Turkish Pide – Boat-Shaped Flatbread with Minced Lamb

About This Recipe

Pide is Turkey's iconic boat-shaped flatbread, baked in wood-fired stone ovens in dedicated pide restaurants called 'pideci.' The dough is chewy and slightly charred, formed into an elongated oval and folded at the ends to create a boat that contains the filling as it bakes. The most popular filling is kıymalı pide — spiced minced meat with peppers and tomatoes — often finished with an egg cracked on top in the last minutes of baking. The dough is enriched slightly with egg and yogurt, giving it a tender interior with a blistered, slightly crispy base. The filling is kept moist with fresh tomatoes and peppers, which release their juices into the lamb during baking. A perfectly made pide has a crispy bottom, a soft, airy edge, and a juicy, flavourful filling that stays in place rather than spilling out. Pide is best eaten immediately from the oven, cut into sections with scissors and served with fresh salad, pickled chillies, and ayran. It makes a spectacular centrepiece for a dinner party and is far simpler to make at home than it looks.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 400 gstrong bread flour
• 7 ginstant yeast
• 1 tspsugar
• 1 tspsalt
• 1egg
• 2 tbspyogurt
• 200 mlwarm water
• 300 gminced lamb or beef
• 1onion(finely diced)
• 2green peppers(finely diced)
• 2tomatoes(finely diced)
• 2 tbsptomato paste
• 1 tsppaprika
• 4eggs(for topping)

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the dough

   Combine flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Mix in egg, yogurt and warm water to form a soft dough. Knead 10 minutes. Cover and rise 45 minutes until doubled.

2. 2

   Prepare the filling

   Mix together mince, onion, peppers, tomatoes, tomato paste, paprika, salt and pepper. Don't cook it — it cooks in the oven.

3. 3

   Shape the pide

   Divide dough into 4. On a floured surface, roll each piece into an oval about 30cm long and 15cm wide. Transfer to oiled baking trays.

   Keep the dough thin — 5mm. It puffs considerably in the oven.

4. 4

   Fill and fold

   Spread filling along the centre, leaving a 2cm border. Fold the long edges up and over the filling slightly, pinching the ends together to form a boat shape.

5. 5

   Bake

   Bake at 230°C for 12 minutes. Remove, crack an egg onto each pide, return to oven for 3–4 minutes until egg white is just set.

Variations

• •

  Kaşarlı pide: replace meat with Turkish yellow cheese (kaşar) for a rich vegetarian version.

• •

  Ispanaklı pide: spinach, egg and white cheese filling.

Storage

Best eaten immediately. Reheat leftovers in a hot oven at 200°C for 5 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions