Pide Overload
My own Turkish pizza recipe
To say I’m a little obsessed with pide (Turkish pizza) is like saying I watch too much k-drama. Both true.
In baking, if I think I’ve messed up, because of a lack of time, rushing, or feeling overwhelmed, I will keep at it until I’ve got it right — to my satisfaction.
I’ve felt that way about pide lately.
The next day, I made more, with different fillings (spinach, sujuk, cheese), taking care to watch the bake so the edges don’t get too crispy. The crust — in another recipe from Turkish Food Travel on YouTube — was softer and more flavorful, thanks to the addition of milk and yogurt (labneh), and olive oil.
Still, I wasn’t happy quite yet.
For me, pide needs a sauce. Sujuk and cheese taste like it’s missing a stew.
Plus, the recipe I followed had a flaw. Aysenur Altan called for six to six and a half cups of flour. Whoa, that sounded like way too much. Sure enough, after starting with four cups, I slowly added more until the dough came together. It came together after four and a half cups, but sticky enough to add a touch more.
I was able to squeeze in five full cups of flour, but the dough looked dry, so I added a little more olive oil and water until it looked right — smooth and only slightly tacky. You never want dry, shaggy, or loose dough. You’re trying to get the gluten activated to a bouncy elastic texture.
I like Altan’s YouTube page. Hers is the most consistent and easy to follow by far, even with odd measurements (a tablespoon of yeast?!) and baking times (celsius). Using her pide recipes as a base, I wanted to come up with my own, one I can rely on in a flash.
I still need to improve the flavor of the dough. The dough needs to be so tasty, you could eat it on its own.
Don’t leave out olive oil, at least. That’s flavor.
Watch the dough, not the recipe. If yours comes together with four cups of flour, so be it. Play around with the amounts, including the yeast. I’m nervous about 1 tablespoon for 500 grams of flour (normally, breads get 1-2 teaspoons), but scale back and see what happens. I think you could get away with even 1 teaspoon of yeast to 3 1/2 cups flour.
A neighbor friend’s daughter requested a dessert type pide, so I made up a sweet filling for her on the spot, one that would be compatible to Turkish cuisine.
You don’t need to make these boats so big, either. Make pocket-sized ones, using less dough.
Dip in grape molasses and dredge in sesame seeds first, let rest, and then cut down the middle and spread for cheese and sujuk filling inside (like Turkish Food Travel does in another recipe).
Carol’s Pide Recipe
Ingredients:
Dough —
Bread flour (All-Purpose is okay), 4 1/2-5+ cups
Lukewarm water, 1 cup
Yogurt and milk, 1 cup
Sugar or honey, 1 tablespoons
Dry yeast, active or instant, 2.5 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon
Salt, 1-2 teaspoons (11 grams to 500 grams of flour)
Extra-virgin olive oil, 5 tablespoons
Egg wash
Melted butter
In a stand mixer (you can do this by hand) on low to low-medium, add lukewarm water, yogurt/milk, sugar/honey, salt, olive oil, yeast, and half the flour. Add flour in increments until the dough comes together, smooth, elastic, cleaning the bottom of the bowl, and slightly tacky. Add a little more olive oil as it’s kneading to coat. Knead for a minute or two, or three, depending on how well the dough comes together.
Make sure to roll dough into a ball and put back in the bowl. Cover to rise, about double, for almost an hour. Keep checking, though, because the dough might double in 30-40 min. Once dough has doubled, roll into a log, cut 10-12 pieces, roll those pieces into balls, and let rest for 15 min.
Turn oven on to 400-425 degrees F.
Use a rolling pin or your fingers to spread out the dough into ovals, fill, then fold the sides over, pressing gently into the filling. Squeeze the ends into fins. Stretch holding up and down both ends, gently, before moving to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Continue until you’ve filled all the ovals.
Brush sides and ends of dough boats with egg wash before putting in oven. Bake for 15-20 min., but check at the 10-min. mark. Take out when the dough gets golden-brown and cheese (if you’re using any) looks bubbly golden brown.
Finish by brushing on melted butter on the dough.
The longer you leave them in the oven, the crispier the crust.
Fillings —
Meat:
Ground beef or poultry, 1 lb.
Onion, chopped or diced
Garlic, 2-5 cloves or more, minced
Scallions (optional), chopped
Green & red pepper (Anaheim, jalapeno, serrano, bell pepper), chopped
Tomato, chopped
Tomato paste, 1-2 teaspoons
Spinach, as much as you want
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Aleppo or red pepper flakes, 1 tsp.
Dried oregano, 1 tsp.
Onion & garlic powder, 1 tsp.
Paprika, 1 tsp.
Cumin powder, 1 tsp.
Coriander powder, 1 tsp.
On medium-high heat, fry up onion, garlic, and ground meat until ground meat is almost done, then add the rest of the ingredients, cook on medium to low until all liquid (from the meat and the spinach) is cooked out. Set aside to cool.
Spinach:
Spinach
Soft cheese, broken up
Mozzarella, cheddar, shredded
Salt & pepper to taste
In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients with your hand, smooshing the spinach and cheeses together, or fry up on a medium-hot skillet. Let cool before filling.
Other fillings/toppings:
Leftover spaghetti
Leftover taco meat
Sujuk (Portuguese sausage, chorizo, pepperoni), mozzarella
Tomato sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni slices
Mozzarella, egg (take pide out of oven five minutes before end of baking time, crack egg in the middle, put back in oven to cook)
Granola, honey, sweetened (with honey) cream cheese
Slices of apple, cinnamon, maple syrup, nuts, brown sugar