Turkish Pide The Secret To Making The Perfect Turkish Bread Recipes

TURKISH PIDE - THE "SECRET" TO MAKING THE PERFECT TURKISH BREAD

Steps:

• Combine flour, yeast, sugar and salt then add the oil and warm water.
• Use your hands to combine the dough and kneed the mixture to for five minutes to activate the gluten.
• When you have a soft shine dough cover the bowl with a tea towel and place the bowl in a warm spot. A good place is near a sunlit window.
• After an hour the dough should be ready for use. Check that it has increased in size. If not place it in a warmer environment and leave it a little longer.
• Add the mince meat, onion and garlic to a frying pan, I don't use oil because I find there is enough in the meat.
• Fry off these ingredients. The mixture will look quite wet for a while but as you continue to fry the it will eventually be cooked off.
• When the moisture starts to reduce add the diced capsicum and spices.
• continue to cook the beef filling for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
• When there is very little moisture left remove the pan from the heat and allow it to cool slightly.
• Add half of the chopped parsley to the pan.
• Preheat oven at 180C.
• Prepare two large baking sheets with baking paper.
• Dust the bench top with a little flour.
• Divide the dough into about 8 equal balls.
• Roll each of the balls out into a thin oval shape.
• Place each of the 8 dough basis on the baking tray.
• Add the beef filling to the dough leaving a 1 1/2 cm boarder around the outside.
• Fold the border over the filling and pinch the top and bottom ends together.
• Repeat the same steps until all the dough has the Pide filling.
• Brush each pide with the olive oil.
• Bake the Pide for about 15 - 20mins at 180C or until golden.

TURKISH PIDE DOUGH (BREAD)

Steps:

• Dissolve the yeast and sugar in 125 ml of the warm water and set aside in a warm place for about 10 minutes until frothy. Use your fingers to work 90g of the flour into the yeast to make a sloppy paste. Sprinkle lightly with a little more flour, then cover with a tea towel and set aside in a warm place for 30 minutes to form a 'sponge'.
• Put the remaining flour and the salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the sponge, oil and remaining water. Use your fingers to work it to a soft, sloppy dough. Don't panic: it is meant to be very sticky!
• Transfer to an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook and knead on a low speed for 10-15 minutes until very smooth and springy. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, then cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rest at room temperature for 1 hour or until doubled in size. (From this point you can proceed to bake the pide bread or filled pide boats. You can also refrigerate the dough until you are ready to use it. It will keep for around 24 hours, but take it out of the refrigerator a good 3 hours before you want to use it, to give it time to return to room temperature slowly.).
• When ready to bake the bread, preheat the oven to its highest setting with two pizza stones or oiled baking sheets in it. Divide the dough in two, then form into rounds and leave, covered, to rest for 30 minutes. Mix the egg and milk to make an egg wash. Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Use the heels of your hands to press and flatten each piece of dough out to a 20 cm oval.
• Brush the surface liberally with the egg wash. Dip your fingertips into the egg wash and mark rows of deep indentations across and down the length of the dough, leaving a narrow border. Now comes the tricky bit. Lightly flour the hot pizza stones or trays. Lift on the pides, stretching them gently and evenly. Sprinkle with nigella or sesame seeds and bake for 8-10 minutes until crisp and golden brown.