SOURDOUGH TURKISH PIDE (RAMAZAN PIDESI)

Sourdough Turkish Pide (Ramazan Pidesi) image

Turkish pide for Ramadan is a delicious airy bread with crackling toasted seeds covering the beautiful quilt-like crust. This recipe is particularly flavorful due to the addition of whole grain flour and because of the extended sourdough fermentation. The process itself is also quite enjoyable with a free-form final proof and hands-on creation of the beautiful crust pattern.

Provided by Melissa Johnson

Categories Recipes

Time 1h5m

Yield 2 pide or 8 servings

Number Of Ingredients 22

Ingredients

Dough
445g bread flour (3 1/3 cups)
75g whole grain rye flour / whole grain einkorn flour / home-milled warthog hard red winter wheat berries (heaping 1/2 cup)
420g water, consider using only 400g for einkorn and warthog flours (1 3/4 cups)
80g sourdough starter (1/4 cup)
28g olive oil (2 Tbsp)
10g salt (2 tsp)
Topping
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup yogurt (+ 1 Tbsp water if thick-style yogurt)
OR
1 Tbsp pomegranate or grape molasses
1 Tbsp water
AND
2 Tbsp nigella seeds
2 Tbsp sesame seeds
Baker's Percentages (15% starter)
87% bread or all purpose flour
13% whole grain rye / einkorn / warthog flour
82% water
5% olive oil
1.7% salt

Steps:

Mixing and Bulk Fermentation
Mix the dough ingredients together in a bowl with space for about 75% growth.
Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 20-30 minutes.
Develop gluten strength in the dough with several rounds of stretching and folding. Let the dough rest for about 30 minutes between each round.
After 4-6 hours of bulk fermentation (since the initial mixing), the dough will have expanded in size by 50-75%.
Refrigerate the covered bowl for 6-12 hours to enhance the flavor; or you can finish the first rise at room temperature, moving onto the next step when the dough has almost doubled in size.
Dividing, Pre-Shaping, and Final Proof
If you refrigerated the dough, let it warm up for about an hour before proceeding to the next step.
Scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a clean, well-floured countertop. Divide it in two and shape the pieces into tight balls.
Leaving a few inches between the balls for expansion, cover the dough with a damp cloth or large inverted baking pan for 1-2 hours for the final proof.
Preheating, Shaping, and Dough Topping
Thirty minutes before the end of the final proof, begin preheating your oven to 450F with a pizza stone or upside down baking sheet on the middle shelf.
Prepare a large sheet of parchment paper (approx 15"x20") by sprinkling flour on it.
Using your bench knife and a lightly floured hand, gently scoop up each dough. Stretching it out a bit as you lay it onto the parchment paper.
Generously brush the tops of the doughs with the molasses-water or the egg-yogurt mixtures.
Using fingertips that are wet from the mixtures, dimple a perimeter around the dough, pushing outward a bit as you go. Then dimple diagonal lines to make a diamond pattern and sprinkle generously with the seeds.
Baking and Storage
Load the dough into the oven with a pizza peel or large cutting board. I haven't found steam to be necessary but feel free to set up a steam system if you want.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the top has golden brown spots. (Rotate the pide about 8 minutes in if they seem to be browning unevenly.
Let the pide cool on a rack and cover or wrap if they're not eaten in one day.