Spring brings renewal, rebirth, and many religious feasts and celebrations. With Passover and Easter past, religious traditions continue with the Muslim observance of Ramadan. Ramadan is a month-long period of reflection beginning the evening of April 12th this year through the evening of May 11th. Whether during Ramadan or when you want a light and indulgent bread to serve with any meal, why not the Turkish Pide (pee dae) Flatbread? You’ll discover a new superfood in the process, see the following details!
A little about Ramadan…
Ramadan is a 30-day fasting period from sunrise to sunset filled with prayer, giving, and self-evaluation. Yes, no eating or drinking during daylight hours! It’s a time to forgo worldly pleasures and concentrate on the inner self.
Regardless of your religious perspectives, I don’t think you can argue with the benefits of the Ramadan focus. Fasting creates a justifiable means for that profound focus that teaches patience, compassion, and gratitude.
What about the word Ramadan?
Ramadan occurs every 9 months on the Islamic calendar. It is a sacred month for millions of Muslims around the world. The word ‘Ramadan’ (AKA Ramazan in Turkish) comes from the Arabic word ‘Ramad / Ramida’ meaning drought. Thus the reasoning for abstinence during Ramadan from eating and drinking (including water) from dawn till dusk.
The irony of such a fast…
Ironically, the fasting Ramadan is also known for its amazing Iftar (eef tahr) feast after sunset and Suhur feast prior to sunrise. Ramadan feasts are tamed to some extent to exclude too much fried, sugary, and salty foods as they can cause fatigue and sluggishness during the fasting hours. However, these minor limitations do not seem like limits when you witness the Iftar and Suhur feasting tables.
Bread has quite the hype, especially the Turkish Pide Flatbread!
Bread provides satiety and enjoyment during Ramadan. The traditional Ramazan Turkish Pide (pee dae) bread is a light, enriched, yeasted flatbread primarily enjoyed during Ramadan. Regardless of one’s religious beliefs, anyone can enjoy it, anytime, and anywhere.
Pide is traditionally eaten every evening with the meal. One hour before sunset, bakeries in Turkey begin seeing lines of people form outside their doors to purchase this famous Ramanzan Pide Flatbread to take home and eat for Iftar.
What about the rest of the Iftar and Suhur meals?
The evening Iftar meal begins with dates. Yes! Dates make up the first bite during Iftar since dates contain natural sugars that provide a quick energy source after a long fast. Think of dates as the precursor for today’s energy gels consumed during exercise for that quick energy source. Why not?!
After the consumption of dates, the meal continues with pide, soup, meat (such as lamb or chicken), rice, vegetables, eggs, cheese, yogurt, and lots of herbs and spices. Sweets are not forgotten! You’ll often find desserts with fruit and sweetened cream on the table. The morning Suhur feast tends to be heartier with a balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fat to aid in sustainability throughout the fasting day.
The uniqueness of Turkish Pide Flatbread
You may think pide (not pita) resembles any other flatbread. The uniqueness lies in the indulgent ingredients and the topping. Imagine a bread made with enriched dough slathered with a yogurt/egg mixture and topped with white sesame seeds and nigella (black cumin) seeds. Maybe you can’t imagine it! That’s my point! It produces such a unique flavor combination not found in American cuisine. However, these flavors frame many Indian curries along with Middle Eastern and North African cuisine.
The “NEW” Superfood!!
Nigella seeds are totally the new superfood! In my opinion, nigella seeds are such an underappreciated, unknown (in American culture) seed that should be a part of our daily diet. They have a slight bitter, pungent (but not strong), earthy flavoring (maybe a cross between oregano and mild onion?). You can eat them like chia seeds over oatmeal, salads, on breads (of course), yogurts, egg dishes (such as omelettes), dals, curries, or used in anyway you might use a nice (Italian?) spice. I imagine them great sprinkled on fish, steak, or chicken.
