Turkish Pizza ~ Pide

I bookmarked pide, the Turkish pizza bread when Pavani posted it during last month marathon and wanted to try it sooner before it got buried in my bookmarked folder. I decided to try it yesterday as my daughter was at home and she couldn't fathom the fact that her favorite pizza was getting a makeover in terms of shape. She thought it was plain weird though she forgot about it when it was time to taste it.  
I came across pide in all sizes and shapes over the web but a long canoe shaped one seems to be the popular one. The texture of the pide crust was soft, more like a bread. As in pizza, the toppings can change according to one's preference and I noticed that vegetables were added while baking and an egg went about 5 minutes before 
the final stages.
 
The toppings can be arranged leaving about 1/2 inch around the edges and then pides can be shaped. Pavani had suggested that shaping the pides after spreading the toppings would be easier and I tried following that method but I goofed up while shaping them. My daughter was going crazy chanting that she was hungry and I did not bother to look how it was shaped. I did not realize that I was supposed to just pinch the edges and somehow ended up overlapping the edges slightly over the toppings, resulting them to open up slightly instead of staying put, while baking. If the edges are pinched together not bringing the toppings in contact with it, the shape would retain. It doesn't mean that my pide ended up with another shape other than oval one or the toppings spill over. I would make the pides less wider next time and keep the rims thinner. My daughter didn't like the thick rim even though it had a soft, bread kind of texture and just left them out. I would also recommend making 3 instead of 2 pides for these measurements.

 Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1&1/3 cup wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
2 & 1/4 tsp. rapid rise yeast
2 tbsp. yogurt
2 tbsp. oil
3/4 to 1 cup water (I had to use about 1 cup + 3 tbsp. water.)
2 tbsp. milk (for brushing)
1 tbsp. seeds (Optional. Caraway, Sesame, Nigella or Mustard can be used. ) 
Toppings of your choice

Method:
* Combine all the ingredients except the milk and seeds, in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Start with about 3/4 cup water and add extra water as needed to form a soft, pliable dough. (Add water in small increments and I had to add almost 1 & 1/4 cup water.)
* Knead the dough for about 6 minutes on a stand mixer or about
10 - 12 minutes by hand.
 
* Transfer the dough to a large, lightly greased bowl, cover and leave aside in a warm place for about 1 to 1½ hours or until it doubles in volume. (During winter, I preheat the oven at the lowest setting and turn off the oven. I leave the dough in the warm oven.)
* Gently deflate the dough and then knead the dough slightly. Divide the dough into 2 balls and shape them into oval shapes. Pinch the edges to form a rim, almost bringing it to a canoe shaped one.
 
 
* Cover the loaves and set aside for another 20 minutes to rise a  little more. (I totally forgot to notice this step and somehow ended up rising them only for about 10 minutes.) 
* Preheat the oven to 450 deg F and place the pizza stone or a couple of greased baking sheets in the oven.
* Brush the loaves with milk and sprinkle with seeds if using. (I skipped this step.)
 
* Fill the inside with the choice of toppings and slide each pizza onto the hot baking sheets and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. (I applied pizza sauce and topped them with low fat mozzarella cheese. My daughter wanted just olives and the husband wanted hot peppers and that's what they got.)
* Serve them hot.


Check the blogging marathon page to see what my fellow marathoners are cooking for BM#52.

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