01 April 2007

Poğaca (Turkish Cheese Pastries)


These Turkish pastries are fairly easy to make, and delicious. They are typically filled in with feta cheese, or lor peyniri (Turkish cheese similar to ricotta), although mince based potato filling is also common. Preparation time of dough is short, but the dough needs at least one hour of rising time. Once it doubles its size, the dough should feel light and fluffy.

Turkish recipes rarely specify the amount of flour required. I used approximately three cups, adding in the flour slowly so that the dough feels soft to touch. According to Turkish way, it should feel as soft as the "earlobe".

1 cup milk
2 teasp dry yeast
1 teasp sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 teasp salt
flour, amount as required
1 egg yolk
Sesame seeds and/or nigella seeds

200 gr feta cheese
1 egg white
1/4 teasp paprika
fresh flat-leaf parsley or dill

Bring milk to room temperature. Add sugar and yeast, and stir until melted.

Add butter, vegetable oil and salt, and stir. Slowly add flour and stir. Once it starts to blend in, knead lightly. Dough is supposed to be soft to touch.

Cover dough, and put aside so that it rises (an hour or so).

Set oven to 180 degrees.

Once the dough has doubled in size, break it into egg-size pieces. Spread each piece in your palm to have a round shape. Put in some of the filling, and bring opposite sides of the dough together to cover the filling. Place onto a lightly greased oven tray. Brush with egg yolk, and sprinkle with sesame seeds and/or nigella seeds.

Filling: Break feta into pieces using a fork. Mix in egg white, paprika and fresh herbs.

5 comments:

Teresa said...

The Pogaca look lovely and not too complicated. I would like to try to make them. Is your oven temperature in Celcius? How long do you bake these? And how many does your recipe make? Thanks.

Ceviz said...

Hi, Yes the temperature is in Celcius. Cooking time is approximately 20-25 minutes. Once they have turned golden, I check to see if they have cooked (no cooking time in the original recipe). The dough makes about 18-24 pogacas depending on how much dough you use per pogaca. Afiyet olsun.

Anonymous said...

These are lovely and would be great for breaking fast with soup. Thank you for your lovely recipe!

Anonymous said...

I used about three cups of flour and I added it slowly. At the end of three cups my dough was soft but greasy. Is that right? Should I have added more flour?

Claudia in Qatar!

Ceviz said...

It sounds right Claudia. The Turkish way of testing dough is to ensure that it is as soft as the "earlobe"! If softer, add a tablespoon of flour slowly. If harder, add a tablespoon of milk slowly to make it just right. Cheers, ceviz