I can’t tell how I was surprised by these mini balls when I first tried the recipe. I had tried several pogaca recipes before this one, but this one was the best ever. The ones I tried before were not as soft as this one. These are so fluffy and tempting that you can even get up in the middle of the night to have one. It is always a great pleasure to see the very delighted face of people when they have the first bite. It is also a wonderful feeling to be sure that they will ask for the second or the third even for the forth. One day, I put some of these to my lunch box and shared them with some colleagues. They ate the pogacas with big eyes, which means they can’t believe how these simple looking balls can be that yummy. And the best thing about these pogacas is that they don’t get stale easily. You will see that they are still so soft even after a week, so I generally make these on Sunday as a preparation for weekdays. I never leave for work without having breakfast and I get up easier knowing that my breakfast is already ready on the table. A cup of milk always goes very well with these magical balls.
Pogaca is a traditional savory pastry in Turkey just like simit and acma. All pastry shops here have these three as their main products. And people stop by these shops on the way to their work early in the morning to buy some of these. Students can find these even at school canteens, so if they can’t have breakfast as soon as they wake up at home, they have simit, acma or pogaca at school with a cup of tea. There are a few versions of pogaca with different fillings like feta cheese, kasar cheese (yellow cheese), potato or mince. It is even possible to find it with no filling. They may be big or small in size in pastry shops, but I prefer making them small as they look more cute in this way.
Now you may be wondering how these pogacas get that soft. The secret is hidden in its dough mixture. This recipe, from a Turkish food magazine called Lezzet suggests using mineral water instead of regular water. It is not known by most people in Turkey that mineral water and soda water are not the same. Mineral water comes from a natural spring whereas soda water is produced in laboratories. Soda water is carbonated, which makes it an artificial drink while mineral water naturally has carbon dioxide in it with lots of minerals. For more information about mineral water, you can visit here. As it is scientifically proven that mineral water is healthy, we can drink or use it in our kitchen without worrying.
Yumuşacık Poğaça
Ingredients
For its dough:
- 4 cups flour
- ¼ cup warm milk
- 1 tbsp dry instant yeast
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- ¾ cup mineral water
For its filling:
- Half bunch of parsley
- 1 ½ cup feta cheese
For coating their top:
- 1 egg yolk
- Poppy seeds
Mix sugar and yeast with milk. Combine all the dough ingredients including this milk mixture and mix them well. You can add a little more flour or mineral water if either of them is not enough. You should have a pliable and nonsticky dough. Cover it with a moist cloth and let it rest for 45 min.
Chop the parsley and mix it with cheese.
Take a small piece from the dough and flatten it with your hands. You can do this on the counter. Put a tsp of cheese mixture on it and close it up folding the edges upwards like a bundle. Do the same for the rest of the dough. Place a parchment paper in a baking tray and place the pogacas on it. The folded side of pogacas should be at the bottom to have a ball shape.
Preheat the oven at 180C.
Beat the egg yolk well and coat all the pogacas with it using a brush. And sprinkle poppy seeds on each pogaca. Bake them about 30 minutes until they get golden.
I love them when they are still warm, so after taking them out from oven, I throw a few of them into my mouth.
Note: These ingredients make about 40 pogacas as I make them so small that you can eat them in just two bites. You can make them bigger if you like or you can use the half of these ingredients if you want fewer.
56 Comments on "Fluffy Pogaca"
Well they certainly do look yummy especially with the filling inside. I’d probably have the same reaction as your colleagues.
What a delicious breakfast these would make. And the size is just perfect – a bite here, then a bite there! Although I haven’t made many breads, I’m very intrigued by the idea that mineral water may be the key to keeping these pogaca fresh and soft for a while. I’ll have to try!
Those savory pastries look so scrumptious! I love the feta & parsley filling!
I’ll definitely try to make them myself. I’m currently trying to make traditional Estonian black bread and I also use mineral water instead of ordinary water. But I must say that it was very difficult to find a mineral water here in Istanbul I found Kinik Bursa at the end.
Jenn- Hubby also loves it and often suggests to make these pogacas.These definitely make great snacks.
Tangled- We love them as breakfast and as snack. And yes, I’m so happy to dicover using mineral water in this recipe. Now I’m planning to trying it in other pastry or bread recipes.
Natasha- Cheese&parsley mixture is my favorite filling for these pogacas, but potato filling is also great.
Birgit- It’s so interesting that you coudn’t find mineral water here. All supermarkets have various brands of mineral water including Kınık, Türk Kızılayı, Beypazarı, Sarıkız.
Hi, I have the same problem. The most available mineral water is so poor in minerals that it is almost like distilled water and the mineral waters are sold in small bottles for the price of for example an 1.5L Erili.
Yumm … I believe you! This is the most addictive pogaca!
That filling sounds delicious!!!
Wow, Zerrin, another wonderful bread you’ve introduced me too. I cannot wait to give it a try. Thanks so much for sharing. Looks like the perfect bread that needs to be sampled soon!
I could eat these everyday and not tire of them! Wonderful recipe and explanations! I wish I was aware of their existence last time I was in Istanbul!
Poğaçalarınız mükemmel görünüyor. Ama ben mayalı hamurla poğaça yapmayı bir türlü beceremedim. İlk yaptığımda çok güzel oluyorlar ama sonrasında çok sertleşiyorlar. Bir de sizin tarifle deneyeyim. Sizin ki gibi başarılı olur umarım. sevgiler…
Hello Zerrin,
these filled bread balls look so lovely & appetizing!!
MMMMMM,…lovely to eat with warm soup!!
I just gave you an AWARD!!! Yeah!! Come over @ my latest post & pick it up!! Congrats!!
