Few things are more satisfying than freshly baked bread. This Turkish bread, or Pide, recipe is so easy to make and so damn delicious. It’s the perfect bread to make on a weeknight or in a pinch. Even if you’ve never baked a thing in your life before, you can make this!

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“Bread is my favorite meal of the day”

-Frankie

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WTF is Turkish Bread?

Turkish bread or “ekmek”, is an integral part of Türkiye’s culture. Fresh bread us served at almost every meal. There are all sorts of different bread types and methods in Türkiye, all of which value freshness.

Some folks say that after getting kicked out of the garden of eden, Adam, the patron saint of bakers, got his baking skills from the Archangel Gabriel. Talk about a biblical bread!

For this recipe, we’re making a common Turkish bread called Pide. It wouldn’t be uncommon to see Pide served at breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It is a yeasted bread that doesn’t require kneading.

Pide only has a few ingredients. Flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and water are all it takes to make it. Although it’s commonly coated in oil or an egg wash and garnished with black sesame seeds.

If you want to learn more about the different types of Turkish bread, check out this article by tasteatlas.com, it covers the 9 most popular turkish breads.

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TURKISH BREAD

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Turkish Bread Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need for this Turkish bread recipe.

• Flour: We use simple all purpose flour. Alternatively you could use bread flour.

• Sugar: Granulated sugar or caster sugar

• Water: Use warm tap water.

• Yeast: Active dry yeast.

• Salt: Kosher salt to mix in the dough and flakey sea salt to top it.

• Oil or fat: We use olive oil, but you could make an egg wash or use your preferred oil.

• Garnish: Black Sesame seeds are commonly used on Turkish bread. We love a kick, so we add red pepper flakes to the top before we bake it, and freshly chopped parsley once it comes out of the oven.

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How to Make Turkish Bread Video

If you’re more of a visual learning, like myself, check out our video on how to make Turkish bread. It walk you through all the steps. Enjoy!

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How to Make Turkish Bread

Follow these step by step instructions to make this recipe.

Step 1: Mix Ingredients

In a large mixing bowl add the flour, sugar, and salt and use a whisk to combine. Use you hands to create a fist sized hole in the middle of the bowl. Pour the yeast into the hole.

Pour the cup of warm water into the hole on-top of the yeast. Use your hands to combine everything. The dough will be wet and sticky and you’ll need to rotate the dough to soak up the flour at the bottom of the bowl.

Step 3: Prove Dough

Once you’ve formed a fairly cohesive dough ball, try and peel the dough off your fingers and add it to the dough.

Cover the bowl with cling wrap and set aside to prove for an hour. The dough should double in size.

step 4: Shape & Second Prove

Spread a couple handfuls of flour onto a dry counter top. Unwrap the dough and pour it out onto the floured area. Cut the dough in half. Using your hands, shape each piece of dough into a flat circle. Roughly 6 inches in diameter.

Place the dough balls on a large parchment lined baking sheet and drape a dish cloth over the dough balls. Let them prove again for 30 minutes.

Step 5: Oil & Indent

Preheat the oven to 450F degrees.

Uncover the dough circles and pour olive oil over them. Use your hands to rub the olive oil evenly over the dough balls. Use your fingertips to press into the dough, 1 inch from the edge, all the way around the dough circle.

Using the same method, create a couple diagonal lines across the circle. Continue this method to create indentations perpendicular to the first diagonal lines. You should end up with dough diamonds inside of the dough circle.

Step 6: Garnish & Bake

Sprinkle red pepper flakes, sea salt, and black sesame seeds over the top of each circle.

Bake in the oven at 450F degrees for 12 minutes.

Step 7: Serve Turkish Bread

Remove from the oven, top with chopped parsley. Serve immediately.

The indentations made in the dough should make it easy to tear pieces off.

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How to Store Turkish Bread

Turkish bread is best served right out of the oven when its still piping hot. If you find yourself with leftovers however, store in a zip lock bag or air tight container. Try to push as much air out of the bag as possible.

Turkish bread should keep for 3-4 days if stored properly. Toss the bread in the oven under the broiler for 2-3 minutes to reheat. Otherwise a toaster should do the trick.

I don’t recommend freezing any leftovers. It’s really a treat freshly made, and it’s so simple to do.

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What to Serve with Turkish Bread

Sometimes Frankie and I will devour an entire batch of this bread on its own. Freaking bread am I right?

However, if you need a little more than just carbs, reasonable, then you could serve this Turkish bread along side any number of grilled meats. Think Kebabs or lamb chops, whatever really.

A natural accompaniment is hummus. There aren’t a lot of things better than fresh bread to dip into hummus. We love our local portland hummusery*? King Harvest Jalapeño Hummus.

You could always serve this Turkish bread with a curry or stew. Use a couple strips of Turkish bread to sop up whatever delicious liquid you have splashing around in your soup bowl.

Or make toast in the morning! We love breakfast toast, and this Turkish bread would make a killer toast. Try it with our Wild Mushroom Toast recipe, or with our Cottage Cheese with Peaches, Mint, and Blackberry Vinaigrette recipe.

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Turkish Bread FAQ’s

What is Turkish bread made of?

It is so simple. All you need is flour, sugar, salt, yeast and water.

How is Turkish bread baked?

We bake our bread in the oven at a high temperature, 450F degrees for 12 minutes.

How do you store Turkish bread?

Keep your leftovers in an air tight container or a ziplock bag. It should be good for 3-4 days.

What can you use Turkish bread for?

It is good on its own, usually shared at the table. You can serve it with hummus, or alongside stews, the possibilities are endless.

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