Pumpkin, Feta, Chili & Onion Turkish Pide

February 28, 2011

Pumpkin Feta Chili Turkish Pide Recipe

Pide (pronounced pee-day), is the Turkish word for flat bread, and the same dough that is used to make the flat bread is used to make Turkish Pizza. To make a Turkish Pizza pide dough is topped with various ingredients, such as meats or vegetables and then the sides of the dough are pulled up around the filling to form an oval shape and baked in a very hot oven.

I’ve often had Turkish pizza at Mecca Bah restaurant, topped with Roast Pumpkin, Chili and Feta and it’s delicious. So I was inspired to try my hand at making one at home. While it’s not a quick and easy dish that you can make for dinner after work, I think the results are worth the effort and nothing beats the smell of freshly baked bread wafting throughout the house.

Roast Pumpkin Feta Turkish Pide Recipe

I didn’t have Mecca Bah’s recipe, but I remembered the components and flavours so tried to create something similar. I found a recipe for Turkish Pide Dough and I roasted the pumpkin with allspice and cinnamon to provide that mildly sweet spiced flavour that I recalled in Mecca Bah’s version. Then I topped the dough with thinly sliced onion, chili, feta and the roasted pumpkin and baked it on pizza stones. The end result was delicious and surprisingly similar to the one I’d had at Mecca Bah. Not bad for my first attempt, if I do say so myself.

Have you had Turkish Pizza before? What is your favourite topping?

Roast Pumpkin Feta Chili Turkish Pide Recipe

Pumpkin Chili Feta Turkish Pizza

Pumpkin, Feta, Chili & Onion Turkish Pide

Prep time: 40 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 1 hour 20 mins

Pide Dough recipe from SBS.com.au

Ingredients

1 tablespoon (2 x 7g sachets) dried yeast
pinch of caster sugar
375 ml warm water
480 g strong bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
60 ml extra-virgin olive oil
TOPPING
800g of butternut pumpkin, peeled and cut into cubes
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 teaspoons of allspice
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
300g of feta, crumbled
1 small red chili, sliced
1 onion, peeled and finely sliced
100g of rocket leaves

Instructions

To make the pide dough, add the yeast and sugar to a bowl and pour in 125 ml of the warm water and stir to dissolve. Set aside in a warm place for about 10 minutes until frothy.
Add 90g of the flour into the yeast mixture and mix with your fingers to make a sloppy paste. Sprinkle with a little more flour, then cover with a tea towel and set aside in a warm place for 30 minutes to form a ‘sponge’.
In a large bowl add the remaining flour and the salt and make a well in the center. Add the sponge, olive oil and remaining water. Using your fingers, mix to form a sloppy dough. The dough will be very sticky, so don’t panic.
Transfer the dough to an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook and knead on a low speed for 10–15 minutes until very smooth and springy.
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, then cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rest at room temperature for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
Divide the dough in two and form into rounds and leave, covered, to rest for 30 minutes.
Take the dough and place on a lightly floured work surface. Using the heels of your hands press and flatten each piece of dough out to an oval shape. Place onto baking paper and set aside ready for the pizza topping.
To make the topping Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) and place the pumpkin into a roasting dish and coat with the olive oil, allspice and cinnamon and toss to combine. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until the pumpkin is soft but not too golden. Set aside to cool slightly.
Turn your oven up as high as it will go and preheat 2 pizza stones.
Add the sliced onion, chili, pumpkin and feta to the middle of the pizza dough, in an oval shape. Pull up the sides of the dough and pinch together to form an oval shape with the center of the pizza open.
Remove the pizza stones from the oven and slide the baking paper with the pizza on top onto the pizza stone. Put the pizza stone back into the oven and bake the pizza for 20 minutes, or until golden. The time will vary depending on the maximum temperature setting of your oven, so keep an eye on it.
Remove from the oven and top with fresh rocket leaves to serve.

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