Scott and I have eaten them sprinkled inside of grilled cheese sandwiches (homemade gluten-free bread for me 😉) with garlic salt seasoned mashed avocado. The sandwich was really good and I LOVED the addition of the nigella seeds. They added a slight roasted, earthy taste to the sandwich… highly recommend! So, if you’re looking for a different seed to add to your many food favs, I recommend this one. These seeds are versatile and provide amazing health benefits.
Health benefits of Nigella seeds and their oil…
Nigella seeds (black cumin seeds) contain anti-inflammatory and therapeutic properties. In fact, their medicinal qualities explain why they were found in King Tut’s tomb. Surprise! If they were fit for a king, why aren’t we consuming them today?
If you’re science minded, you may be interested in knowing that their scientific name is “Nigella sativa” (kalonji) belonging to the buttercup family of flowering plants. Keep in mind that the following benefits are not entirely proven but are believed to be benefits based on current data. Additional scientific studies are needed to confirm the benefits since majority of them were conducted on animals.
Here’s the rundown of the potential many health benefits of Nigella seeds (and oil).
The basic rundown is that they are rich in potassium, protein, and fiber as well as a number of essential vitamins and minerals. In addition, they contain healthy fats, amino acids, and antioxidants. They can aid in weight loss and promote skin health.
- Antioxidant (containing proteins- thymoquinone, carvacrol, t-anethole and 4-terpineol): may protect against several types of chronic conditions, including cancer (from the thymoquinone protein), diabetes, heart disease and obesity.
- Cholesterol fighting: associated with significant decreases in both total and “bad” LDL cholesterol as well as blood triglycerides.
- Antibacterial properties: believed to be as effective as antibiotics in treating some bacterial infections such as MRSA
- Anti-inflammatory: thought to reduce inflammation markers in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and general injuries.
- Liver protector: may protect the liver against injury or damage by reducing the toxicity of chemicals.
- Diabetic treatment: thought to stabilize blood sugar during fasting hours and helps to maintain levels by positively controlling the glycemic index in foods.
- Stomach ulcer preventer: thought to provide active qualities to protect the stomach lining from ulcer causing foods or beverages such as alcohol.
Thoughts on my experience in making the Turkish Pide Flatbread…
My thoughts on Nigella seeds…
Well, I discovered my new favorite food additive with this bread, the nigella seed! I had no idea this hidden SUPERFOOD could pack so much flavor and health perks. If you’ve never tried these seeds, I encourage you to give them a shot. They resemble in so many ways a gourmet spice that can enhance the flavor profile of so many dishes. For me, they elevated my already amazing, “fancy” grilled cheese sandwiches in a way I could never imagine.
The baker’s perspective of Turkish Pide Flatbread…
I can only speak from the baker’s perspective, since I am unable to consume gluten. The dough had a beautiful, flexible feel and was easy to manipulate. It was so soft from beginning to end. The recipe is very easy and aside from the rising time, it really didn’t take much effort to make, if using a stand mixer. The final result produced a very light and airy crumb (notice the many holes in the baked loaves from the yeast gas developed between the gluten fibers). The yogurt/egg yolk topping peaked my interest and added to the flavor (according to Scott), moistness, and soft “crust”. The artisan cuts were traditional and pretty. I would add less yogurt topping next time; I have adjusted the original recipe from 1/2 cup down to 1/3 cup of yogurt. It’s a keeper from a baker’s perspective!
Scott’s thoughts on tasting the Turkish Pide Flatbread
From the consumer’s perspective, Scott really liked this bread. Of all of the breads from around the world I have made, this one ranks at the top of his favs list. As he said, it truly is an all-around good bread for any meal. The yogurt/egg yolk topping and seeds (both sesame and nigella) enhanced an indulgent bread in a way that totally yielded unique but pleasant flavors. For him, the flavors that stood out the most were the olive oil, yogurt, and seeds. Thus, if you decide to make this bread, I encourage you NOT to skip these ingredients.
