Gozleme (Turkish Pancakes) is a delicious savoury flatbread filled with various fillings such as mince, cheese, spinach or potatoes. The options for stuffing are endless and mostly depend on the region as well as on personal preferences.
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These incredibly tasty pastries are traditionally served for breakfast or as a snack but they now have become very popular street food over the last few decades. Whether eaten as a savoury snack or for breakfast, gozleme is the nation's favourite.
Gozleme (Turkish pancakes) is traditionally cooked on a gas-powered metal dome called "sac griddle" but the good news is that a good quality heavy-based frying pan would do the job.
Although it is a bit time-consuming to make gozleme from scratch, it is really worth the effort and time spent. You can prepare the filling or the dough in advance to save time. The gozleme dough is very similar to Bazlama (Turkish Flatbread) and Pita Bread dough. You can double the recipe up and freeze some of these scrumptious pastries. It is very easy to defrost them when needed. Simply cover them with tin foil and place them in a preheated oven to 180°C for 8 to 10 minutes or until they are piping hot.
Popular Fillings for Gozleme (Turkish Pancakes)
There are many options when it comes to deciding about what to stuff your gozleme with! Beef or lamb mince, feta cheese, spinach, potatoes, sucuk, pastirma, halloumi, cheddar, roasted red peppers. The list is only limited to your imagination. I will give the recipes for the most popular fillings but you can mix & match and create your own!
Filling for Mince Gozleme
To make the mince filling, put a heavy-based pan on medium heat and brown the mince until it releases its fat. If your mince is fairly fatty, you will end up with enough fat to saute the onions.
If you are using lean mince, add some olive oil to the pan and saute the onions until soft and translucent. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 30 seconds before adding the chopped tomatoes. Cook the tomatoes for a few minutes and then add salt, freshly ground black pepper, paprika and flaked chilli.
Remove from the heat, sprinkle on the chopped parsley and stir until nicely combined. Set aside and let it cool down before using. Add some cheese for extra deliciousness (optional).
Filling for Cheese Gozleme
To make the cheese filling, crumble the feta cheese into a bowl and add the grated kashar cheese or cheddar cheese along with chopped parsley and mint. Mix well to combine and it's ready to go!
Filling for Potato Gozleme
To make the potato filling, heat a heavy-based pan on medium heat and add the mince. Brown the mince until it releases the fat, breaking it down into small pieces with a wooden spoon. Add olive oil if needed and stir in the onions.
Cook the onions until translucent, and stir in the tomato paste, chilli, paprika, freshly ground black pepper and salt. Add the cooked and grated potatoes, saute for a minute and remove from the heat.
Filling for Spinach Gozleme
To make the spinach filling, heat a large pan or wok on medium heat. Brown the mince until it releases its fat. Break the mince down into small pieces with a wooden spoon while cooking. Add olive oil if needed and stir in the onions and garlic. Cook until translucent then add chilli, tomato paste, salt, pepper and paprika.
Saute for another minute. Add the spinach and cook for a few minutes or until the water from the spinach evaporates. Remove from the heat and let it cool down before using. You can add mince or cheese to the spinach filling as long as you adjust the amount of the spinach.
Ingredients and Substitutes for Mince Gozleme
- Minced meat - Use beef or lamb, or a mixture of both. Try and use mince with a minimum of 15-20% fat for extra flavour. Mince with high-fat ratio releases enough fat to saute the onions when you brown them, therefore, you don't need to add any olive oil!
- Onions - They add umami flavour and sweetness to the mince filling.
- Tomatoes - Red & juicy summer tomatoes are always the best option. Remove the eye of the tomatoes and cut them into small cubes.
- Tomato paste - It is the staple of Turkish cooking. It adds an umami flavour to the dishes as well as a bright red colour. You can find it in Turkish or Middle Eastern shops. You can also buy it online from Amazon.
- Seasoning & spices - Adjust the seasoning and spices to your taste.
- Parsley - It is one of the most popular herbs in Turkish cooking. Try and use fresh flatleaf parsley. Finely chop it before adding it to the filling at the end of the cooking period.
- Strong white flour - It is also known as strong bread flour. It is made from hard wheat varieties and contains more gluten than other types of flour. It gives some elasticity to the dough which makes it easier to roll out.
- Yeast - Use fast-action dried yeast or alternatively fresh yeast if you prefer. You need to double the amount if using fresh yeast.
