Cookbook:Gözleme (Turkish Flatbread)

Cookbook | Ingredients | Recipes | Cuisine of Turkey

Gözleme (Turkish Flatbread)
Category	Turkish recipes
Servings	10
Time	40-60 minutes

Gözleme is a savoury traditional Turkish flatbread dish, made of hand-rolled dough that is lightly brushed with butter and eggs, filled with various toppings, sealed, and cooked over a griddle. The name derives from the Turkish word "göz", meaning "compartment", in reference to the pocket of dough in which the various toppings are sealed and cooked. Traditionally, this is done over a saç griddle.

Fillings for gözleme are numerous and vary by region and personal preference, and include a variety of meats (minced beef, chopped lamb, fresh or smoked seafood, sucuk, pastirma), vegetables (spinach, zucchini, eggplant, leek, chard, various peppers, onion, scallion, shallot, garlic), mushrooms (porcino, chanterelle, truffle), tubers (potatoes, yams, cassava, radish), cheeses (feta, Turkish white cheese, lavaş, kaşar, kaşkaval), as well as eggs, and seasonal herbs and spices.

A modern variation is honey and banana served hot with a slice of lemon.

Ingredients

Serves 10:

• 5¼ cups (600 grams) of all-purpose flour
• 2½ teaspoons (15 grams) of salt
• 2 teaspoons (7 grams) of dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon (4 grams) of sugar
• 1¼ (300 grams) of water
• ½ cup (100 grams) of oil
• ⅓ cup (65 grams) of butter

Procedure

Preparing gözleme; Istanbul, Turkey.

Dough

1. Sift flour in a large bowl, reserving one cup of flour.
2. Sprinkle with salt and mix. Make a hole in the centre.
3. Combine yeast and sugar in a small bowl.
4. Add ¼ of a cup of warm water, stir. Pour into hole in the centre of the flour.
5. Cover yeast with some flour. Let stand for 10 minutes to rise.
6. Stir in remaining water, blending thoroughly. Knead for 5 minutes to form a medium soft dough.
7. Cover and let rise in a warm place for one hour or until double in bulk.

Shaping

1. Place dough on lightly floured board. Divide into 10 portions with floured hands.
2. Shape into balls; roll each ball out with rolling pin into rectangles 5 mm thick. Brush with oil.
3. Fold opposite edges over, bringing edges together in centre.
4. Spread filling over half of pastry. Then fold other half over filling shaping into an oblong.
5. Seal edges well, pressing slightly.

Cooking

1. Heat griddle or a cast iron skillet.
2. Grease with butter and place gözleme on griddle.
3. Brown on both sides. Serve hot with ayran.