Learn how to make Gozleme, Turkish Bread. It's a type of flatbread, filled with a variety of savory ingredients and often eaten as street food. Easy step by step recipe for a delicious snack.
How to make Gozleme Turkish bread, Turkish pancake. Oh boy! This is a wonderful recipe. I had a minor discovery moment yesterday.
I was out in Nijmegen, Holland doing a spot of food shopping, and came across a Turkish grocery store so I popped in to buy some fresh chillis and herbs.
I could smell something really quite delicious coming from the back of the store so went to investigate. There, behind a counter, was a Turkish woman, who I discovered owned the store, together with her brother, her mother, her father, her husband, her grandmother........
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Anyway, she was cooking what looked to be like rectangular pancake things with different fillings.
Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me, only my memory. The lady told me she was making Gozleme, one had a feta cheese and spinach stuffing, one with minced lamb and parsley, and one had potato..and yep, you guessed it, parsley.
The lady showed me how she made them and only spoke Turkish so I had to try and remember what she did!
I bought 2 of these Gozlemes to try, the Feta and the lamb one. They were simply divine!
I've since returned home and scoured the internet looking for a recipe that fits what I tasted yesterday, and there are so many recipe variations, some with yeast, some without, some with salt, some without, and so on.
What I have done is experiment myself with different ingredients, that is to yeast or not to yeast!. You really must make these, or try and hunt out a Turkish food stall and get one. So delicious.
****UPDATE UPDATE!!!*****
After experimenting in the kitchen over the weekend, and tweaking the recipe, I've come up with a recipe for Gozleme which is as close to the Gozleme I tasted from the Turkish lady in the grocery store!. Please see below for what I consider to be a recipe which will waken your taste buds and wow your friends and family.
Ingredients
3 - 4 cups or 300 g - 400 g All purpose (plain) flour plus ¼ tsp salt
1 & ¼ cups or 300 ml warm water
1 x 8 g yeast sachet
1 & ½ tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
For fillings see below or you can make plain ones and use as wraps.
For the photos, I've made lamb gozleme
Instructions
1. Add the warm water (the water should be not so hot you can't put your finger in it!), yeast, and sugar into a jug and leave somewhere warm until frothy. Depending on how warm the surroundings are, anything from 10-30 minutes. The jug will look like the photo below when it is ready.
2. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl, together with the salt and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
Start with the minimum quantity stated for the flour. You may not need to use the extra. I used my Kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook attachment, so weighed the ingredients out directly into the mixing bowl.
When the yeast is frothy, add it to the flour mixture and start the mixture on a slow setting until all ingredients are combined.
Once combined, turn the speed up to about number 5, and let it knead for about 10 minutes. If kneading by hand, think of it as therapeutic, and knead on a flour-dusted surface for 10 minutes!
The dough will be ready when it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is too 'wet' and doesn't pull away from the sides, add the extra flour in Tablespoon increments. Each brand of flour is different and I have noticed the flour quantity does vary if I use different flour!
3. Dust your work top and hands with flour and remove the dough from the mixer.
Divide into 6 - 8 even size balls
and place on a lightly greased baking tin.
Cover with a clean cloth and place somewhere warm to rise so it doubles in size. It will take around 20 - 30 minutes.
TIP: When the dough has risen, you need to roll it out. For best results, this takes a bit of patience, but the results are well worth it.
Find yourself a chopping board, or greaseproof paper which you will need to use to roll the dough out onto.
If you choose to roll the dough directly onto a work surface, you will have great difficulty transferring the gozleme to the hot plate as it is so delicate!
If it’s on a board or greaseproof, you can lift the whole lot over to the hotplate and simply slide it onto the hotplate. Trust me on this!
4. Lightly dust the surface, your rolling pin, and your hands with flour. Roll out the dough into a rectangle shape, as thin as you can (a couple of millimeters).
Lightly brush the surface with oil
Taking the left and right sides, bring them to the center (see photo below).
Rotate the dough 90 degrees, and roll out again to form a rectangle.
Oil the surface, and fold one more time, and roll out again to the final rectangle shape.
The folding and rolling will give the final dough a lighter, more elastic texture. If you want the gozleme to be very crispy with very little 'bounce', leave the folding process out.
5. Time for fillings! See below for filling suggestions.
Brush the dough surface with a bit of oil and place your chosen filling on half of the surface, distributing lightly and evenly.
Fold the empty half over and pinch all the sides to seal the parcel.
Repeat for the remaining dough balls.
If you want to make these ahead, roll them all out and stack them on a chopping board or tray with parchment paper in between each layer and cover with clingfilm and refrigerate.
