Turkish Ramadan pide (Ramazan pidesi)

I fell in love with Turkish bread (ekmek) last year during our holiday. I don't remember how many different kind of breads we had a chance to taste. Anywhere we ate, it doesn't matter we stopped at a smaller local restaurant next to the road or we had dinner in a fancy restaurant in Istanbul, bread was served (mostly with butter) everywhere while we waited for our order.

Ekmek is a main necessity of Turkish cuisine and households.It is usually made by bakeries two or three times  a day, in the morning and in the evening, therefore you can buy fresh crispy bread all day.

I am sure you haven't seen and tasted such a thing as Turkish ekmek. It is loved by everyone, rich and poor, simple and sophisticated, one and all. You can find a bread bakery at every neighborhood that produces the famous golden, crispy breads, filling the streets with their irresistible flavour. In Istanbul we stayed at our friend's place where right under the flat a bread bakery was found. During our stay we were waken up by the fresh bread's aroma every morning, I can not imagine more amazing thing.

The history of ekmek
During the Ottoman period people believed that bread, as the earliest form of cuisine, dates back to the time of Prophet Adam, the Patron Saint of Bakers who learned how to make bread from the Archangel Gabriel after his explusion from the Garden of Eden. The secret is still held by present-day Turkish bakers and hold it as one of the simplest and honorable things to eat.

The types of Turkish bread
There are so many types of Turkish breads but the most well-known besides ekmek, the ordinary white bread is:

• Tas Firin Ekmegi (this type of bread is the most common in Turkey, baked in stone oven)
• Simit (is a ring shaped bread with sesame seeds on the top.It's one of the most widely consumed foods in Turkey, you can find a simit vendor almost at every corner.)
• Tandır Ekmegi (This is also a very known bread type. It is baked in a round oven " Tandır" in Turkish. I met Tandır - in English: tandoor - at the first time in India where they use it not only for baking flatbreads, the Indian naan but for cooking certain meat dishes as well. I will write more about tandoor later.)
• Mısır ekmek (corn bread, not used very much)

This time I bring for you this special type of flat bread, called Ramazan pidesi which refers to that it is baked during the month of Ramazan.

Ramazan pidesi

For the first try I used Binnur's recipe as base. Let's see how it turned out!

Ingredients:
4 cup of flour (all purpose)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 and 3/4 cup milk
7 gr instant yeast (I prefer fresh yeast but this time I followed the original recipe)

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

Glaze:

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon milk

Ramazan pidesi

Mix the instant yeast, sugar and 1/4 cup warm milk in a small bowl. Stir well to the yeast to dissolve. Cover the bowl with a towel, set aside and let it rest for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, add the flour and salt in a larger bowl, put the bubbly yeast mixture  and 1 1/2 cup warm milk to the flour. Mix and put the dough on the lightly floured table and knead well for about 10 minutes until it becomes smooth (I used hand mixer at the beginning then continued kneading by hand). 

When the dough is ready, slush a clean bowl with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and place the dough in it and spread another tablespoon of olive oil with your hands all over the dough. Then cover it with a clean and damp dish towel. Set aside for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours at room temperature until the dough rises to double its size.

Place the dough on the lightly floured table again. Press all over it with your hands to get rid of air bubbles. Cut the dough in two pieces with a knife. Knead and give a ball shape to each, cover with a damp towel, and put aside for other 15 minutes. 

Place baking paper on an oven tray, then set the doughs on it. Use your palm to flatten each ball into a flatter rounded shape and dip your finger tips in it and press all over the dough. Lightly beat the glaze ingredients in a small bowl then sprinkle some black or regular sesame seeds all over and cover with a clean damp towel. Leave for about 35-40 minutes to rise at a warm place.

Finally preheat the oven to 230°C and put some water in an oven-safe bowl. Place it on the bottom of the oven and the tray on the middle rack. Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes until the colour becomes light golden. Place the pide on the clean towel to cool it down a bit. Serve warm.

Afiyet olsun!