J’aime beaucoup la cuisine turque et j’ai déjà fait les pogacas.
Les tiens sont magnifiques.
Je reviendrai visiter ton blog.
A bientôt.
They look lovely….I wonder what would happen if we filled them with orange zest and chocolate….hmmmmmm
Looks very delicious…and so familiar, it looks exactly like Bulgarian pita.
I am not sure, because of our join history who found it first, but it is really typical for our cuisine too.
Изглежда прекрасно!Поздрави!
These look delicious – I am planning on making them this weekend! Just out of curiosity did you use feta cheese like we have in the United States, or did you use Turkish beyaz peynir? Cok tesekkur ederim!
Thank you for a delicious recipes
I made this pogace yesterday and my kids and all the family loved it.
I have some pictures in my blog.
Thank you very much
I will have to be making these soon. Love the way it looks soooo airy.
Oh..look at the filling makes me drool..
Merheba zerrin
thanks a lot for sharing your recipe
delicious pogace I’ll make soon
Kisses
These little savory pastries look delicious, Zerrin! I love that cheesy filling and their golden tops are gorgeous. I’ve got to try this!
I can guarantee that I would also be eating these pogacas with “big eyes” – they look and sound excellent
Zerrin, these pogacas look so soft and delightful. Thanks for sharing the secret for the softness of the pogacas! Certainly, I’ll give pogacas a try with mineral water.
These look great, can’t wait to try them!!!!
Could someone clarify whether the mineral water is still or carbonated (fizzy)? Thanks
Kim- I use the mineral water as it is in bottle, so it’s fizzy when I pour it in the dough mixture.
What is it about bread stuffed with yummy goodness that makes me so happy? Maybe it’s the fact that every bite tastes a little different.
I also believe that poppy seeds take any recipe up about five notches. Look forward to trying these one day.
I had to come and post a comment. I made these and they were great!! I feel so professional. Thanks
These look really nice, and not too hard to make. Even I may be able to make them without destroying the kitchen.
Hi! I just wanted to let you know I tried your recipe and LOVED it! I posted your recipe on my blog, if you want to check it out. Thanks so much!
Hey there again. I got my first Foodbuzz publish with your Pogaca recipe, I am so excited. Thanks again!
Hi, Can these be made 5 hrs in advance.
Ora- I haven’t waited the dough that long, but if you keep it in refrigerator after the dough rises, I think it’s ok. There will be no problem. You can start to make pogacas then.
Thanks, I haven’t seen a recipe like this before… French students will love it, I’ll share it on our Facebook page
Bugga! (as we say in the Antipodes) I have drooled on my keyboard…again. Your site is always inspirational and I have made things from her about 6 or 8 times. Today I had to write. made these yesterday. People over last night. They were fantastic. Just seeing them again has made my saliva glands spasm. Thank you so much.
Thanks so much for the recipe, I made them the other day, Maybe you stop by blog to see how they turned out.
once again, many thanks
My family just love this kind of food. Thank you for sharing. Will try to bake some as soon as possible ^_^
These are awesome, they are in the oven right now and I have to say I am a bit excited because they look just like the pic.
Those pastries do look very fluffy and delicious! I wonder if you knead them to develop glutten like bread? or just mix till combine and leave to rise.
No, you don’t need to knead it. Just combine them well.You will love it!
These do look delish! We love turkish food, and one of my resolutions this year is to bake bread more often so this is going on my baking list! Thanks.
These pogacas make perfect snack too! You will love them!
I’m very intrigued by these tasty looking balls and will be trying them very soon, thanks for sharing and I’ll pop back with my comments once I’ve tried trhem, Debs.
Hope you don’t mind a little criticism but having to enter a captcha code is damned annoying. How you achieve so many comments with this enabled amazes me!!!!!!!
Debs, would love to hear the result when you try. As for the captcha code, it might be annoying, but it’s absolutely necessary. Otherwise I have to deal with millions of spam comments. Sorry for making it difficult to write a comment, but isn’t it better for me to spend time on writing new post or replying your comments rather than checking and deleting spams?
Yum! I love these.
Mmm. My Aunt used to make us these after school when I was a kid. Yours are very close to what she made. Thanks for the recipe! PS totally agree you need the captcha code.
I made these today and they were delicious! I have been craving poğaça for months– thanks for the great and easy recipe!
Hey Zerrin, your pictures looked hard to resist so I tried the pogaca recipe out today. They turned out super yummy (although a little hard on the outside). I used soda instead of mineral water and got a little adventurous with the filling (using my husband’s favourite, hazelnut chocolate for one batch). Definitely trying out more of your bread recipes. Keep them coming!
I love Poğaça, it is so similar to our Bosnian Pogača! Love your filling! A perfect snack! Yum!
Have a great day!
Tanja
I guess we have some common foods in our cultures. Glad to hear that you love it!
Another great recipe! I used seltzer, which was simply carbonated water. Seemed to work fine. I don’t understand the difference it would make vs. regular water. Doesn’t yeast make carbon dioxide? Well, anyway, they were very nice. I parbaked some and will finish baking them in a day or two, and I expect they will be fine. I also will try freezing them sometime. I read about the person wanting to know if the dough could store in the fridge, and I don’t know why it couldn’t. She should experiment and share her results. What other things can these little balls be filled with? The feta and cheese was great, but I was a little stingy with the filling….thinking I’d run out and I ended up with a lot left over! Next time they’ll be filled out more! I also used black nigella seeds because I had no poppy seeds. The dough was great. I didn’t know which flour was better to use, so I used bread flour, and I found that I needed to add a bit more water, but the dough was wonderfully easy to work with. I think the other flour might make even lighter and fluffier pogacas.
Trackbacks for this post