6. Now for the tricky bit! If you've prepared the Gozleme on a chopping board or greaseproof paper, well done for following my advice!, lift the whole thing over to the preheated hotplate and transfer it, with the brushed oil side down, onto the heat.
Lightly brush the other side with oil once it's on the hotplate. If you have a pizza paddle (most of us don't!), use that, or a fish slice will do. When the underside has started to brown, carefully turn the Gozleme over to cook the other side.
You might find it easier to use your spatula to slice the gozleme into 3 pieces whilst on the hotplate so they are easier to turn over.
When it's done, it will look like the photos you see below. Repeat the process for the remaining balls of dough.
We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our Gozleme Turkish Bread recipe. Did you make any changes or add some other goodies? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!
FILLINGS SUGGESTIONS
YOU CAN ALSO MAKE UP ANY OF THESE FILLINGS, ADD SOME SALAD AND ROLL UP LIKE A TORTILLA!
Minced / Ground Meat
Use any type of minced lamb, beef, chicken.
For this recipe, fry 500g of ground meat, a finely chopped onion, and a chopped garlic clove, 1 teaspoon paprika, salt and pepper to season and 2 teaspoons of Raz el Hanout spice to the mixture.
This gives a lovely North African taste to the Gozleme. Salt & pepper to taste.
Allow to cool before you fill the gozleme.
Ras El Hanout Spice Mix Recipe
If you would like to make up your own Raz el Hanout Spice mix for the above recipe, , the ingredients below will make around 3 Tablespoons, which you can store in an airtight bottle
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground coriander seeds
½ teaspoon cayenne
½ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
Feta Cheese and Spinach
Use approx 250g of feta cheese, (mozzarella also works well) broken up into small pieces, and a handful of fresh spinach. Avoid using frozen or tinned spinach as this is too watery and will ruin your dough mixture.
If you can't get hold of fresh spinach, chopped fresh herbs of your choice are also tasty, Flat leaf parsley, basil, coriander. You choose!
Don't use salt if your feta cheese is salty (taste it to try!) Add pepper.
Almond and Raisin and Honey
You may think this is odd, but if you like Peshwari naan breads, you will love this! It's lighter than naan and has a lovely sweet flavor.
You'll need a bag of ground almonds, a handful of raisins and some finely sliced almonds. Lightly drizzle honey all over the filled half. Distribute ingredients evenly on half of the Gozleme, fold over and cook.
Minced Chicken / Turkey with Chili
If you like a bit of heat, follow the recipe for minced meat above, and either cook the finely chopped fresh chili with the meat or if you like more of a crunch, sprinkle the raw finely chopped chili directly onto the rolled out Gozleme. Sprinkle chopped coriander / cilantro and or parsley, season to taste and enjoy!
If you've tried these recipes or invented some fillings of your own, let us know! We'd love to hear about your adventures of making Gozleme, and what flavors you ended up using. We hope you enjoy making these as much as we did....and enjoyed eating them even more!
We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our recipe. Did you make any changes or add some other ingredients? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!
Recipe Card
How To Make Gozleme, Turkish Bread
Learn how to make Gozleme, Turkish Bread. It's a type of flatbread, filled with a variety of savory ingredients and often eaten as street food. Easy step by step recipe for a delicious snack
Ingredients
- 3 - 4 cups or 300 g - 400 g All-purpose flour, plain
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 & ¼ cups or 300 ml warm water
- 8 grams yeast sachet
- 1 & ½ tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Add the warm water (the water should be not so hot you can't put your finger in it!), yeast, and sugar into a jug and leave somewhere warm until frothy. Depending on how warm the surroundings are, anything from 10-30 minutes. The jug will look like the photo below when it is ready.
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl, together with the salt and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. **** Start with the minimum quantity stated for the flour. You may not need to use the extra.
- I used my Kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook attachment, so weighed the ingredients out directly into the mixing bowl.
- When the yeast is frothy, add to the flour mixture and start the mixture on a slow setting until all ingredients are combined.
- Once combined, turn the speed up to about number 5, and let it knead for about 10 minutes. If kneading by hand, think of it as therapeutic, and knead on a flour dusted surface for 10 minutes!
- The dough will be ready when it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. See photos above. If the dough is too 'wet' and doesn't pull away from the sides, add the extra flour in Tablespoon increments. Each brand of flour is different and I have noticed the flour quantity does vary if I use different flour!
- Dust your hands with flour and remove the dough from the mixer. Divide into 6-8 even size balls and place on a lightly greased baking tin. Cover with a clean cloth and place somewhere warm to rise so it doubles in size. I placed my tin on top of the radiator and it took 20 minutes, however, times will vary depending on how warm your place is.