Cooking Instructions
Making these delicious stuffed flatbreads is an easy task but requires some time and a bit of patience. To achieve the best results, you need to follow a few simple steps:
Prepare the Dough
You can prepare the dough up to two days in advance and keep it in the fridge until needed. Simply take it out of the fridge a couple of hours before cooking. To make the gozleme dough, place the water, sugar and yeast in a large bowl. and stir. Leave it for 10 minutes until it forms bubbles then add the salt and flour. Mix until forming a soft and sticky dough.
Depending on the type of flour or the humidity of the room, you might need less flour than the recipe calls for. Turn the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead it until smooth but slightly sticking to your hands. Add a little bit of extra flour if it's too sticky. Cover the dough with a clean kitchen cloth and let it rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until it has doubled the size.
Prepare Your Favourite Filling(s)
While the dough is rising, prepare the filling of your choice and let it cool down (if necessary) to room temperature before proceeding to cook gozleme. You can prepare the filling up to 3 days in advance to save time on the day of cooking.
Cook the Gozleme
After the dough is doubled up in size, divide it into 5 equal pieces and leave them to rest for another 15 minutes on a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle some flour on top of the dough balls and cover with a clean kitchen cloth. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each of the dough balls with a rolling pin into thin, flat rounds, about 25 cm ( 9") in diameter. Sprinkle a little flour as you roll the dough so that the dough won’t stick.
Scatter 3 tablespoons of the filling onto one half of the round and fold the other half over the filling and pinch the seams of the gozleme shut. Put a heavy-based frying pan or a skillet over medium heat, when hot, place the gozleme carefully on the pan and cook until the skin begins to blister and turn brown in some spots. Flip using a thong and cook for a few more minutes until golden brown.
Remove on a plate and brush with some soft butter and keep warm with a clean cloth or tin foil while cooking the rest of the gozleme.
Gozleme tastes best when they are eaten fresh out of the pan. The leftovers are great for a snack, picnics or packed lunch. You can keep them in the freezer for up to 3 months or in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Related Recipes
For more scrumptious Turkish pastry recipes why not try:
Gozleme is a great snack to eat on its own but if you want to have it for lunch or dinner, serve it with some soup like Ezogelin Soup, Thermomix Pumpkin Soup or Autumn Squash Soup and a bowl of salad like Greek Salad or Tomato and Walnut Salad (Gavurdagi Salatasi). Turkish tea or ayran (savoury yoghurt drink similar to lassi) are two popular drinks to pair with gozleme.
Yes, you can! You can freeze the gozleme dough or you can freeze the cooked gozleme and keep it for up to 3 months in the freezer. If you freeze the dough, make sure you defrost it overnight in the fridge and keep it at room temperature for a couple of hours before using it.
If you freeze the cooked gozleme, you don't need to defrost it overnight. Simply preheat the oven to 180 C and warm the gozleme in the hot oven for 8 to 10 minutes.
Gozleme tastes better when cooked on a gas-powered metal dome called a sac griddle or a good quality heavy-based frying pan. But you can bake them in the oven if that's what you prefer. Preheat your oven to 200°C, line the baking sheet on your oven tray, lightly brush your pastries with olive oil, carefully place them on the tray and bake for 15-20 minutes or until they are golden brown.
Top Tips From the Chef
- Knead the dough for at least five minutes to form a soft and elastic dough. It is much easier to work with an elastic dough without tearing it.
- If the dough doesn't roll out easily, let it rest for 10 minutes and try to roll it out again.
I hope you enjoy the process of making this scrumptious Gozleme (Turkish Pancakes) as much as you enjoy eating it! 🙂
Bon appétit! / Afiyet Olsun!
Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and tag @cookingorgeous on Instagram and hashtag it #cookingorgeous.
This post is featured by Twinkl in their ‘Pancake Day 2022’ blog'.
