Pide

Pide

In Turkish: Pide, pronounced “PEE-deh”. The long boat-shaped bake with folded-in edges is one of the most recognizable images of Turkish cuisine. In Hebrew it is written “פידה”. Don’t confuse it with Arab pita: pide does not puff up into a pocket but stays flat, made from a richer dough that is baked with the filling on top.

Pide is considered the thicker, more filling sister of lahmacun. While lahmacun is paper-thin and eaten rolled up, pide is cut into strips with a knife and eaten with a fork. It comes with a handful of standard fillings, and each one changes the calorie profile completely.

Prep time: 30 minutes · Rising time: 1 hour · Baking time: 15 minutes · Yield: 4 pides (8 servings) · Difficulty: medium

Two completely different breads with the same name

In Turkey the word pide describes two separate things, and this is a common source of confusion. The first is the pide on this page — a long boat-shaped bake with a filling, sold at a pideci all year round. The second is Ramazan pidesi: a round, flat loaf, rich and soft, decorated with a diamond pattern and sprinkled with sesame and nigella seeds, which is baked only during the month of Ramadan and sold in long lines ahead of sunset. It has no filling at all and is meant to be eaten fresh with cheese, olives and soup.

Nutritionally the difference between the two is significant: Ramazan pidesi is bread, about 260 calories per generous slice, while filled pide is a full meal of about 500 calories per half. The shared name comes from the dough, not the dish.

The three classic fillings

Ingredients (for 4 pides — 8 servings)

For the dough:

• 500 grams bread flour
• 300 ml lukewarm milk (the milk is what gives pide dough its softness)
• 10 grams dry yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1.5 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 egg (part of it set aside for brushing the edges)

For the meat filling (kıymalı):

• 400 grams ground meat (lamb or beef, 15% fat)
• 1 finely chopped onion, 2 cloves garlic
• 1 red pepper and 1 tomato, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon pepper paste — or 1 tablespoon tomato paste and half a teaspoon sweet paprika — and a handful of parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1/2 teaspoon pul biber or the substitute below, salt and black pepper

For the cheese filling (kaşarlı):

• 300 grams grated kashkaval cheese or mozzarella + 100 grams crumbled Bulgarian cheese or feta
• 4 eggs (one per pide, cracked on top at the end of baking)

Choosing ingredients and substitutes

Grated kashkaval or mozzarella stands in for Turkish kaşar cheese; alongside the 300 grams, use 100 grams of Bulgarian cheese or feta, not soft spreadable white cheese. In the meat filling, swap the tablespoon of pepper paste for a tablespoon of tomato paste and half a teaspoon of sweet paprika. Instead of half a teaspoon of pul biber, use a quarter teaspoon of paprika and a pinch of chili. Regular white flour works instead of bread flour; add the milk gradually.

Method

1. Knead a soft dough. Mix the yeast into a little of the lukewarm milk with the sugar and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Add the flour, salt, oil and egg, then the rest of the milk gradually, and knead for 10 minutes. The dough should come out soft and slightly sticky. Let it rise for an hour, then divide it into 4 equal balls (about 220 grams each) and let them rest, covered, for 10 minutes.
2. Make the filling. For the meat version: mix all the filling ingredients in a bowl — no precooking, the meat cooks in the oven. If the mixture is watery, drain it.
3. Heat the oven to 250 degrees Celsius (480°F) with a baking stone or an upside-down baking sheet inside, for at least 40 minutes.
4. Shape the boat. Roll each ball of dough into an oval about half a centimeter thick, spread the filling in the center, and fold both long sides inward to form a wall. Twist the two ends and press them firmly together — this is what gives the boat shape.
5. Brush with egg on the folded edges for a golden color.
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the walls brown. For the cheese version — crack an egg into the center 4 minutes before the end, so the yolk stays runny.
7. Brush with butter on the edges straight out of the oven (traditional; adds about 30 calories per serving), cut into strips and serve hot.

Nutrition facts and calorie estimate

The recommended serving is half a pide, about 200 grams.

A whole pide is a meal for two, not one — about 940 calories. The kashkaval version is the densest of all (about 540 calories per half) because the cheese adds saturated fat and sodium; see more on the cheese page.

Pide’s strong point is protein — about 18 grams per half, close to a small serving of meat. Its weak points are the white flour and the amount of sodium, which comes both from the salt in the dough and from the cheese or pastes. A serving like this works as the main meal of the day, not as a side to another meal.

Variations and tips

• A more balanced version: replace a third of the flour with whole wheat flour and serve with a big salad of tomatoes and cucumber — the fiber balances out the glycemic load.
• Vegetarian version: a filling of spinach with Bulgarian cheese (ıspanaklı pide) — about 100 calories less per serving than the meat version.
• The dough: milk instead of water is the difference between pide and pizza. It softens the crumb and makes it brown faster.
• Freezing: baked pides can be frozen and reheated for 8 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius (390°F).

Summary

Pide is a bake that is a full meal: about 470 calories and about 18 grams of protein per half, with white flour and high sodium as the price. Serve it with cacik or a shepherd’s salad, and for anyone looking for the same flavors with a lower calorie profile, lahmacun is the choice. More recipes in Turkish cuisine.