These Cheese Pide, stuffed with a Mediterranean spinach artichoke dip, is my take on the popular Turkish flatbread recipe that’s traditionally stuffed with melty cheese and topped with a runny egg. It’s the perfect mash-up of East Meets West and it is as comforting as it is delicious.
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Pide is a type of Turkish flatbread that has a filling – meat, cheese, spinach – it’s often topped with an egg, and it’s all held together because the crust gets folded over the edges, in a boat-like shape, so that the crust acts like a bit of a wall.
Often referred to as “Turkish Pizza” when trying to explain the concept to someone who isn’t familiar with the dish, doing so can actually create confusion as Lahmacun, a thinner Turkish flatbread that gets rolled up to eat, is also often referred to as ‘Turkish Pizza.’
And although the words ‘pide’ and ‘pizza’ likely originate from the Arameic word ‘pita,’ calling Turkish pide ‘pizza’ is selling it short. By all accounts, it’s a dish steeped in history, with its own eating rituals, and its own flavors.
Not that we’re being entirely traditional here if I’m being honest. I decided early on that a pide would be the perfect vessel for artichoke spinach dip, albeit with greek yogurt and feta cheese.
Why You’ll Love This Turkish Cheese Pide Recipe
- It’s like Garlic Bread and Pizza had a baby. And who could be mad at that?
- Eat it for breakfast. Or lunch. Or dinner. Top it with an egg. Eat it with a salad. Serve it alongside your meal. You decide. It’s such a versatile recipe.
- Budget-friendly dinner party idea. If you’re looking for a meal that’s budget friendly but also has a wow factor, this is definitely it. Transport your guests to the streets of Turkey without breaking the bank.
- A plant-based recipe for your vegetarian friends and family. We aren’t vegetarian, but we do Meatless Mondays, and this vegetarian pide is a meal the whole family is happy to eat.
Ingredients for Artichoke, Spinach and Cheese Pide
- All-purpose flour: I’ve included a recipe for pide dough, but in a pinch you can always use store-bought pizza dough.
- Milk: Adding milk to this dough makes it a bit softer. The milk will also help the pide crust brown faster.
- Egg: Adding eggs to a dough makes it lighter and fluffier. Definitely a great quality in a bread you may want to dip into an egg or eat with what is essentially spinach dip.
- Sugar: A spoonful of sugar for our little yeasty friends.
- Salt: Because dough without salt tastes like cardboard.
- Instant yeast: Like the fine folks at King Arthur, I love using instant yeast because, unlike active dry yeast, you don’t need to activated it in water before using it. Simply, mix it in with your dry ingredients, knead, rest, and go!
PRO TIP
Did you know you can freeze instant yeast to extend its shelf life by up to 6 months?
- Egg wash: You can replace the egg wash with a bit of olive oil or a little melted butter.
- Cream cheese, sour cream, and greek yogurt: I’m using spinach artichoke dip as the base for my cheese pide, except I’ve replaced mayo with greek yogurt to give it more of a Mediterranean flair.
- Spinach: You can used frozen spinach for this recipe. Just make sure you drain it well, using your hands or a cheese cloth.
- Artichoke hearts: I used a jar of quartered artichokes, drained well, using my hands. But you could also use a cheese cloth.
- Grated Mozzarella: Here I used freshly grated mozzarella cheese. I haven’t tested this recipe using a bag of grated cheese and know that sometimes the coating on pre-shredded cheese can impact sauces and dips.
- Crumbled feta: I like buying feta that is stored in a brine. This liquid protects the cheese from exposure to air, which causes it to dry out and affect its taste. In addition to the quantity used in the recipe, I recommend crumbling a bit more over the tops of your pide right before baking.
- Garlic
- Lemon zest: The lemon zest in the cheese mixture really brightens the taste of this pide.
- Cumin: A staple in Middle Eastern cooking and a great seasoning to pair with lemon, spinach and cheese!
- A pinch of allspice: Optional, but I love the warmth of allspice.
- Red pepper flakes: For authenticity’s sake, use Aleppo pepper if you happen to have any on hand, but otherwise, a pinch of red pepper flakes will do the trick.