Gozleme (Turkish Pancakes)
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 250 ml tepid water
- ½ teaspoon fast action dry yeast (3 grams)
- ½ teaspoon sugar (3 grams)
- 370 g strong white flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- butter for brushing
For the Mince Filling
- 250 g beef or lamb mince
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion (finely diced)
- ½ tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 medium tomatoes (finely chopped)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon chili flakes (adjust to your taste)
- 2 tablespoon parsley (finely chopped)
For the Cheese Filling
- 150 g feta cheese (crumbled)
- 150 g kashar cheese or cheddar cheese (grated)
- ⅓ cup chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint (or 1 teaspoon dried mint)
For the Potato Filling
- 100 g mince (lamb or beef)
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion (finely diced)
- 200 g cooked and grated potato
- ½ tablespoon tomato paste
- ½ red chili or ¼ teaspoon chili flakes (adjust to your taste)
- ⅕ teaspoon paprika
- ⅓ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ⅓ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon parsley (chopped)
- 1 tablespoon dill (chopped)
- ⅓ teaspoon dried mint
For the Spinach Filling
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 150 g lamb or beef mince
- 1 medium onion (finely diced)
- 1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
- ½ red chili or ¼ teaspoon chili flakes (adjust to your taste)
- 1 teaspoon tomato paste
- ⅓ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ⅓ teaspoon salt
- 500 g spinach (washed, dried and chopped)
Instructions
Preparing the Dough
- Place the water, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. and stir. Leave it for 10 minutes until it forms bubbles then add the salt and flour.
- Mix until forming a soft and sticky dough. Depending on the type of flour or the humidity of the room, you might need less flour than the recipe calls for.
- Turn the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead it until smooth but slightly sticking to your hands. Add a little bit of extra flour if it's too sticky.
- Cover the dough with a clean kitchen cloth and let it rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until it has doubled the size up. Meanwhile, prepare the filling.
Preparing the Mince Filling
- Put a heavy-based pan on medium heat and brown the mince until it releases its fat.
- Add the olive oil to the pan and saute the onions until soft and translucent.
- Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 30 seconds before adding the chopped tomatoes.
- Cook the tomatoes for a few minutes and then add salt, freshly ground black pepper, paprika, and flaked chili.
- Remove from the heat, sprinkle on the chopped parsley and stir until nicely combined.
- Set aside and let it cool down before using.
Preparing the Potato Filling
- Heat a large pan on medium heat and add the mince.
- Brown the mince until it releases the fat, breaking it down into small pieces with a wooden spoon.
- Add olive oil if needed and stir in the onions.
- Cook the onions until translucent then stir in the tomato paste, chili, paprika, freshly ground black pepper, and salt.
- Add the cooked and grated potatoes, saute for a minute and remove from the heat.
Preparing the Spinach Filling
- Heat a large pan or wok on medium heat.
- Brown the mince until it releases its fat. Break the mince down into small pieces with a wooden spoon while cooking.
- Add olive oil if needed and stir in the onions and garlic.
- Cook until translucent then add chili, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and paprika. Saute for another minute.
- Add the spinach and cook for a few minutes or until the water from the spinach evaporates.
- Remove from the heat and let it cool down before using.
Preparing the Cheese Filling
- Place the crumbled feta, grated kashar, or cheddar cheese, parsley, and mint in a bowl and mix well to combine.
Making the Gozleme
- Divide the dough into 5 equal pieces and leave them to rest for another 15 minutes on a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle some flour on top of the dough balls and cover with a clean kitchen cloth.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out each of the dough balls with a rolling pin into thin, flat rounds, about 25 cm ( 9") diameter. Sprinkle a little flour as you roll the dough so that the dough won’t stick.
- Scatter 3 tablespoons of the filling onto one half of the round and fold the other half over the filling and pinch the seams of the gozleme shut.
- Put a heavy-based frying pan or a skillet over medium heat, when hot, place the gozleme carefully on the pan and cook until the skin begins to blister and turn brown in some spots. Flip using a thong and cook for a few more minutes until golden brown.
- Remove on a plate and brush with some soft butter and keep warm with a clean cloth or tin foil while cooking the rest of the gozleme.
- Cut them in halves and serve while they are still warm.
Video
Nutrition
FOOD SAFETY
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Don’t leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking points to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
See more guidelines at USDA.gov.
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Ayla Clulee
Delicious!
Sara beylibal
it looks very nice. I will definitely try
Ayla Clulee
Thank you Sara, let me know how it turns out for you 🙂
Olga
They are so delicious, remind me of my Turkey holidays! Your recipe looks very easy, foolproof!
Nigel
Love this recipe. I’ve made it many times before. This weekend I’ll be making it for guests
Lauren
A recipe that works really well first time. Excellent dough. A delicious fun snack; highly recommended.