This Sucuklu Pide Recipe is made with a simple yeast dough, spicy sucuk, and plenty of kasar cheese. The dough rises for an hour, and the shaping is easier than it looks. Brush the hot crust with butter at the end, and it tastes like the ones from a Turkish pide shop.
There's a video linked in the post that shows you how to roll and fold the pides. One batch makes 4, and the leftovers freeze well. Serve them hot with a glass of cold ayran.
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What Is Sucuklu Pide?
Sucuklu pide is one of the classics at a pideci, the small Turkish shops that bake pide to order in wood-fired ovens. Pide has its home on the Black Sea coast, and every region tops it differently. Sucuk with kasar is one of the versions you'll see everywhere.
The pides are boat shaped, with the edges folded over so the filling stays in and the crust bakes crisp. You'll see the name written as sucuklu pide, sucuk pide, and sujuk pide, and they all mean the same thing.
Why This Recipe Works?
- The dough is 4 ingredients: flour, water, yeast, and salt. There's nothing in it you don't already have.
- Step-by-step pictures walk you through the rolling and folding, so the shaping isn't guesswork.
- Apart from the hour of rising, it's about 20 minutes of work from start to finish.
- If you can't get sucuk or kasar, chorizo and mozzarella work in their place.
- You can serve the pides for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, or slice them small as party food.
Ingredients You'll Need
Please scroll down to the recipe card below for the full ingredients list with measurements, complete recipe method, recipe notes, and nutritional information.
Sucuk
Sucuk Or Sujuk is a dry-cured, spicy, and fermented sausage made with mainly beef meat and fat and sometimes with lamb or horse meat.
It is widely used in Turkey, especially for breakfast to make the popular egg dish Sucuklu Yumurta - Turkish Sausage and Eggs. You will find versions of it across the Balkans, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
You can substitute it with chorizo, merguez, salami, or pepperoni. You can buy sucuk from Turkish or Middle Eastern shops.
Kasar Cheese
Kasar is a semi-hard yellow cheese that tastes like a milder cheddar, and it's often made from sheep's milk. It's a staple in Turkish cooking and shows up in all kinds of pastries. You can find it at Turkish or Middle Eastern grocery stores. If you can't get kasar, mozzarella, gouda, cheddar, or any other semi-hard melting cheese works well instead.
Other ingredients you will need are:
- Strong white flour - Sold as strong bread flour in the UK. It has more gluten than plain flour, which gives the dough its elasticity and helps it rise with a good structure.
- Yeast - Use fast-action dried yeast or alternatively fresh yeast if you prefer. You need to double the amount if using fresh yeast.
- Eggs - They are optional but strongly advised!
How to Make Sucuklu Pide?
Prepare the Pide Dough
Sift the flour in a bowl, then add the yeast and warm water. Mix until combined, and then add the salt to the bowl.
Gently mix with your fingers to form a dough; it will be sticky at that stage. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and then knead it for 4-5 minutes or until it doesn't stick to your hands anymore.
You can use a bit of extra flour if needed, but not too much. It should feel soft and elastic at that stage. Turn the dough into a ball and then return it to the bowl. Cover with a cling film or clean kitchen cloth and let it rise for an hour until it doubles the size.
Shape the Pide
Preheat the oven to 220° C - 430° F (fan oven). Grate the Kasar cheese and thinly slice the sucuk. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces (approx 160 grams/5 ½ oz each) and then place them on a lightly floured surface.
Cover with cling film or a damp kitchen cloth and then let it rest for another 10 minutes. Roll one of the dough balls into an oval shape 15cm x 35cm (about 6” x 13”) in size and ½ cm (¼") in thickness.
Spread ¼ of the grated Kasar cheese evenly over the dough. Top it with ¼ of the sliced sucuk, leaving a 1 ½ cm (½") border at the edges.
Fold the border over the filling and then pinch the top and bottom ends together.
Repeat the same for the remaining 3 dough balls. Line 2 large baking trays with baking paper and then gently transfer 2 pides on each tray. When the oven is hot enough, place the trays in the oven and cook for 10 minutes or until the filling is cooked and the pastry is lightly browned.
When the pides are ready, generously brush the crust with butter and then slice them before serving.
If you'd rather watch than read, the video on my Turkish Pide - Kiymali post shows how to make and roll this same dough.
Recipe Tips From the Chef
- Get the oven fully hot before the trays go in. Sucuk and kasar both release fat as they cook, and a cool oven makes greasy, floppy pides.
- If your dough is sticky, add a little flour to it. As you knead it, make sure to coat your hands and your work surface with a light dusting of flour. Add a few teaspoons of flour at a time to get rid of the stickiness.
- Roll the dough thin. It puffs up in the oven, and a thick base turns bready instead of crisp.
- Dust the work surface with bread flour rather than plain flour. It keeps the base crisper.
- Brush the butter on as soon as the pides come out of the oven, so it melts straight into the crust.
