Advent Day 2, 2021: THURSDAY “PIDE-DAY,” TURKISH PIDE TWO WAYS

Today, we’re going back into the vault and making one of our favourite comfort meals for dinner tonight, Turkish Pides.

We first made these “Pizza Boats” on our Mediterranean-themed “March BreACK!” in 2014.

This season, I re-published the recipe, with a few tweaks and improvements.

Enjoy!

Print Recipe

Turkish Pide, Two Ways

Makes 4 Individual Pides or 2 Shareable Pides

Ingredients

DOUGH

• 2 tbsp lukewarm water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 c [- 2 tbs] warm milk [or lukewarm water]
• 2 tsp [1 sachet] active dry yeast
• 3 ¼ c flour
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 4+ tbsp olive oil, plus 2-3 more [Sub melted butter, cooled, for the additional 2-3 tbsp if desired]
• 1 egg yolk, mixed with 1 tbs water

Cheese and Sausage Toppings [makes 2 of the 4 individual pides]

• 3-4 c grated Kashkaval or Mozzarella Cheese [we used Mozzarella]
• 36-40 slices Turkish Sujuk Salami or 1 8-in cured Hungarian Csabai sausage Hot or Mild, [we used Csabai], sliced 1/8 to 1/16-in thick

Spinach Onion & Cheese Topping [makes 2 of the 4 individual pides]

• 2-3 c crumbled Kashkaval or Feta Cheese [we used Kashkaval]
• 1 sweet onion, sliced thin
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 4 c fresh spinach, rough chopped
• .5 c flat leaf parsley, rough chopped [optional]
• salt and pepper to taste

GARNISH

• Several slices of lemon for squeezing onto the Pide
• Sprigs of flat-leaf parsley

Instructions

DOUGH

• Combine the sugar and the lukewarm water in a small measuring cup.
• Sprinkle over the yeast, stir gently, and let sit and foam for 8-10 minutes.
• Add the yeast mixture to the lukewarm milk.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour and salt.
• Slowly stir in the milk & yeast mixture until the dough begins to string.
• Slowly stir in olive oil by the tablespoon until the dough begins to form a rough, stretchy ball.
• [Depending on the weather, temperature, behaviour of your yeast, if you need to add additional oil by the tbs. You can also add cooled, melted butter by the tbs. I almost always add 1-2 tbs of a mix of oil and butter.]
• Dust a clean surface with a bit of flour.
• Bring the ball of dough onto that surface and knead for 3-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
• Place a small amount of oil into a bowl.
• Spread the oil around the bowl with a clean napkin or cloth.
• Place the dough ball into the bowl.
• Cover with plastic wrap and set aside an a warm, dark place for about 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

PIDES I

• Heat the oven to 425 F, placing a pizza stone on the lower-middle rack if desired.
• Pat down the dough down and turn it back out onto the floured surface.
• Divide the dough into 4 balls. [2 if making larger pides.]
• Place the balls on a tray and cover loosely with a towel or plastic wrap.
• Let sit and rise for at least 30 minutes while you are preparing the toppings.

SPINACH, ONION, AND CHEESE TOPPING

• Warm a dab of oil on a skillet over medium heat, and add the sliced onion, stirring until brown.
• Add the minced garlic and stir, browning for another minute.
• Add the spinach to the browned onion and garlic, heated gently on the skillet for 1-2 minutes.
• Added the parsley [optional] and heat gently for 1 more minute before removing from the stove.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste. Recall that the Kashkaval cheese is quite salty.

PIDES II

• In a small bowl mix your egg yolk(s) with your water.
• One at a time, on pieces of parchment, roll each ball of dough out into an oval, about 15 by 9 inches [this way, the pides will fit by 2’s on the pizza stone or singly on baking trays].
• Leaving a 1-inch border around all sides, place the filling in the oval to your liking.
• Pull that 1-inch border of dough up around the edges of each pizza boat, crimping the edges as need be.
• Brush those exposed edges of dough with your egg mixture.
• Carefully, place pides in batches [still on the parchment] on the pizza stone or onto individual baking trays.
• If using a pizza stone, after 10 minutes of baking, carefully slip the parchment from underneath the pide and discard.
• Bake for a total of 14 minutes, or until the dough looks golden and the filling cooked.
• Carefully remove the pide from the pizza stone with a a peel or a spatula and cookie sheet, or remove the pide on its pan and cool slightly before slicing.
• Serve with slices of lemon to squeeze over top and a few handfuls of flat-leaf parsley!

FOLLOW THE ADVENT CALENDAR DAILY ON SMELLING SALTS JOURNAL’S HOME PAGE OR SSJ’S 2021 ADVENT EVENTS CALENDAR.

Et Voila! Our 2021 Pide!

I really wasn’t sure were were going to be able to make our Pide on schedule tonight! Remember how I told you about our broken oven, and how we were just going to sit on it for a while and do nothing? Well, things got worse, and we decided to replace it sooner rather than later. We also decided to go back to gas. I say “go back,” because there was already a gas hookup behind the electric range that came with the house which we’d diverted to our barbecue out back. After considering induction, electric, and gas, we decided to go with gas. [This was, in large part, due to the fact that we’d actually shattered and replaced the glass top of our once-again-broken stove. Though, the real kicker was that I wouldn’t be able to use my copper jam pan on an induction range!] And contrary to most pandemic era appliance deliveries, the range was actually in stock and delivered within days! Of course, this meant we had to find someone in a hurry to come out and remove the old strip of quartz behind our slide-in range, as the new models are designed to fit into full sized openings in a countertop. And then, the new range we ordered arrived dented on one side. [Still working on that with the supplier! At least it’s not visible and doesn’t seem to affect the works.] Finally, we had the gas tech come and assess what to do with our diverted hook-up. Of course, he had major emergencies which delayed his visit by almost 54 hours. But his visit was quick! He was able to install a simple splitter instead of a fresh line. And we were on the go by 4pm on Pide Day. So, as it turns out, these Advent 2021 Pides were the first “bake” in our new range! Though it’s no surprise a pot of post-organizing-all-of-this tea was the first stove-top make for our new appliance. I look forward to snowboarding the learning curve.