How to Make Cheese Pide: Step By Step Pictures
Turkish Pide Dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisking together all the wet ingredients by hand: milk, water, oil, egg. Add the yeast.
- In a separate, large mixing bowl, sift together the sugar, salt, and flour.
- Then, add approximately half of the flour to the bowl, using a spatula to combine the wet and dry ingredients. You could do this with the dough attachment of your mixer, but I generally mix the dough by hand until it gets too tough to do so with a spatula. I find that it keeps me from sending flour everywhere. Gradually add the rest of the dry ingredients to the wet ones, switching over to the dough hook attachment of your stand mixer when it makes sense to do so.
- Knead the dough in the stand mixer for 10-15 minutes or until you have a smooth dough that is elastic and pulls away from the bowl without sticking.
- Roll dough into a ball and coat lightly with olive oil. Place in a clean bowl and cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap, setting the bowl in a warm place for 1 to 1 and a half hours or until doubled in size.
Cheesy Spinach Artichoke Filling
In a large bowl mix together the drained spinach, drained artichokes, lemon juice, cream cheese, Greek yogurt, sour cream, garlic, crushed red pepper, ½ cup of mozzarella cheese feta cheese, ground allspice (if using), lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Cover and place in the fridge until you shape the dough balls.
Assembling the Cheese Pide
Preheat the oven to 425F. Prep two baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper. Take the cheese filling out of the refrigerator so it’s easier to spread.
- Uncover the dough and divide into 4 equal portions. Roll them into balls and let them rest on a lightly floured surface for 15-20 minutes to allow the gluten to relax. (Doing this will make it easier to roll out the pide.)
- Then, take a ball of dough and set it down on a lightly floured surface.You will be working with one dough piece at a time — so make sure to keep the remaining dough pieces covered really well to prevent it from drying out.
- Flatten the dough ball with your hand. Then, using a rolling pin, start to roll the dough into an oval shape. If you notice that the dough is not stretching well, cover with a tea towel and allow the dough to rest for a couple of minutes to relax the gluten.
- Continue this step with the remaining 3 pieces of dough, placing them on the baking sheet once they’ve been rolled out.
- This is optional, but before I add the toppings to each individual pide, I like to take the piece of dough and give it a final stretch with my hands to ensure a nice thin crust. If you start with the first pide you rolled, it will have had time to relax a bit, and will stretch quite easily.
- Then, distribute the cheese mixture evenly among the 4 flat breads.
- Add grated mozzarella cheese around the edges of the dough (as shown in the pictures) and fold the edges up around the cheese, pinching as tightly as you can. Pinch or twist the ends to form a boat shape. If you notice that the ends are not pinching together add a little bit of water at the end of the dough.. Make an egg wash with one egg yolk and 1-2 tablespoons of water. Brush the outer edges of the pide with egg wash, and optionally, top with sesame seeds.
- Optionally, you can also crumble a bit of feta over the tops of your pide filling.
- Then, bake them at 425F for 25-30 minutes or until the pide crust turns golden brown. If you want to add an egg to your pide (the BEST brunch idea), you’ll want to add them 18 minutes in, and then bake for 7-9 minutes more.
- Cut into slices and serve with a spritz of lemon.
Note
Traditionally, Turkish pide is traditionally baked in a wood-fired oven, so if you have a pizza oven, you can use it to make pide. Try using my Ooni pizza dough for a fail-proof pizza oven dough. If you are using a pizza oven, your pizza will only need 2-3 minutes before being fully cooked.
Different Types of Pide
- Meat filling with ground beef or lamb or chunks of beef with bell peppers, tomatoes, and other spices
- Eggplant tomato pide for another vegetarian option
- Turkish sausage pide
- Plain cheese pide
- Spinach pide with diced tomato and seasonings
Storing Leftovers
Pide are best eaten warm, but, can also be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days in an airtight container. You can reheat individual pide in the microwave, or you can heat them for 8-10 minutes in an oven preheated to 350F or until the filling is heated through. Note: I don’t recommend reheating a pide with an egg on top of it.
📖 Recipe
Spinach and Cheese Pide with Artichokes
These Cheese Pide, stuffed with spinach artichoke dip, is my take on the popular Turkish flatbread recipe that’s traditionally stuffed with melty cheese and topped with a runny egg. It’s the perfect mash-up of East Meets West and it is as comforting as it is delicious.
