven and place the cooked pide on a chopping board. Sprinkle with fresh herbs (parsley, dill, mint) and cut into slices.

Place the cut pieces of pide on a serving plate after they have rested for 3-4 minutes. If you eat them immediately, they are too hot, if you eat them after resting for more than 4 minutes, they lose their crunch.

Serve with lemon wedges, hummus, beetroot dip and fresh tabouleh.

Make sure you don’t use pizza or 00 flour.

Note. you can use a spatula sprayed with olive oil to do the folding with rather than using your hands.

Try this as plain za’atar pide by placing the rolled teardrop shaped dough on the hot tray, press on the dough to dimple it, spray some olive oil spray and sprinkle with za’atar. Bake for 6 minutes or until brown and crisp.

You can create a slightly softer result by brushing the prepared and filled pide with egg wash (milk and egg whisked together) rather than olive oil.