A country of bread
Bread is at the centre of every Turkish meal, and Turkey has dozens of breads and filled pastries. Many will feel familiar to Pakistani cooks: soft yeasted doughs like naan, unleavened sheets cooked on a griddle like roti and paratha, and thin pastry wrapped around fillings like samosa and spring rolls.
Four favourites
Lahmacun is a paper-thin round of dough spread with a raw mince paste and baked in minutes, then rolled up with parsley, onion and lemon. Kıymalı pide is a soft, boat-shaped bread filled with spiced mince, sometimes with an egg in the middle. Gözleme is the village griddle bread, thin dough folded around spinach and cheese or potato, cooked on a tawa with butter, almost a Turkish stuffed paratha. Sigara böreği are crisp, thin rolls of pastry around white cheese, the favourite tea-time snack.
Without a Turkish oven
Turkish bakeries use very hot wood-fired ovens. At home:
- Heat your oven as high as it goes, with a tray or stone inside, for lahmacun and pide.
- A heavy tawa with a lid works surprisingly well for lahmacun if you have no oven.
- Gözleme needs only a tawa, exactly like paratha.
Shortcuts from the Pakistani pantry
Frozen samosa and spring-roll patti make excellent börek. Paneer or feta replaces Turkish white cheese. Thin ready-made wraps can stand in for lahmacun dough on a busy night. And every one of these breads goes perfectly with a cold glass of ayran.
More to try
Simit, the sesame bread ring sold on every Istanbul street corner, and poğaça, soft cheese-filled breakfast buns, are both easy home bakes.
For the most prized börek of all, try su böreği, layered “water börek” with cheese.