I have long been a fan of thin, crisp, freshly made pizza. Especially if cooked in a wood fired oven. What I did not realise that a Turkish version called pide is just as delicious. Turkey like other Middle Eastern countries, has beautiful flat bread which are cooked quickly and topped with a small amount of delicious, simple ingredients such as spinach, kasar cheese, onion, walnuts and red pepper or, diced beef, tomato, green pepper and parsley.
Last week I found myself walking hungrily along Shaftesbury Avenue with a friend who said we should try Babaji Pide Salonu, situated on Shaftsbury Avenue, London. A recent creation of Alan Yau who also created Wagamama, Busaba Eathai and Hakkasan. (The last two I have not been to but understand they are good).
Our quick meal was delicious. What could be lovelier than fresh bread, swept from the wood fired oven and delivered to your table but up into easy to eat slices and accompanied by a well flavoured dish of roasted aubergine, red pepper and yogurt and a glass of cool Turkish wine.
On my return home I was inspired to try to make pide and so I sought advice from Babaji website which has a really good section on how to make pide. I have adapted my recipe for the dough from there and added my own simple toppings.
Pide
Makes 5 pide
Ingredients
Pide dough
- 500 g organic plain bread flour flour
- 3 tsp olive oil
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 g dried yeast
- 300 ml water
Toppings
- 400 g spinach, steamed
- 1 romano pepper cut into very thin slices & cooked in oil until soft
- 2 plum tomatoes, diced finely
- 1 tbsp walnuts, broken into small pieces
To serve
- Roughly chopped fresh mint & parsley
Method
Preheat oven to 200 C
Combine flour, olive oil, sugar, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add the water. Using your hands knead the dough together until it is smooth and consistent. Cover with a damp tea towel and allow to rise for approximately 1 hour.
Divide the dough into five equal pieces. Using a thin rolling pin, shape each portion into an oval.
Place ovals onto an oven tray. Distribute the toppings equally among the ovals.
Drizzle with olive oil and bake for approximately 10 minutes or until the pide dough is golden and crisp at the edges.
Scatter with chopped mint and parsley and serve.