Equipment
- Stand mixer with dough hook attachment
- Baking sheets
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
Pide dough (Turkish flatbread recipe)
- ½ cup milk warm 195 g
- ½ cup water warm
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon instant dry yeast
- 3 cups all-purpose flour approx 350 g Gradually add the last cup, add up to half a cup more if needed
Spinach Artichoke Filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup greek yogurt
- 1 garlic clove minced (1 tsp)
- ½ cup 76g crumbled, feta (packed ½ cup) – maybe add ¼ over top to crumble
- ½ cup 56g finely shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 14 ounce can quartered artichoke hearts, can liquid drained, squeeze artichokes to drain excess liquid, chopped
- 6 ounces frozen spinach thawed, squeezed to drain excess liquid
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- Finely grated zest of 1 medium lemon
- Optional ¼-½ teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste
- Optional ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper or to taste
To Assemble
- 1 cup grated mozzarella for the crust
- Optional More crumbled feta to garnish
- Optional 1 egg for each pide
Instructions
Pide Dough (Turkish Flatbread Recipe)
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisking together all the wet ingredients by hand: milk, water, oil, egg. Add the yeast.
- In a separate, large mixing bowl, sift together the sugar, salt, and flour.
- Then, add approximately half of the flour to the bowl, using a spatula to combine the wet and dry ingredients. You could do this with the dough attachment of your mixer, but I generally mix the dough by hand until it gets too tough to do so with a spatula. I find that it keeps me from sending flour everywhere. Gradually add the rest of the dry ingredients to the wet ones, switching over to the dough hook attachment of your stand mixer when it makes sense to do so.
- Knead the dough in the stand mixer for 10-15 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic and pulls away from the bowl without sticking.
- Roll dough into a ball and coat lightly with olive oil. Place in a clean bowl and cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap for 1 to 1 and a half hours or until doubled in size.
Cheesy Spinach Artichoke Filling
- In a large bowl mix together the drained spinach, drained artichokes, lemon juice, cream cheese, Greek yogurt, sour cream, garlic, crushed red pepper, ½ cup of mozzarella cheese feta cheese, ground allspice (if using), lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Cover and place in the fridge until you shape the dough balls.
Assemble Cheese Pide
- Preheat the oven to 425F. Prep two baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper. Take the cheese filling out of the refrigerator so it’s easier to spread.
- Uncover the dough and divide into 4 equal portions. Roll them into balls and let them rest on a lightly floured surface for 15-20 minutes to allow the gluten to relax. (Doing this will make it easier to roll out the pide.)
- Then, take a ball of dough and set it down on a lightly floured surface.You will be working with one dough piece at a time — so make sure to keep the remaining dough pieces covered really well to prevent it from drying out.
- Flatten the dough ball with your hand. Then, using a rolling pin, start to roll the dough into an oval shape. If you notice that the dough is not stretching well, cover with a tea towel and allow the dough to rest for a couple of minutes to relax the gluten.
- Continue this step with the remaining 3 pieces of dough, placing them on the baking sheet once they’ve been rolled out.
- This is optional, but before I add the toppings to each individual pide, I like to take the piece of dough and give it a final stretch with my hands to ensure a nice thin crust. If you start with the first pide you rolled, it will have had time to relax a bit, and will stretch quite easily.
- Then, distribute the cheese mixture evenly among the 4 flat breads.
- Add grated mozzarella cheese around the edges of the dough (as shown in the pictures) and fold the edges up around the cheese, pinching as tightly as you can. Pinch or twist the ends to form a boat shape. If you notice that the ends are not pinching together add a little bit of water at the end of the dough.. Make an egg wash with one egg yolk and 1-2 tablespoons of water. Brush the outer edges of the pide with egg wash, and optionally, top with sesame seeds.
- Optionally, you can also crumble a bit of feta over the tops of your pide filling.
- Then, bake them at 425F for 25-30 minutes or until the pide crust turns golden brown. If you want to add an egg to your pide (the BEST brunch idea), you’ll want to add them 18 minutes in, and then bake for 7-9 minutes more.
- Cut into slices and serve with a spritz of lemon.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
