25gfresh yeast, or 6 g instant (fast action) dried yeast
350gwater, cold or at room temperature
10gsalt
1Tbspextra virgin olive oil
Filling
4mediumtomato, soft core removed, chopped into small cubes
400gbeef, tender cut, cut into small cubes
1handfulTurkish green peppers, or 1 green bell pepper, cut into small cubes
2-3Tbspbutter, soft or melted
pul biber (Aleppo pepper), to serve
salt and pepper
How I make it
Mix 350 g of the flour with the sugar, yeast and water. Cover and leave until bubbling and doubled in size, around 30-45 minutes.
Add the remaining (200 g) flour along with the salt and extra virgin olive oil. Knead until you've got a dough which is soft and smooth and you can stretch the dough until it's transparent without it breaking. I use a kitchen machine with a dough hook running at medium speed, in which case it takes 10-15 minutes. Make sure the dough doesn't get too warm during this process – if it gets as warm as the inside of your wrist, take a break and place the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes before continuing. Once ready, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size, 1-2 hours. At this point you may also leave it in the fridge for up to 48 hours.
Preheat your oven to its highest heat setting. If you have one, place a pizza stone or baking stone in the oven to heat up with it.
Split the dough into 6 equally sized pieces and shape into rounds. Cover with a moist cloth and let the dough rest for 20-30 minutes.
Add a little salt to the chopped tomato and set aside. Add plenty of salt and pepper to the meat and set aside.
Flour your kitchen counter well. Using a rolling pin in the same direction back and forth, roll out one of the dough rounds into an oval. Turn the dough regularly in the process and add more flour as required to make sure it doesn't stick to the kitchen counter.
Transfer the pide to a baking parchment. Add tomatoes, meat and peppers, leaving approx 2 cm along the edges. Add a little more salt, then fold the sides in slightly and pinch the ends together, so the pide is half closed. Repeat with the remaining dough. Depending on how large you make them, you can usually bake two pides at the same time.
Making sure your baking or pizza stone is properly preheated, transfer the pides to the oven and bake until golden. This can take anything from 5 to 15 minutes or more, depending on how hot your oven is and whether you are using a baking or pizza stone.
As soon as the pides are out of the oven, brush the edges well with butter. Slice and serve immediately, with a good sprinkle of pul biber on top, then repeat with the remaining pide.
Tips & notes
I strongly advise always using weight measurements in baking. Volume measures are simply too inaccurate, often leading to disappointing results. Most kitchen scales, even cheap ones, usually have the option to display grams as well as ounces. I therefore don’t provide US volume measures for baking recipes.
Did you make this recipe?I'd love it if you'd be kind enough to leave a rating and a short comment.