Vegan Turkish Pide Recipe
Turkish pide, a traditional flatbread which normally is served with ground meat or cheese filling, is one of the most popular fast foods in Turkey. In many regions locals would prepare the filling and take it to their local baker, weekly, to be baked into a delicious family brunch. Entire families will unite over their love of pide, secret recipes and favorite fillings.
For our family in Turkey who has met in the same pide shop every Sunday for the past 30 years, the lockdowns meant we had to quickly come up with an easy recipe suitable for any home oven. We now meet virtually every Sunday to eat our home-baked pides. This way, those of us who live abroad can also be part of this tradition while little nieces and nephews are loving the experience of creating their pides.
Similar to Italy’s relationship with pizza, there are varying takes on how thick the dough should be or what filling is used. Below you will find a simple pide recipe with a thin crust and vegan filling.
Total Time: 2 h I Prep: 1h 30 m I Cook: 30 m I Difficulty: Medium
Makes 6-8 pides
Ingredients for the dough:
- 500gr plain flour
- 300ml lukewarm water
- 20gr dry yeast
- 5gr salt
- 10gr brown sugar (or maple syrup)
Here is our dough recipe
Ingredients for vegan lahmacun
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2-3 tbsp vegan lentil mince
- 2 medium tomatoes finely chopped
- 1 Turkish hot chili peppers cut into thin slices
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- Fresh, chopped parsley
*Mix all the ingredients in a bowl for a paste-like consistency. Season with salt, pepper and cumin.
Ingredients for potato and leek filling
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large waxy potato (washed and dried)
- 1 leek sliced thinly
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- salt & pepper to taste
*Slice your potatoes using a mandolin. Heat olive oil in a wide heavy pan and stir in the leeks. Once the leek is cooked add the potatoes and spices. Mix well.
Ingredients for courgette and fennel filling
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large courgette (sliced lengthways with a mandolin)
- half a bulb of fennel (thinly sliced)
- 3-4 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
- 3-4 black olives, pitted and chopped
- salt & pepper to taste
*Heat olive oil in a wide heavy pan and stir in the fennels. Once the fennel is cooked add the courgette and other ingredients mix well.
Method
- Place all the flour, dry yeast, salt and sugar in a deep bowl and start adding water bit by bit.
- Knead for 3-5 minutes. You should be aiming for a soft but not sticky dough. It should feel like your cheeks. If it is too sticky, add a little more flour or if it is too dry, add a splash of water. Try not to overwork it.
- Place the ball of dough in a large oiled bowl and grease the top of it with oil as well. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let it rise for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size.
- In the meantime, prepare your filling.
- Once the dough is risen, place the dough on a flour-dusted surface and knead the dough for a minute to push the air out. You can use it immediately or wrap in cling film to keep in the fridge until you need it. It’s a good idea to do this step about 10-15 minutes before you want to cook them.
- When you're ready to cook your pides, preheat the oven to 250°C/500°F/gas 9.
- Divide the dough into 6-8 small balls.
- On your lightly floured surface, roll the dough balls into oval shapes with 1/2cm thickness.
- Line a large baking sheet and place your oval pide boats on the tray. Spread the filling, leaving 1 cm on the sides and both ends. You will be folding the sides to act as a border and twist the each end to make it pointy.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the pides are golden brown and crispy on the edges.
- When taken out of the oven, brush the sides with olive oil.
- Cut into slices and serve.