- When the dough has risen, you need to roll it out. For best results, this takes a bit of patience, but the results are well worth it.
- Find yourself a chopping board, or greaseproof paper which you will need to use to roll the dough out onto. If you choose to roll the dough directly onto a work surface, you will have great difficulty transferring the gozleme to the hot plate as it is so delicate! If it's on a board or greaseproof, you can lift the whole lot over to the hotplate and simply slide it onto the hotplate. Trust me on this!
- Lightly dust the surface, your rolling pin and your hands with flour. Roll out the dough into a rectangle shape, as thin as you can (a couple of millimeters). Lightly brush the surface with oil, and taking the left and right sides, bring them to the center (see photo on right). Rotate the dough 90 degrees, and roll out again to form a rectangle.
- Oil the surface, and fold one more time, and roll out again to the final rectangle shape.
- The folding and rolling will give the final dough a lighter, more elastic texture.If you want the gozleme to be very crispy with very little 'bounce', leave the folding process out
- Time for fillings! See below for filling suggestions. Get your hotplate on and heated up.
- Brush the dough surface with a bit of oil and place your chosen filling on half of the surface, distributing lightly and evenly. Fold the empty half over and pinch all the sides to seal the parcel. Brush the surface lightly with oil See the photo on the right, the dough is rolled out very thin so you can see the filling through it!
- Now for the tricky bit! If you've prepared the Gozleme on a chopping board or grease proof paper, well done for following my advice!!, lift the whole thing over to the hotplate and transfer it, with the brushed oil side down, onto the heat. Lightly brush the other side with oil once its on the hotplate. If you have a pizza paddle (most of us don't!), use that, or a fish slice will do. When the underside has started to brown, carefully turn the Gozleme over to cook the other side.
- When it's done, it will look like the photos. Repeat the process for the remaining balls of dough.
Notes
FILLINGS SUGGESTIONS:
YOU CAN ALSO MAKE UP ANY OF THESE FILLINGS, ADD SOME SALAD AND ROLL UP LIKE A TORTILLA! (SEE THE MAIN PHOTO )
Minced Meat - use any type of minced lamb, beef, chicken.
For this recipe, fry 500g of ground meat, a finely chopped onion, and a chopped garlic clove, 1 teaspoon paprika, salt and pepper to season and 2 teaspoons of Raz el Hanout spice to the mixture
This gives a lovely North African taste to the Gozleme. I buy my spices from a local Turkish grocery store. Allow the filling to cool before you fill the gozleme.
***If you would like to make up your own Raz el Hanout Spice mix, the ingredients below will make around 3 Tablespoons, which you can store in an airtight bottle.
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground coriander seeds
½ teaspoon cayenne
½ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
Feta Cheese and Spinach.
Use approx 250g of feta cheese, (mozzarella also works well) broken up into small pieces, and a handful of fresh spinach. Avoid using frozen or tinned spinach as this is too watery and will ruin your dough mixture. If you can't get hold of fresh spinach, chopped fresh herbs of your choice are also tasty, Flat leaf parsley, basil, coriander. You choose! Don't use salt if your feta cheese is salty (taste it to try!) Add pepper.
Almond and Raisin and Honey.
You may think this is odd, but if you like Peshwari naan breads, you will love this! It's lighter than naan and has a lovely sweet flavor. You'll need a bag of ground almonds, a handful of raisins and some finely sliced almonds. Lightly drizzle honey all over the filled half. Distribute ingredients evenly on half of the Gozleme, fold over and cook.
Minced Chicken / Turkey with Chili.
If you like a bit of heat, follow the recipe for minced meat, and either cook the finely chopped fresh chili with the meat or if you like more of a crunch, sprinkle the raw finely chopped chili directly onto the rolled out Gozleme. Sprinkle chopped coriander and or parsley, season to taste and enjoy!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 216Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 76mgCarbohydrates: 39gFiber: 2gSugar: 0gProtein: 6g
Nutrition information isn’t always accurate
Delicious Bread Ideas
Here's a selection of delicious bread recipes for you to enjoy!
Pani Popo (Samoan Coconut Bread Rolls).
Pani Popo are deliciously soft, fluffy Samoan coconut bread buns, baked in a sweet and thick coconut sauce. Sticky soft bread rolls, ideal for breakfast, dessert or as a snack
Soft Bread Rolls. Make up a batch of these to go with your BBQ, salads etc. These are light, soft and freezer friendly too!
Mini Donut Balls.
