Turkish Pogaca Recipe

Looking for a savory snack that you can give your kids after school? Try this cotton soft homemade Turkish pogaca recipe! Stuff these with cheese, olives or potatoes. All family members will be hooked with the smell when these are in oven. 

We have several savory pastries in Turkish cuisine. We love them with our afternoon tea or as a snack after school/work. If you love them too, check out our Turkish pepper bread, simit recipe and gozleme too.

What is Turkish Pogaca?

Pogaca is a traditional savory pastry in Turkey and it is as popular as borek. You can find pogaca with different fillings such as feta cheese, kasar cheese, potatoes or olives. It is even possible to find it with no filling. Every home cook has their own style of pogaca recipe. They might be big or small in size in pastry shops, but I prefer making them small as they look cuter this way.

All pastry shops or bakeries here have these as their main products. People stop by these shops on the way to their work early in the morning because pogaca and simit are the best breakfast when you are in a hurry.

Students can find these even at school canteens, so if they can’t have breakfast at home, they have simit or pogaca with a cup of tea as a quick breakfast right before the class.

If you are at home, preparing a big Turkish style breakfast, pair this fluffy mini buns with some more Turkish foods like acuka spread, strawberry jam and preserved green olives.

Expert Tips

The very first thing to know when making these super soft buns is that everything should be at room temperature. If the ingredients are cold, your buns won't get as soft as desired.

Also, we need two ingredients so that the buns can keep soft for up to a week: Yeast and mineral water. These two really help the fluffiness. On the other hand, don't worry if you can't find mineral water. Use plain yogurt or milk instead. It will help as well.

Finally, you don't need a machine for this recipe. You can make it using your hands. It requires just a little bit kneading until the dough holds together.

How to make

Mix sugar and yeast with milk. Combine all the dough ingredients including this milk mixture and mix them well. You can add a little extra flour or mineral water if either of them is not enough. You should have a pliable and non-sticky dough. Cover it with a moist cloth and let it rest for 45 min. Meanwhile you can prepare the filling. Chop parsley and combine it with feta cheese.

Take a small piece from the dough and flatten it with your hands. You can do this on the counter. Put a teaspoon of crumbled feta 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 so that they keep their shape when baking.

Beat one egg yolk well and coat all the top of the pogacas with it using a brush. Sprinkle poppy seeds, sesame seeds or nigella seeds on each pogaca. Bake them about 30 minutes or until they get golden.

They smell so tempting when they are still warm that I can't wait until they are cool and always throw a few of them into my mouth. Oh my! That softness!

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