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I love the way their hands move so effortlessly across the paper-thin dough; their headscarves adding colour to a bustling market scene; the hum of a hundred different conversations from people passing by.
The parcels of dough, folded over like an envelope containing a message to our tastebuds that they are well and truly in for a treat. They hit the heat with a sizzle before being turned over to reveal that golden hue and those crispy edges. The steam escapes as its cut up into triangles, revealing the filling that was hiding inside.
If I close my eyes, I imagine myself standing amongst the colour and the somewhat chaotic scene of a Turkish market; A Grand Bazaar, savouring every last mouthful of that oozy-cheesey filling encased in that golden fried dough. It has now become quite the tradition every time we visit the South Melbourne Market to treat ourselves with these deliciously moreish creations. However, as we don't venture up that way all too often, well, not often enough to feed our addiction anyway, I decided to try to re-create them at home.
After coming across Sneh Roy's from @cookrepublic recipe for Gozleme I couldn't get myself into the kitchen fast enough. I have now made them a couple of times, changing up the fillings each time. Which is the beauty of these, you can become quite creative with the innards! Although I really don't think you can beat the classic combination of spinach and cheese.
The last ones I made, I actually did a combination of spinach and silverbeet, parmesan and creamy goats cheese and they were devoured within seconds. A squeeze of lemon juice, a hit of chilli and a smattering of thick Greek yoghurt is all that is needed to make them a perfect meal for any time of the day. In fact I could go one right now, and its 10:30pm!! Which also means I should be making my way to my bed, but I can hear the little man stirring so I dare say I may be up for a little while longer yet!
You will get 6 parcels of goodness from this recipe.
For the Dough
270g plain flour
3 tablespoons Greek yoghurt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon instant dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sea salt flakes
2 tablespoons olive oil
extra flour for dusting
For the Filling
You can let your creative juices run free here, but my favourite combination is the classic spinach and feta or goats cheese. I will list a couple of combinations below though.
1 cup spinach
1 cup of blanched silverbeet leaves, excess water squeezed out and roughly chopped
1 cup combined soft goats cheese or feta and parmesan
or
2 cups spinach
1 packet of grated haloumi
1/2 cup soft goats cheese or feta
or
cooked lamb mince
chilli flakes
spinach
haloumi or feta
Let your imagination run wild, Caramelised onions are also really tasty too!
You will also need extra greek yoghurt, chilli flakes and lemon wedges to serve.
Place all of the ingredients except the olive oil into the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attached. Start off at a slow speed until everything starts to come together then increase the speed just a little until it forms a rough ball. Tip the dough out onto a well-floured bench top and knead until its lovely and smooth. If you find that it is too dry, just add a little bit more water and continue kneading until smooth. Pop it back into the bowl and cover with a clean tea towel to rest for 30 minutes.
After its rested, tip it back onto a well -floured bench and add the olive oil, kneading it all through until its combined and smooth once more. Pop it back into the bowl for another 30 minutes resting time.
Divide the dough into 6 equal portions, I sometimes weigh them out if I am feeling really particular otherwise you can generally feel with your hands that they are all relatively the same size, or near enough.
for this next part, you really do need to make sure that the bench and your rolling pin and your hands are well-floured as the dough needs to be rolled quite thin and it does have the tendency to stick to the bench. You want to roll each one into a rough rectangular shape.
scatter over your fillings of choice into the centre of each one. Fold it up like a little parcel, so the two shorter ends get folded in first and then overlap the other sides on top. dust them lightly with a little more flour and then roll them out to about double their size. If you find that the filling is coming through the pastry or you have little tears, don't worry as they are quite forgiving once you cook them.
Heat a large fry pan over a medium heat, drizzle each gozleme with a little olive oil and then spread it all over with your hands. Place it oil side down in the pan and cook for a couple of minutes. Before turning over make sure you brush with a little more oil and then cook for another 2-3 minutes until lovely and golden. Pile them all onto a plate with extra yoghurt for dipping, lemon wedges for squeezing and chilli flakes if you want a little extra hit and then let everyone help themselves.
Perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack. They also keep well in the fridge both cooked and uncooked. Simply reheat if cooked or, heat that pan up and you have yourself one very tasty and filling parcel of delicousness!!