Delicious homemade mini donut balls, rolled in cinnamon and sugar, using a poolish starter to give tender and flavorful dough. Easy recipe and great for parties
Tear and share garlic parmesan bread, loaded with cheese and garlic, using refrigerated biscuits, baked in a bundt pan. A perfect side dish to share at a party
Light, fluffy, soft, vanilla custard filled buns. Eat these sweet bread buns warm or cold, I like them just from the oven! Freezer friendly too
Cinnamon Raisin Bread. A nice easy bread to make, using your bread maker or oven. Delicious toasted and served warm with some butter. This is also great to make French Toast, YUMMY!
Garlic & Herb Flat Bread. A wonderful easy recipe which is versatile enough to allow you to choose the herbs and flavors you enjoy the most! Freezer friendly too!
ALOHA BREAD! I MADE THE RECIPE SUPER EASY FOR YOU, THE ROLLS ARE SWEET, SOFT, AND OH YES, THEY EVEN SAY ALOHA WHEN YOU BITE INTO THEM!
Bannock Fry Bread, incredibly popular and can be eaten as a savory or sweet. A little bit naughty but oh so nice!
BLUEBERRY CREAM CHEESE SWIRLY BREAD. SERIOUS SOFT, STICKY, CREAMY YUMMY! HAPPY BAKING!
THYME AND SUN-DRIED TOMATO BREAD. A LOVELY BREAD RECIPE, GREAT TO HAVE ON IT’S OWN OR WITH A SALAD, COLD CUTS, OR SOUP!
THE BEST HOMEMADE CHALLAH BREAD EVER! SOFT AND SO DELICIOUS, BRAIDED JEWISH BREAD WITH POPPY AND SESAME SEEDS. POPULAR ON SABBATH AND JEWISH HOLIDAYS
EASY RYE BREAD. THIS IS A LOVELY STRAIGHTFORWARD BREAD RECIPE FOR RYE BREAD WHICH GIVES YOU A SOFT BREAD TEXTURE. GREAT TO EAT ON IT’S OWN OR USE FOR SANDWICHES. FREEZER FRIENDLY TOO!
No-Knead Heritage Bread recipe, a lovely soft bread, a mix of white and whole wheat flour, and a variety of seeds. Delicious served warm with a big bowl of soup or simply in slices with a generous spread of butter.
Crusty Philadelphia Italian Bread,easy homemade recipe and great for Cheese Steak Sandwiches, cutting into slices and using in dips..fantastic party food too!
Montreal Style Bagels, delicious homemade bagels. A wonderful soft bread, sweetened with honey and topped with sesame seeds. Easy instructions and freezer friendly too!
Homemade Fresh Bagels - Great instructions and recipe for how to get your bagels perfect! What toppings would you choose? Sweet or Savory?
Suzie
says:Thanks for posting this recipe. These were delicious and I will make them again and again. I used what I had on hand: ground turkey scramble fried with onion garlic and spices and a bag of fresh spinach a big handful of roasted cherry tomatoes and feta. This recipe makes a lot for two people and we will happily devour the leftovers!
Bronwyn Marquardt
says:I made it tonight and it was delicious. I have fond memories of gozleme from my time in Turkey. So easy to make and even the teen ate it! Thank you.
Jessie
says:Absolutely delicious. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Elizabeth Chilver
says:I’ve tried my hand at this today. It worked perfectly but the taste of the bread is a bit “off”. I’m going to cook up another one as I may well have used far too much oil. If it still tastes off, then I suspect its because the flour was a bit too old so I shall simply make up new bread with new flour and see if that makes a difference.
I adapted fillings I found from 3 different versions of this. Partly as I wanted something a bit more substantial and partly as its what I had in my fridge. My version has lamb in it:
1. Fry a pack of lamb and once cooked, drain off the liquid.
2. Add Pine kernals and mix together.
3. Wilt in butter a bag of baby spinach. (This should be wilted to be “soft” but not mushy). Drain off excess butter and add spinach to the lamb and pine kernals.
4. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. JUST BEFORE putting into the Gozelme bread, mix in Cream Cheese (I use the “Breton Cream Cheese” as its a nice lightly salted one). The warmth from the lamb and spinach will melt the cheese which is why it should be mixed just before lightly frying up the gozelme.
I have a lot of this left over as not enough dough and as I said, I have a feeling my dough is “off” but I can tell this is going to be divine when I get it right.
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Elizabeth, thanks for sharing your variations. The cream cheese sounds wonderful! If you have a lot of filling left then you could try freezing it until you have time to make another batch. I know the recipe is perfect because I’ve made it many times now and I’ve never experienced an ‘off’ flavour. Maybe you’re right and you just need to make a batch using fresh flour. I’m sure it will be delicious!!
