Kıymalı Pide: Turkish Boat-Shaped “Pizza”
Pide is the Turkish cousin of pizza. The word shares its roots with the Greek pita and the Italian pizza, and for centuries it simply meant flatbread, like…
- CuisineTurkish
- Prep1 h 35 min
- Cook15 min
- Total1 h 50 min
- Makes4 servings
Kıymalı Pide: Turkish Boat-Shaped “Pizza”
1. Make the dough: Stir the yeast and sugar into the lukewarm water and leave for 5 minutes, until foamy. Add the flour, salt and olive oil and knead for 8–10 minutes, until soft and smooth. Cover and leave to rise for about 1 hour, until doubled.
2. Mix the filling: Finely chop the onion, peppers and garlic, and dice the tomatoes. Mix them with the raw minced meat, pepper paste, cumin, paprika, chili flakes, salt, black pepper and half of the chopped parsley. The filling goes on raw, as Turkish bakers do, and cooks in the oven.
3. Heat the oven: Heat the oven to 250 °C (or as hot as it goes) with a baking tray or stone inside for at least 20 minutes.
4. Shape the boats: Divide the dough into 2 pieces and roll each into a long oval, about 35 × 15 cm, on a floured sheet of baking paper. Spread half of the filling over each, leaving a 2 cm border. Fold the long edges over the filling and pinch the ends together into points, so each pide looks like a boat.
5. Bake: Brush the dough edges with beaten egg and sprinkle with nigella or sesame seeds. Slide the pides on their paper onto the hot tray and bake for 12–15 minutes, until the crust is golden and the meat is cooked through.
6. Serve: Brush the hot crust with a little melted butter, scatter over the rest of the parsley, cut into strips and serve with lemon wedges and cold yogurt.
Pide, the Turkish flatbread that became a boat
History & OriginsPide is the Turkish cousin of pizza. The word shares its roots with the Greek pita and the Italian pizza, and for centuries it simply meant flatbread, like the round, dimpled loaves that every Turkish bakery still bakes during Ramadan.
The topped, boat-shaped pide comes from the Black Sea coast, where Samsun, Trabzon and Bafra still argue over whose is best. Bakers stretch the dough into a long oval, cover it with minced meat, cheese or egg, fold the sides in and slide it into a wood-fired stone oven for a few minutes. The pointed ends make it easy to hold and to tear into pieces.
Kıymalı pide means pide with minced meat. The meat goes on raw, mixed with onion, tomato, peppers and spices, so its juices soak into the dough as it bakes. In Turkey it is street food and family food at once: ordered from the corner pideci, cut into strips and eaten with ayran, lemon and a pinch of chili flakes.
Pide, the Turkish flatbread that became a boat
The story behind the dishPide is the Turkish cousin of pizza. The word shares its roots with the Greek pita and the Italian pizza, and for centuries it simply meant flatbread, like the round, dimpled loaves that every Turkish bakery still bakes during Ramadan.
The topped, boat-shaped pide comes from the Black Sea coast, where Samsun, Trabzon and Bafra still argue over whose is best. Bakers stretch the dough into a long oval, cover it with minced meat, cheese or egg, fold the sides in and slide it into a wood-fired stone oven for a few minutes. The pointed ends make it easy to hold and to tear into pieces.
Kıymalı pide means pide with minced meat. The meat goes on raw, mixed with onion, tomato, peppers and spices, so its juices soak into the dough as it bakes. In Turkey it is street food and family food at once: ordered from the corner pideci, cut into strips and eaten with ayran, lemon and a pinch of chili flakes.
