Turkish Pide

The easiest and tastiest Turkish pide dough, with a beautiful cheese filling, that’s very customizable and so quick to throw together!

What is Turkish Pide?

Pide is basically a Turkish version of a yeasted olive oil based bread, like a flatbread or a pizza. They usually come in elongated oval shapes, that look like little kayaks. They are stuffed with filling in the middle, everything from cheese, to meat, to vegetables.

What do you need to make pide?

For the dough, the ingredients are very basic. You need regular all purpose (plain) flour, olive oil, salt, sugar, instant yeast and lukewarm water.

The water should be warm to the touch, but comfortable enough to be able to keep your hand in it, like tepid bath water. If it’s too hot, it’ll scald the yeast and the dough won’t rise.

Although the recipe calls for instant yeast which doesn’t technically need to be activated with the sugar and the water, it’s a good way to check if your yeast is still valid. When bubbles form, you know that the yeast is fresh and that the dough will rise!

What to fill the pide with:

Here, I opted for a cheese version which is so easy. You just mix together your cheese of choice with an egg to bind the cheese.

I opted for a blend of mozzarella and kashkaval cheese and feta cheese. I also used some fresh parsley for seasoning, and just a sprinkle of black pepper.

Delicious blend, because the mozzarella and kashkaval are both mild and melty and stretchy, and the feta is tangy and creamy so it’s a beautiful contrast.

There are many versions out there for a minced meat pide, if that interests you. I would love to do a version of these with egg. Maybe sojuk and egg!

Vegan Turkish Pide:

Since the dough itself is vegan, with no egg or milk in sight (intentional from my part!), it’ll be very easy to do some vegan variations.

You can fill these with spinach, with vegan cheese, with eggplant, or red pepper dip (muhamarra). The possibilities are endless!

How to make the pide dough:

Mix together the dough ingredients (first, by mixing the sugar, salt and yeast together, and adding the lukewarm water, then by adding the oil and the flour.

The best part is that it’s a very easy to mix dough, and you don’t need a stand mixer or anything of that type. I mixed everything together with a spatula, and at the very end used my hands to just knead together any flour patches until the dough was cohesive. Less than 30 seconds of kneading!

The dough should rise in a warm place for an hour until about doubled. Some suggestions would be to turn on the oven for a couple minutes, turn it off, and have the dough rise in the turned off but slightly warm oven.

Another good place to have dough rise is the laundry room or on top of a washing machine, or even on top of your refrigerator.

Assembling the pide:

After the dough has risen, divide it into 8 equal sized balls. Roll each ball out into an oval shape, then pinch the ends together to make that oblong kayak like shape.

Once all the dough has been shaped, you can fill it with your filling of choice. I like to roll the edges of the dough back over the filling a little (you can see this demonstrated in the video under the nutritional facts).

How to bake turkish pide:

Traditionally, these are baked in a wood or clay oven, but they bake up beautifully in a regular oven. Just make sure the oven has heated up to temperature before placing the pides inside. I like to brush the edges of the pastry with an egg wash for a golden color, but this is completely optional.

Bake until edges turn golden, the cheese is melty and bubbling. This will take around 20-25 minutes at 200 C (390F). Enjoy warm, preferably with a cup of tea!

Storing leftover pide:

Pide will keep well in the fridge for 2-3 days tightly covered, and they freeze beautifully for 2-3 months. You can thaw out individual ones for a light meal or snack.

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