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Pide (Turkish Flatbread Pizza)

Ground meat pide and cheese pide with an egg topping in a baking tray.
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5 from 4 reviews

Traditional Turkish style flatbread pizza called pide is always a hit. It is easy to make it at home. The soft and thin crust with a little crispy edges come with a variety of toppings. You will find ground meat filling and cheese filling below. The optional egg topping is highly recommended. Super tasty!

Ingredients

Scale

Pide dough:

  • 3 cups all purpose flour

  • 1 tablespoon instant dry yeast 

  • 1 teaspoon sugar

  • 2 teaspoons salt

  • 1 cup lukewarm water

  • ¼ cup olive oil

  • Extra olive oil to brush the pide edges

Ground meat topping:

  • 400g (0.8 pounds) ground beef (80% lean) or ground lamb

  • 1 large onion, finely chopped

  • 2 tomatoes, finely chopped

  • ¼ cup parsley, finely chopped

  • ¼ cup finely chopped green peppers

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • ½ teaspoon black pepper

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

  • 1 tablespoons lemon juice

Cheese Topping:

  • ½ cup white cheese (feta cheese), crumbled
  • 1 cup grated Turkish kasar cheese or mozzarella or mild cheddar
  • ¼ cup parsley, chopped
  • 1 small egg yolk and half of the egg white for topping

Garnish:

  • Extra parsley
  • Red pepper flakes (pul biber)

Instructions

Dough:

  1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, instant dry yeast, salt, sugar. 

  2. Add in olive oil and lukewarm water. Add in olive oil and warm water and mix well with a hand whisk, fork or spatula. When it is hard to stir, use your hands and knead until you get a smooth and elastic dough. You can wet your fingers occasionally when you find it too sticky. This will take about 6-7 minutes. If you have a stand mixer, you can use it too and make your dough in 3 minutes.

  3. Shape the dough into a ball, oil the inside of the same bowl well and put the dough ball back into the bowl. Cover it with a kitchen towel and keep the bowl in a warm place that is away from air circulation. Let it rise 1 hour or until it doubles. You might need to wait longer if it hasn't doubled after 1 hour.

  4. When it has doubled in size, transfer it onto the counter. Knead it for a few minutes, give it a log shape and cut it into 5 pieces. Shape each into a ball and cover with a kitchen towel for the second rise. Let them sit for 15 minutes. 

Ground Meat Topping:

  1. Mix all the ingredients with your hand until it becomes like a paste. 

Cheese Topping:

  1. In a bowl, combine the cheeses and parsley well.

  2. Put the egg (yolk and half of the white) aside.

Assemble and bake:

  1. Preheat the oven to 465F (240C). 

  2. Line a baking tray with baking paper (2 pides fit on our baking tray).

  3. Roll the dough balls out on the counter. Sprinkle little flour on it when needed. Transfer it on the baking tray.

  4. Spread the topping you prefer on the dough, gently pressing on it with your hand. Leave 2 cm (0.7 inch) space all around to fold the sides in. Then fold the sides in, but don't not cover all the top. And pinch the ends to seal. 

  5. Optional step for longer pides: Grab the pide in your two hands and gently stretch from both sides. Please see the video to see how. Place it back on the baking tray.

  6. Brush the edges with oil and bake for 10-12 minutes. 

  7. For the optional egg topping: To top your meat pide or cheese pide with an egg, remove the pides from the oven after 7 minutes, place eggs (yolk and half of the white) on each pide and bake for another 5-6 minutes or until the eggs set.

Serve: Slice the pides and sprinkle parsley and red pepper flakes on them before serving.

Notes

  1. It's very important to use warm water when making the pide dough. It should be a temperature you feel comfortable when you touch it. Hot water kills the yeast and cold water prevents the yeast from activating. So use lukewarm water.
  2. Don't skip the second rise when preparing the pide dough.
  3. To make no yeast pide dough: Substitute baking powder for yeast, leave sugar out. Combine 3 cups flour, 4 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, ¼ cup olive oil and 3/4 cup lukewarm water. Stir it with your hand or in a stand mixer and then add an extra 1/4 cup water if you can't form the dough. Then wet your fingers a little and continue mixing until everything holds together well.
  4. Don't forget to leave some room around the edges to fold them in. 
  5. Shaping pide: After rolling the dough out, transfer it onto the baking tray and top it with the filling and shape it there.
  6. Stretching the pide to make it longer and thinner is an optional step. It might look hard but you can learn it with some practice (see it in the video).
  7. How many pides you can bake at a time depends on the size of your baking tray. We can bake 2 at a time with our regular oven tray.
  8. Egg topping: Don't use all the egg white, use half of it. It will overflow otherwise. And egg topping is not only for the cheese version. You can top any pide with an egg.
  9. To make it ahead of time; prepare the dough and let it sit for the first rise. Then keep it in the fridge for 1-2 days. When you are ready to make, take it out from the fridge, shape into a log, cut it into pieces, roll each into a ball and let them rise for 2-3 hours, covered with a damp kitchen towel. Then follow the rest of the recipe as written. 
  10. To reheat the pide, you can use the stovetop or oven method. Put it in a pan with a lid and heat it over medium low heat or heat it in a preheated oven for 5 minutes.
  11. Nutrition info is for ground meat pide.

Nutrition

Find it online: https://www.giverecipe.com/pide-stuffed-with-beef/