Baker's Corner: Turkish Pide with Cheese and Egg

I know it isn't even December yet but who else is excited for the holiday season? 🙋

You know, I went ahead and planned an elaborate agenda for the year end holidays. But recently, all my plans have been turned topsy-turvy. I'm still going to enjoy the holidays, no question about that, but it is just going to be different than how I thought it was going to be. I don't want to talk about it lest I jinx it or something. Fingers crossed that everything works out. More updates on that in the next few weeks 😊

Let's get back to today's recipe shall we? I love Turkish food. Aside from the fact that the cuisine is vibrant and delicious, I think another reason could be the similarity with Indian food. They have pita, pide & bazlama while we have naan, roti and paratha; they have pilav while we have pulao; they have cacık while we have raita; they have ayran while we have lassi; their sütlaç is a reminder of our kheer; they have kebabs and koftas just like we do; they love cumin, coriander, nuts, onions, tomatoes, fresh herbs and dairy products much like we do. And not to mention, a common love of sweets, coffee and tea, despite the differences in method of preparation. Home cooking and hospitality is an integral component Turkish culture as it is to ours. Their cuisine is much more mellow and heavy with meat usage (lamb especially) but still immensely appeals to the modern Indian palate, vegetarian and non-vegetarian alike. Gözleme, pide, börek, abagannuc, dolmas, hummus, muhammara, labneh, cacık, kunefe and baklava are some of my absolute favourite dishes from this Ottoman cuisine. 

I recently had the opportunity to attend a Turkish cooking class and I grabbed it. The well-known Turkish pastry chef based in Gold Coast, Australia, taught us how to make a variety of Turkish favourites. One among them was this Turkish Pide with cheese and egg. The class was wonderful and I was inspired to try everything ASAP.

I made a few minor modifications to the recipe to suit my preferences. Although slightly time consuming, the process was fairly easy and the pide that came out of the oven looked and smelled so good that everyone dived into it right away. I loved the flavours and texture of the bread, egg & cheese in every bite. Those nigella seeds were a genius addition. I also sprinkled a bit of sumac which brightened up the flavour. 

This recipe yields 8 fairly large pide. If you want a variation, you can make the same quantity of dough as mentioned in the recipe but make only half the amount of cheese filling. You can then make 4 pide and use the rest of the dough to make 4 gözleme (flatbreads filled with spinach, feta & onion). That is what I did and we enjoyed both the pide and gözleme equally. 

I hope you like and try this recipe. You can consider making it for your upcoming Christmas or New Year party spread.

Turkish Pide with Cheese and Egg

Preparation time: 1 hr 15 min

Baking time: 8-10 mins (per batch)

Makes: 8 large pide; Serves 8-10 as a main

Recipe category: Breakfast or Appetizer/Turkish

Recipe level: Intermediate

Recipe source: Adapted from a recipe by Chef Serdar Yener

Ingredients:

For the dough:

550gm bread flour
1 tsp refined sugar
1 tsp dried yeast 
350ml lukewarm water
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 

For the filling:

400gm full-fat ricotta cheese

200gm crumbled feta cheese

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp dried red chilli flakes

A handful of fresh mint and thyme, finely chopped

Zest from 1 lemon

Salt to taste

Also required,

8 eggs i.e. 1 whole egg per pide (small-sized eggs are desirable so the whites won't overflow)

Method:

1. Add the bread flour to a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre, add the sugar, yeast and half the quantity of lukewarm water. Mix within the area of the well and cover it up with the rest of the flour and pat down. Keep aside uncovered for 20-25 min. 

2. Meanwhile, in a bowl combine all the ingredients for the filling, except the egg. Mix well. Taste to adjust seasoning. Stash in the fridge until use. 

I used homemade ricotta cheese. To make that, heat whole milk in a pot. When the milk starts steaming (just before it comes to a boil), take it off the heat and add in salt and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Mix and let it sit for 10 mins. You will see that the milk will curdle. If this doesn't happen, just add more lemon juice until it does. Line a colander with a cheesecloth and strain the solids. Let it stand for 10-15 mins and your homemade ricotta cheese is ready. Keep refrigerated until use. 

3. If the yeast is active, you will see cracks start to appear on the surface of the flour. Add the remaining water, salt and olive oil. Knead until the dough is pliable and smooth. Oil the bowl and leave the dough to rest covered for about an hour to double in size. 

4. Preheat the oven to its highest setting (for me this was 250 deg C). 

5. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough for 1-2 minutes and shape into a log. Cut into 8 equal pieces and shape into balls. Cover the balls with a damp cloth. 

6. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough balls into a 9-inch long oval with a thickness of about 1/8 inch (you don't want to make it too thin). Place them on a greased baking tray.

7. Spoon the filling onto the middle portion of the overland spread evenly, leaving an equidistant border around. Fold the outer edge inward on both sides and pinch the ends. 

8. Use the back of a spoon to make a small well in the middle of the pide. Crack an egg into the well. Brush the dough all over with the egg white, season the egg with salt and pepper and sprinkle the exposed part of the dough with nigella seeds or black/white sesame seeds if desired. 

9. Bake the pide for about 8 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the egg is cooked. If you prefer a runny egg in the pide, just before cracking the egg into the well, you can pop the pide into the oven for 4 minutes to partially bake, take it out, crack the egg in and then put it back in the oven for an additional 4-6 minutes (depending on the extent to which you like the egg to be cooked). 

10. Sprinkle the freshly baked pide with finely chopped flat-leaf parsley and sumac or zaatar if desired. You can also drizzle some extra virgin olive oil. Allow to cool slightly and cut into 4 diagonal segments. 

Notes:

• You don't need to be perfect when shaping the pide. Be as rustic as you like
• You don't have to use egg in this recipe. You can add spinach and or mushrooms into the filling and brush the dough with milk or melted butter before popping it into the oven
• If you are using egg, you don't want it to overflow purely for esthetics. If you don't mind that then there is no need to worry about it
• If you don't have mint or thyme for he filling, you can substitute with flat-leaf parsley or Italian basil
• If you don't have ricotta and feta cheese, then you can use grated mozzarella cheese
• If you don't have nigella seeds, you can sprinkle the dough with black or white sesame seeds or else skip the seeds altogether. That said, I think the seeds add a nice texture to the pide

Cheers,

Megha