Hello, Pide!
If pizza and a bagel had a baby in Turkey... (my recipe at the end)
I did a daring thing today, four and a half hours before bible study: I made my first Turkish pizza, or pide — pronounced pee-duh — following just a YouTube tutorial, which meant trying to convert what the Turkish Food Travel lady was doing with what was listed in the incomplete ingredient list (where’s the flour?!).
I realized too late that I’d put two tablespoons of active yeast in the dough, instead of 1 and a half teaspoons (around 9 grams). I’d mistaken fresh for active yeast in my rush to finish by 6:15 p.m. (I failed).
Whoops!
I didn’t want to throw it out, and I didn’t have time to dick around with a new batch (even though I did later). So, I tried my best to sift as much of the yeast out along with some of the flour, thinking I could adjust the flour as the dough came together in the stand mixer.
Long story short, the pide came out alright. Not too leavened to the point of artificial nasty and not too dense.
There was also a discrepancy in the amount of sugar. I figured, better go with what she put in on the video (1 1/2 T.) than what was listed (two leveled T.). Less is more. We’re dealing with pizza here, not croissants.
The rest I went by feel, as a semi-experienced sourdough baker.
On a high note, I loved handling the dough, shaping it, cutting it down the middle and stretching it out to make room for the toppings. I’ll always love that. I may have even gone a little overboard. Mine looked like weaponized motorboats, compared to Aysenur Altan’s dainty canoes.
My pide turned out way fatter than Altan’s. She did say not to make the bottoms thick, so I went to town flattening the hell out of them! But no matter, it’s the taste that matters. The proof was in the pudding, or, the reaction of those at bible study. Everybody loved the pizza pide more than the traditional one by four helpings.
It’s labor intensive, but forgiving and well worth trying, as long as you pay attention to the dough, not time. Isn’t that like life?
You can totally swap All Purpose for Bread flour, or a little of both to equal about five cups (500 grams). But don’t be strict with the measurements. Add four cups first, then slowly add a little more of the fifth cup until you get a slightly sticky, but overall smooth dough.
A huge concern going in was whether adding spaghetti sauce would affect the baking time, with all that liquid. The only suitable recipe I could find for pide pizza involving sauce was adding chopped tomatoes or pan-fried ground beef and onions. Would my dough be cooked through?
The answer was…close enough. Interestingly, though, it was the traditional, non-sauced pide that seemed a tiny doughy underneath, or maybe I’m being paranoid. I always think homemade pizza’s a little underdone.
My stupid oven kept going back down to 350 degrees F (the celsius to Fahrenheit translation was 392, rounded out to 400 degrees F) whenever the timer went off, so what should’ve taken 10-15 minutes to finish melting the cheese took 20-25 minutes. I probably left the traditional pide (cheese, sausage, bell peppers, olives) in the wonky oven a little too long, but I like the slightly charred sesame seeds and the crispy crunch on the outer rim anyway in my simit (Turkish bagels), which this recipe’s dough is based on.
Oh yeah, the toppings… I didn’t have Turkish cheeses, so, on Altan’s suggestion, I used mozzarella and feta. She replied to my comment a few weeks ago that I could try tomato sauce, so I did. I used another YouTube pide recipe of ground beef, onions, and spices (turmeric, oregano, paprika, red pepper, cumin, coriander, salt, and pepper), juicing up leftover spaghetti sauce with all but the turmeric.
Tomorrow, I’ll see if I can’t make better pizza pide with the second batch I hurriedly put together (with the ride amount of active yeast) at my leisure. I figured I could just leave the bowl of risen dough in the fridge to slow down proofing until the morning.
We’ll see what happens!
UPDATE: My pide turned out fantastic, a lot less crunchier around the edges, but cooked through, and with a slight sweetness in the dough.
My Pide Recipe
Based on Turkish Food Travel’s “Turkish Simit Pizza”
INGREDIENTS:
All Purpose and/or bread flour (I use a mix of four cups AP to one cup bread), around 5 cups, depends on the dough — sometimes it takes all 5 cups, sometimes just under 5
Lukewarm water, I microwave mine for 35 secs., 400 milliliters (same as grams, on a food scale)/a little over 1.6 cups *Stop using cups and get a food scale for more accuracy
Olive oil, 2 tablespoons, plus more for oiling the bowl and dough
Sugar (or honey), 1 1/2 T.
Sea salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons (9-10 grams; you can get away with 11 grams of salt per 500 grams flour, fyi)
Dry active yeast, 1 1/4-1 1/2 t.
