Kıymalı Pide (Turkish Boat-Shaped Mince Pide)
قیمالی پیدے (کشتی نما ترکی قیمہ روٹی)
Pide is the Turkish bakery's answer to the stuffed naan: a soft yeasted dough shaped into a long boat, its edges folded over a filling and twisted at the ends, then baked until golden. Kıymalı pide, with spiced mince, is the most popular kind, and in Turkey every neighbourhood has a *pideci* with a wood-fired oven. At home a hot oven does the job, and a brush of butter on the crust as it comes out makes it irresistible.
- ⏱ Total: 1 hr 10 min
- Prep: 40 min
- Cook: 30 min
- Medium
- Serves 4
Method
Tap a step when it is done.
Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Add the yogurt, olive oil and enough warm water to make a soft dough. Knead for 6–8 minutes until smooth, cover and leave to rise for 1 hour, until doubled.
For the filling, heat the oil in a and cook the onion for 4 minutes. Add the mince and fry on high heat until browned and dry, about 8 minutes.
Add the green peppers, tomatoes, paste, pul biber and salt and cook for 5 minutes until thick and dry. Stir in the parsley and let it cool.
Heat the oven to 240°C with a tray inside. Divide the dough into 4 and roll each piece into a long oval about 30 × 15 cm.
Spread a quarter of the filling down the middle of each, leaving a 3 cm border. Fold the long edges over the filling and pinch and twist the ends to make a boat.
Bake for 10–12 minutes. If adding egg, crack one into the middle of each pide after 6 minutes and return to the oven until the white is just set.
Brush the crusts with melted butter as soon as they come out, cut into strips and serve hot with ayran and salad.
Kitchen notes
Cook the filling until it's dry. A wet filling makes the base soggy.
A pizza stone or a heavy upturned tray, preheated, gives a crisper base.
Other popular fillings: white cheese with parsley (peynirli), spinach with egg, or small cubes of meat (kuşbaşılı).
From the pideci’s oven
In Turkey, many people still take their pide fillings to the neighbourhood pideci, a bakery with a wood-fired oven, and collect them baked. Each region has its style: long and thin from the Black Sea coast, often with an egg broken into the middle; rounder and more open in central Anatolia.
Dough, filling, shape
The dough is soft, slightly enriched with yogurt and olive oil, and rises once. It’s very similar to a home-made naan dough, so Pakistani cooks will find it easy.
The filling is a quick, dry keema with onion, green pepper, tomato and . It’s cooked first and cooled so it doesn’t soak the dough.
The shape is the fun part: roll the dough into a long oval, spread the filling down the middle, fold the long sides over the edge of the filling, and pinch and twist the ends into points.
Baking
Bake in a very hot oven, ideally on a preheated tray or stone. Brushing with butter straight out of the oven softens the crust and adds shine.
Serving
Cut into strips across the boat and serve with ayran, çoban salatası and pickles. Pide makes a good family dinner or party food, and leftovers reheat well.
Questions people ask
Can I use the same dough for naan?
Yes. It's a soft, enriched dough very close to a home naan dough, so you can use it for plain flatbreads too.
Can I make pide without an oven?
It's harder, but possible: cook it in a large covered pan on low heat for 12–15 minutes, then flip the base onto a hot tawa for 1 minute to crisp.
Can I freeze pide?
Yes. Freeze baked pide without egg, wrapped well, for up to a month. Reheat in a hot oven for 6–8 minutes.
Nutrition (estimate, per serving)
- Calories
- 640
- Protein
- 32 g
- Fat
- 26 g
- Carbs
- 68 g