This basic pide bread looks very familiar. It resembles the pita bread from Greece, focaccia from Italy, and the fougasse from France. We can thank Turkey for influencing all of these, particularly the Italian pizza. There are many different types of pide including the boat shape that’s filled with toppings anywhere from meat to veggies, eggs, and cheese.
In closing…
Another bread to cross cultural boundaries, ancient boundaries at that. The next time you’re eating pizza, think about where that idea originated. Consider making your own pizza (using this pide recipe) adding traditional Middle Eastern toppings like ground lamb mixed with cumin and mint.
With that, whether you observe Ramadan or not, there’s always a good time for self-reflection in developing more patience and compassion for others.
Check out my YouTube video entitled, “Authentic Turkish Pide Flatbread: Light and Indulgent with Health Benefits” for the detailed steps in making and baking this bread. You get a close-up view of cutting in the artisan designs along with a detailed description of the final taste.
Authentic Turkish Pide Flatbread: Light and Indulgent with Health Benefits
Ingredients
Dough Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2¼ tsp instant dry yeast = ¼ oz pkg
- 1⅓ cups water
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp sugar granulated
- 1 teaspoon salt
Topping Ingredients
- 1 large egg yolk at room temperature
- ⅓ cup plain yogurt at room temperature (of any fat %)
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp nigella seeds black cumin seeds
Instructions
Dough Directions
- In a large bowl, whisk in the flour and yeast.
- Heat up the water and milk in the microwave or on the stove until the liquid reaches 100˚F-110˚F / 38˚C-43˚C. Pour the liquid into the flour/yeast mixture and use a sturdy spoon to combine well.
- Soften the butter in the microwave, if necessary (cut in small dice and heat for 10 seconds and stir). Add the softened butter, olive oil, sugar, and salt to the flour and liquid mixture and stir well to combine.
- Knead the dough. If kneading in a stand mixer, use the dough hook and knead the dough on low for 10 minutes. If kneading by hand, knead the dough on a lightly floured surface or in the bowl for 15 minutes.
- If kneading by hand, kneading is done. If kneading in a stand mixer, scoop out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and continue to knead for another five minutes . The dough should be very soft. If it’s too firm, knead in another tablespoon of olive oil until smooth or add more flour if too sticky.
- Return the dough to the mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray or with a damp cloth. Set it aside in a warm place. Allow the dough to rise between one and two hours or until doubled in size.
- After the dough has doubled in size, place a shallow metal baking tray or cookie sheet on the bottom rack of the oven. Fill the cookie sheet with water (for a 13"x 18" pan fill with ~ 4 cups of water). Preheat oven to 430° F/~220° C.
- Remove the plastic wrap or towel and scoop out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough in half into 2 separate loaves with a sharp knife.
- Shape the 2 loaves using your fingers into flat rounds or ovals about ½" thick (~9" in diameter).
- Place each flatbread on a DIFFERENT metal baking tray / cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. One baking tray (~14"x 21" for both), or 2 smaller ones.
- For each flatbread, cut about 1 inch in from the edge to make a circle all the way around the flatbread. Then, inside the circle, make diagonal cuts in opposite directions to make a diamond pattern. Do the same with the other flatbread.
Topping Directions
- In a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt and egg yolk. Using a pastry brush, coat the top of the loaves generously with the yogurt/egg yolk mixture.
- Sprinkle the sesame and nigella seeds evenly over the tops.
- Place the flatbreads on the middle rack in the preheated oven. Bake with the water tray for about 30 minutes or until the top becomes deep, golden brown. Serve the bread hot out of the oven.
Video
Notes
Interested in some of my favorite breads thus far? Check out these recipes.
The Berry Rolls (My Grandmother’s Recipe)
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please share it. Check out my YouTube Channel as well to see videos of kitchen tips, blog bakes, and dishes. Until next time, go bake the world!