Roasted sesame seeds, 1 c.
Water, 2/3 c.
Grape molasses, 1/3 c. (substitute molasses, or even honey)
Possible toppings: grated kashar (or mozzarella) and crumbled white cheese (or feta), sliced green and red bell peppers, chopped anaheim/serrano/jalapeno peppers (any peppers will do) for spice — some people whiz these in a food processor for convenience, mushrooms, sujuk (or chorizo sausage, I used Aidell’s chicken chorizo), spaghetti meat sauce, garlic, green onion, paprika, oregano, cumin, coriander, Aleppo pepper, salt, pepper to flavor the spaghetti sauce
Use a stand mixer, or you’ll be sorry. In a stand mixer, add the lukewarm water, sugar, olive oil (can be extra virgin), and about 4 cups of the flour, then the active yeast. You can add between 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 teaspoons. Finish with the salt. Mix until dough comes together, then keep adding a little more of the fifth cup of flour until the dough becomes soft and barely sticky, cleaning the bowl. Knead for about four minutes in the stand mixer, or until you see the dough come together smoothly.
While still mixing, pour a little more olive oil, so it’s easier to handle the dough. Shape into a ball in the bowl, cover, and leave in the oven with the light on for only 15 minutes. You’ll be leaving it to rise more later.
While waiting for the dough to rise, prepare the toppings, juice up the spaghetti sauce with seasonings, and grate/crumble the cheese, depending on your taste. You can literally put anything in these pide, including tomato sauce, tomatoes, mozzarella, and pepperoni, just like an American/Italian pizza. Want pizza supreme? Add cut up bell peppers, mushrooms, and olives. You can pan-fry the toppings with garlic and seasonings, too, for more flavor.
Also, set out a plate or large bowl full of toasted sesame seeds. They must be toasted. You can leave them out if you don’t like sesame seeds, like my husband. If you do, use an egg-yogurt-olive oil wash to brush around the edges before baking.
Mix together 2/3 c. water with 1/3 c. grape molasses in a bowl.
After 15 min. of the first rise, the dough will have doubled, or at least gotten a little bigger. Roll out onto the counter to work with. Form dough into a long log. Cut in half, then cut each half into six pieces. You’ll wind up with 12. Form and tighten them into balls, then cover. Let them rest for 15 minutes.
To shape into ovals, use your hands to press out, but it’s easier with a rolling pin. Roll out each ball of dough into an oval. In the middle, fill with some cheese, fold in half, seal the edges, and then, roll out loosely, taking care to pinch the edges out. Keep doing that for all the balls.
When you’re done shaping the dough, the hardest but fun part, dip each oval into the grape molasses-water mixture, then roll in the roasted sesame seeds before placing on baking sheets lined with parchment paper or Silpat.
It’s operation time! More fun! Using a sharp knife, cut down the middle of each filled, rolled oval, and spread out with your fingers until you expose the cheesy part. It should open with a puff. When you’re done cutting them all open, cover and let them rest again for 20 minutes.
Set the oven to 400/392 degrees F (200 celsius) during the rest time.
When the oven’s preheated and the dough’s rested for the final time, open them up a little more and press out on the bottom, making sure they’re not too thick. You’ll want to keep the shape with the edges. Pre-bake in the oven for 15 minutes until golden on the edges and cheese is slightly bubbly.
Take them out of the oven, and *top with ingredients of your choice.
Return to the oven for 10-15 min. until cheese is bubbly and the dough is even more golden. The longer you bake, the crunchier the sesame border.
*Popular Pepperoni Pizza
Spoon tomato or juiced up meat sauce (leftover is great) down the middle until covered. Don’t overfill. Spread with a generous amount of cheese — mozzarella, Parmesan, cheddar, goat…whatever you like in your pizza — then your choice of toppings. You can keep it classic with pepperoni, or add bell peppers, mushrooms, and black olives for a supreme pizza.
Traditional Turkish Pizza
Here’s my version. Since traditional’s basically just cheese and sujuk (dry sausage), I jazzed up the filling and added some moisture by pan-frying chopped garlic, serrano and jalapeno, chives, green onion, onion powder, salt and pepper, dried parsley and thyme, fresh cilantro, sliced mushrooms, and bell peppers in olive oil and butter until halfway browned. Let cool in the pan for 15-20 min.
First, fill the middle with mozzarella and feta, then sliced jalapeno or serrano, for the pre-bake. Then, top with the pan-fried mixture, more mozzarella/feta and thinly sliced sujuk, or sausage of your choice.