Variations
Sucuklu yumurtalı pide is the egg version. Crack an egg into the middle of each pide 2 to 3 minutes before the end of baking, and take them out when the whites are set.
Kıymalı pide swaps the sucuk for spiced ground beef. The dough and the shaping stay exactly the same, and the video post linked above has the full recipe.
Kaşarlı pide is the cheese version. My Cheese Pide with Mushrooms covers it, with mushrooms in the filling.
Serving Suggestions
Serve sucuklu pide hot, sliced into strips you can pick up. The classic drink next to it is Ayran, and something fresh like Çoban Salatası balances the richness.
For a street food lunch, roll a sliced strip inside itself and eat it like a wrap. For dinner, one pide per person with salad is a full meal.
Storage and Make Ahead Instructions
Once the pides are completely cool, wrap them individually in cling film. They keep for up to 5 days in the fridge, and they freeze for up to 3 months. Warm them in a hot ovenor on a pan for a few minutes before serving, until the crust crisps up again.
Recipe FAQs
No, you don't need to precook sucuk. Slice it thinly and it will cook and crisp up by the time the pide dough is baked.
Pide is boat shaped with folded edges, and the dough has no oil or sugar in it. It bakes hotter and faster than most homemade pizza, and it's sliced into strips rather than wedges. The sucuk version is sometimes called Turkish pizza, but in Turkey it's simply pide.
The oven wasn't hot enough. Sucuk and kasar both release fat as they cook, and a cool oven lets that fat soak into the dough instead of crisping the base. Preheat the oven fully before the trays go in.
Related Recipes
For more scrumptious pide recipes why not try:
Did you make this recipe? Please let me know how it turned out! Leave a comment below and tag @cookingorgeous on Instagram and hashtag it #cookingorgeous.
I hope you enjoy the process of making this delicious Sucuklu Pide as much as you enjoy eating it! 🙂
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Sucuklu Pide
Ingredients
For the Pide Dough
- 3 ¼ cups bread flour/white strong flour (400 grams)
- 1 cup tepid water (250 ml)
- ½ teaspoon fast action dry yeast (3 grams)
- ⅔ teaspoon salt (4 grams)
For the Sucuk Filling
- 7 oz sucuk (200 grams)
- 10 ½ oz kasar cheese (300 grams)
- 2 tablespoon butter (for brushing)
Instructions
Prepare the Pide Dough
- Sift the flour in a bowl then add the yeast and warm water.
- Mix together until combined then add the salt to the bowl.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead it for 4-5 minutes or until it doesn't stick to your hands anymore. You can use a bit of extra flour if needed. It should feel soft and elastic at that stage.
- Turn the dough into a ball and return it to the bowl. Cover with a cling film or clean kitchen cloth and let it rise for an hour until it doubles the size.
- Prepare the filling while the dough is rising.
Shape the Pide
- Preheat the oven to 220° C - 430° F (fan oven).
- Grate the Kasar cheese and thinly slice the sucuk.
- Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces (approx 160 grams/5 ½ oz each) and place them on a lightly floured surface. Cover with cling film or a damp kitchen cloth and let it rest for another 10 minutes.
- Roll one of the dough balls into an oval shape 15cm x 35cm (about 6”x13”) in size and ½ cm (¼") thickness.
- Spread ¼ of the grated Kasar cheese evenly over the dough and top it with ¼ of the sliced sucuk, leaving a 1 ½ cm (½") border at the edges.
- Fold the border over the filling and pinch the top and bottom end together.
- Repeat the same for the remaining 3 dough balls.
- Line 2 large baking trays with baking paper and gently transfer 2 pides on each tray.
- When the oven is hot enough, place the trays in the oven and cook for 10 minutes or until the filling is cooked and the pastry is lightly browned.
- When the pides are cooked, generously brush the crust with butter and slice before serving.
Notes
- Get the oven fully hot before the trays go in. Sucuk and kasar both release fat as they cook, and a cool oven makes greasy, floppy pides.
- If the dough is sticky, add flour a few teaspoons at a time and dust your hands and the surface lightly.
- Roll the dough thin. It puffs up in the oven, and a thick base turns bready instead of crisp.
- Brush the butter on while the pides are still hot, so it melts straight into the crust.
- If you can't get sucuk, use chorizo, merguez, salami, or pepperoni. Mozzarella, gouda, or cheddar stand in for kasar.
- For the egg version, crack an egg into the middle of each pide 2 to 3 minutes before the end of baking.
- Once completely cool, wrap the pides individually in cling film. They keep for up to 5 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.
Mia says
Love this recipe! The Pide turned out absolutely delicious. Will definitely keep in the recipe collection.
Trish says
Very different flavour but absolutely delicious! The dough was easy to make and it produced 4 well-sized pides
Gloria says
I have made this recipe twice already and came out perfect each time. Lovely recipe!
Rosa says
Looks delicious, on my list to do this weekend!
Ayla Clulee says
Hi Rosa,
Thank you and hope you enjoy it!
Best wishes
Ayla