Which Turkish flatbread is boat-shaped and often topped with cheese, meat, or eggs? The answer is Pide.
Pide is a leavened wheat-dough flatbread shaped into a rounded boat or elongated oval before baking. Its open top is commonly filled with ingredients such as minced meat, kaşar or white cheese, spinach, sucuk, pastırma, braised meat, or eggs. It is traditionally baked at high heat, often in a stone or wood-fired oven.
Regional styles vary across Turkey, and pide may be served as a substantial meal cut into slices. A person who makes or sells it is known as a pideci. The toppings and dough thickness can differ substantially between regions, so “pide” describes a family of related preparations rather than one single fixed recipe.
Lahmacun is a common comparison, but it is usually thinner and covered with a finely seasoned meat mixture. Yufka is a much thinner, usually unleavened flatbread, while bazlama is generally round and thicker. Pide’s boat shape and open toppings are its most recognizable features.