Whether you want a tasty start of a day or a small, luscious meal sometime later, Turkish gözleme might be your choice.

They are often named Turkish pancakes, but they have virtually nothing in common with pancakes, except for the liberty in fillings – what you put inside is limited (almost) only by your phantasy.

Suitable for: Depending on choice of filling, gözleme are suitable for vegetarians and vegans, and are halal and/or kosher. The are not gluten-free, but depending on fillings can be made lactose-free, and generally don’t contain nuts, shellfish, eggs nor soy.

🕒 30 min + at least 1 hour waiting time

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PDF-recipe for collecting and printing

Ingredients 🛒 (for 1 gözleme)

Dough ingredients: 50 g (all-purpose) flour, 1/2 tsp olive oil, ca. 20 ml tepid water, a pinch of salt, optionally 1/2 tsp dry yeast

Filling ingredients: Any of your choice, weight approximately as much as dough. This one was filled with a mix of 10 g shredded gouda cheese, 10 g crumbled curd, 10 g Turkish beef (pastırma) cut into small strips, 1 finely chopped spring onion, a few finely chopped spinach leaves, a pinch of pul biber (Turkish chili flakes).

Additionally: flour for rolling out, water for glueing

How to 🍳

First, prepare the dough, mix the dry ingredients, and then knead with olive oil and water, adding only as much water as needed to bring it together. Knead about 10 minutes long, until you get a smooth, firm, non-sticky dough. Wrap in cling-film and leave to rest for at least 1 hour (you can leave it overnight if you prefer).

On a floured surface roll the dough out into a thin, slightly transparent circle of about 30 cm diameter.

Arrange the filling in the middle part, a little less than 1/2 width and height of the circle.

Bring the left and right side of the circle together over the filling, wetting the dough slightly to make it stick. Then close the upper and lower part of the circle over the dough, wetting first so it sticks together. Yoy aim for a square of about 15 cm x 15 cm size.

Heat a non-stick pan (dry – no oil needed!). Fry your gözleme on both sides until they show dark spots.

Enjoy!

Notes

The described dough is a standard Turkish yufka and it can be used in lots of other recipes. However, only for gözleme you may use some dry yeast to make them softer, a proper yufka is without yeast.