Turkish Pide – It’s not Pizza, it’s Pide!
Once you’ve tasted Turkish Pide, you may never want pizza again. Discover TWO delicious recipes for one of my favourite Turkish treats. Pide might just change your life!
Turkish Pide is the country's answer to pizza, It's one of my favourite take-out foods and one of my most eaten foods when I visited Turkey. Pide comes in a dizzying array of shapes, sizes, flavours and textures. It's enjoyed all across Turkey, each region offering local specialities - all mouthwateringly delicious! They differ in shape to a pizza, in that they are generally long and thin; the toppings are then placed and the edges of the bread are folded inwards and pinched at the top and bottom to create a boat-like shape. In turkey, the length of some pide verges on ridiculous. Back at home, I am limited by what I can fit on my baking sheet and oven. Sad face.
Which came first, pizza or pide?
As Turkish legend would have us believe, Italian Pizza was created after Sultan Mehmet took control of Sicily in 1480. A local Italian baker saw Turkish Soldiers eating Pide and asked how it was made. He then took off to Napoli and created his own version - the version we know today. However, given that the first tomato didn't arrive arrive in Italy until 1548 - it seems Turkey may have been a little creative with the truth.
Like Pizza, pide is an all-in-one feast, succulent toppings, cheeses and meats and you get to eat the plate! Couldn't be better.
I used to live around the corner to a fantastic Turkish takeaway in Sydney and pretty much every Friday, would order one or two pide for dinner. We'd always order the same thing too, a vegetarian spinach & cheese, adorned with a perfectly just-set egg on top, and a pide scattered with meaty Turkish suçuk (cured beef sausage). It's impossible to say which I like best, so I always make both!
Save time, use pizza dough.
To save time making mine at home, I use a fresh store bought pizza dough. It really cuts down all the fuss and waiting time. Feel free to make your own bread dough by all means. The packet bought doughs are great these days and the results are very authentic. My recipe shows you how to create both the vegetarian cheese & spinach pide and the suçuk versions at home and uses cheeses easily available to all. If you are interested in creating super authentic flavours, use a combo of Turkish Kaşar and Beyaz Peynir cheeses. Mozzarella and feta are a perfect substitute. For the vegetarian version, the jewel in the crown for me must be the egg - I love how it barely sets and becomes a yolky topping, spread across the surface. It's heaven!
If you're looking for something else to cook with pizza dough that isn't a pizza, give my Za'atar Bread with Beef & Shangleesh a try or for more dishes using the flavourful suçuk sausage try my recipes for Turkish Suçuk with Eggs or Turkish Suçuk & Chickpea Soup.
How to make my Turkish Pide (two varieties!)
Video Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 packets fresh pizza dough
- 1 egg (Beaten with 2 tbsp water)
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds
- 2 tbsp nigella seeds
- salt & pepper
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley (chopped)
- 1 lemon (cut into wedges)
For the spinach, cheese & egg topping
- 16 oz packet baby spinach
- 1 cup Mozarella cheese (coarsely grated)
- 1 cup Feta cheese (crumbled)
- 1 egg
Suçuk topping
- 1 cup Mozarella cheese (coarsely grated)
- 1 cup Feta cheese (crumbled)
- 3/4 cup Turkish suçuk sausage (sliced)
- 1 tbsp red onion (thinly sliced)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425°F/220°C
Creating the pide
- Lightly oil a 15"x12" baking sheet.Remove the dough from the packet and toss in a little flour to stop it sticking. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a large wide oval shape. Carefully transfer to the baking sheet.
For the Cheese & Egg topping
- Heat a pan with 2 tbsp water until boiling. Add the spinach and pop on a lid. Leave for 30 seconds until it's wilted. Remove from the heat and then place the spinach onto a clean tea towel. Cool slightly, then wrap the spinach and squeeze to remove as much moisture as you can. Tip the spinach onto a board and chop finely, then cool completely.
- Mix together the spinach with the cheeses and then place onto the pizza oval in a long line down the centre of the bread.Fold each side of the oval inwards a little to create long canoe boat shape. Press together the top and bottom parts of the bread. Most of the cheese should still be exposed.
- Lightly brush the bread surface with the egg and then sprinkle liberally with the sesame and nigella seeds. Sprinkle over a little salt & pepper and then place in the oven to cook for 15 minutes.
- Slide out the oven shelf and CAREFULLY break an egg into the centre of the pide, over the cheese. The sides should prevent it from running out. Return to the oven and cook for a further 5-7 minutes, until the egg is just set.
For the Suçuk Topping
- Mix together the cheeses and then place onto the pizza oval in a long line down the centre of the bread. Arrange the sausage slices over the cheese, then sprinkle over the red onion slices.Fold each side of the oval inwards a little to create long canoe boat shape. Press together the top and bottom parts of the bread. Most of the cheese should still be exposed.
- Lightly brush the bread surface with the egg and then sprinkle liberally with the sesame and nigella seeds. Sprinkle over a little salt & pepper and then place in the oven to cook for 15 minutes.
Serving
- For the spinach, cheese & egg topping, using a fork, break up the egg and spread the yolk over the surface. Cut into thick slices to serve.For the Suçuk topping, cut into thick slicesSprinkle with parsley and serve with lemon wedges on the side to squeeze over.
Notes
Nutrition
Did you make my Turkish Pide – It’s not Pizza, it’s Pide!?
How did you go? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to tag @cookeatworld at Instagram.
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