Have you ever experienced this? You wake up in the morning and you yearn for something special, but you don't have it at home and on top of that it is Sunday.
That's what happened to me today.
For some reason, today I imagined while getting up, cutting up a fresh flatbread and coat it with a thick layer of Kaymak and Honey. And no, I am not pregnant. :)
It was therefore certain: today we are going to bake Flatbread or, as we call it in Turkey Ramazan Pidesi.
At the same time this is a good opportunity to add another Turkish recipe to my blog.
I barely ever bake bread (a fact which I should change as soon as possible), because we have a great „Hofpfisterei“ (a traditional bakery which is specialized on producing bakery products made from organically produced regional products) around the corner, who have dedicated themselves to produce bread in the manner of good old artisanship and who abstain from using chemcials and articifial additives. So I am used to very good quality.
But as good as they are, they wouldn't have a Turkish Flatbread anyways, even if it wasn't Sunday today.
I always mention it when I post Turkish recipes: My fellow Turkish countrymen know no measurements and cook by instinct and experience, but when they do, they use cups for measurement, just like americans.
Since I love Turkish recipes aswell as american ones I have given up converting units after a gazillion times and just bought a practical measuring spoon.
With this my life has become a whole lot easier. It is not really necessary, but comes in very handy and it also looks nice.
Alternatively you can take a glass with a volume of 200 ml.
For all of you who don't want to use Cups I still converted all units (nice as i am ^^), so that you don't have to bother doing it.
Ingredients:
3 cups of flour (525 gr)
1 egg
1 tablespoons dried yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoons salt
1/2 cup lukewarm milk (100ml)
1 cup lukewarm water (200ml)
2 teaspoons olive oil
black caraway & sesame for sprinkling
First separate the egg yolk from the egg white. Mix flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a big bowl.
Form a mound in the middle and add the egg white into it. Start mixing it up and while doing so keep carefully adding flour from the side. Add the lukewarm milk and keep mixing it up. Now add water in short sips and keep kneading the dough. Please don't pour it in all at once because depending on the consistency of your dough, you may need less water than a cup.
As soon as the dough comes into shape, add olive oil and kneed the dough once more.
At the end the dough should be soft and malleable, but shouldn't stick to your fingers.
Now form the dough into a ball, cover the bowl with a lid or a clean dish towel and let the dough prove for 45 minutes.
After proofing, your dough should have gained a lot of volume and should have almost doubled it's size. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F) upper/lower heat. Oil the baking tray thoroughly or put baking paper on it. Briefly knead the dough again with floured hands and form it on the baking tray to a round or oval shape. Using a knife you can carve a diamond-shaped pattern into the dough, spread the egg yolk on it and to finish it off, sprinkle some black cumin and sesame on it. Bake it for about 30 minutes until it is golden brown.
Turkish flatbread is perfectly suitable for breakfast, but you can also make sandwiches from it, eat it with a tasty dip or serve it just as a side dish with grilled meals. Cut into diamond-shape and roasted in the oven, Turkish flatbread is also commonly used as the bottom layer of the famous Iskender Kebap.
I wish a nice Sunday to all of you and have a nice week.
Stay hungry,
Sibel