Thanks so much for sharing your ideas, it’s always nice to hear how others vary the recipes!
Alyssa
says:I lived in Turkey (Izmir) for about 3 months … many years ago. There was a store near our apartment that sold pastry … huge sheets of the stuff, draped over long pieces of wood (almost like broom sticks) jutting out of the walls … thin enough to see through … and sold to patrons to make all kinds of lovely, Turkish pastries. Just outside the shop was a huge hotplate with a fire under it. This is where they cooked the gozleme for passersby. They’d spread the huge sheets of pasty onto the hotplate, put the filling on top, folding the thin pastry over and over the filing … constantly turning it as it cooked … as it gradually puffed up. The smell was almost intoxicating! These people have amazing skills when handling pastry/dough. When the gozleme was cooked, they’d scoop it into a paper bag … charge a minuscule 80 cents … and you were in Heaven! It didn’t pay to cook at home! I have NEVER found gozleme cooked in Australia, by anyone, let alone a Turk in a market place,etc … that even came close…
JamesYatman
says:My husband and I LOVED the year we lived in The Netherlands..we especially enjoyed the various ethnic food choice..Turkish being a favorite..we would often purchase Turkish Pizza as well as Turkish Bread Rings (Simit)….I long for these delicious Turkish pizzas..Will prepare your tecipe
Lovefoodies
says:Hi there! I miss the Turkish food too. I relocated back to the UK last year and I do miss the breads but at least this recipe will keep me topped up on my Turkish fix!! Please enjoy!
Tamara
says:How much salt goes in the pastry? Thanks
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Tamara, sorry I forgot to add the quantity! It is 1/4 tsp in with the flour!
Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Andreya Joy
says:They look very tempting. I like these type of roolls with different ingredeints. I liked it
Luna
says:Hi!
Is it possible to bake this dough in the oven?
Thank you!
Luna
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Luna, this needs to be cooked on a hot plate or fry pan.
Luna
says:Thank you!
birgul
says:Hi great recipe. Gozleme is so tasy. I am Turkish. I like see at your site.
Lovefoodies
says:Hi Birgul, thank you for your compliments. I really love Turkish food!
Lyn
says:Hi! That gozleme looks really good. Will try to make over the weekend. Where in Nijmegen is the turkish grocery store? I live in Nijmegen…
Lovefoodies
says:Hey Lyn! Gosh that is a coincidence. I am going there this afternoon to buy some chicken wings and lamb!! There are a couple of great Turkish shops there, directly opposite each other on the same street. the shop for the Gozleme is Meltem Market, Willemsweg, 6531DD. It is just off the N326, turn at the traffic lights and keep going down the road a little and you will see both the shops, one of the left, one on the right. They also have great fresh produce there, coriander, peppers and all lovely aromatic vegetables! Hope you get to visit there soon!
kewlbanana
says:Worked fantastically definatly the best recipe i have tried yet although mine still turned out really crispy. I was wondering what i could do to ‘uncrispy’ it? the ones in your pics look exactly like the ones i had in turkey!
lovefoodies
says:Hi there! I’m glad you enjoyed the gozleme!
I can suggest to things which could help to avoid the crispy texture, first would be to not have them too thin to start with (I am not sure how thin yours were). The other thing which will definitely make a difference is to cook them on a much lower heat so they have time to rise a little bit and stay soft, and cook slowly. I think if you have the heat too high, then they will go a little crispy. I hope that helps! I usually have my griddle on a medium heat until it is hot, then I turn it down to a low heat and just wait, and turn when I start to see very small brown spots (that means its ready to turn!) and then the same on the other side.
If you want to try and uncrisp ones you already cooked, you could try to pop them, layered , in some foil, and sprinkle a little water inbetween each gozleme, then wrap in foil and put in the oven on a low setting just to warm through. The addition of the water will help to steam them a little and add some moisture.
Good luck and please do let me know if my suggestions worked for you!
Brian Solomons
says:Thanks so much. These are absolutely terrific. We love them!
lovefoodies
says:Hey Brian! I’m so happy you enjoyed them! Don’t forget to experiment the next time with all the different fillings and let your taste buds go wild :)
Thanks very much for your feedback. Always appreciated!
Justine
says:You are a star!!! Thank you soooo much, worked a treat & tasted amazing…….
lovefoodies
says:Super cool! Wow and thank you! Glad you liked the recipe :) Makes me very happy! thanks for your feedback Justine!