Turkish Gözleme Draft

How I make it

Dough

1. Fit a stand mixer with the dough hook. Put the water, sugar and flour in the bowl and crumble in the yeast.

2. Knead for about 3 minutes.

3. Add the salt and knead for about 5 more minutes, until soft, elastic and slightly sticky. If the dough is too dry, add a little water; if too sticky, a little flour.

4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise in the fridge for about 2 hours, or overnight.

Vegetarian filling

1. Cut the spinach into wide strips and wash well.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and set a large bowl of ice water next to it.

3. Blanch the spinach for about 1½ minutes, then move it straight into the ice water to stop the cooking. Drain and set aside.

4. Crumble the feta finely and mix with the spinach.

Chicken filling

1. Heat the oil in a skillet and cook the chicken until white and cooked through. Remove from the pan.

2. Stir-fry the vegetables in the same pan.

3. When the vegetables are done, return the chicken, season with salt and pepper and take off the heat to cool.

Shaping and cooking

1. Take the cold dough out of the fridge and punch it down to release the air.

2. Lightly flour the work surface. Pinch off pieces the size of a small fist and shape them into balls.

3. Roll each ball into a very thin circle, about 1/8 inch (2-3 mm) thick.

4. Spread a little filling over half of each circle, lightly wet the edges and fold in half over the filling. Press the edges to seal.

5. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Carefully transfer one gözleme to the pan and cook for a few minutes, until golden underneath and puffing in the center.

6. Flip and cook a few minutes more, until the second side is golden.

7. Fill and cook the remaining balls the same way.

What I've learned

• The dough should stay soft, so I add flour while shaping only if I really need it.
• I trim the edges of the gözleme neatly with a pizza wheel.
• The feta gözleme is dairy and the chicken one is meat, so I make just one kind at a time.