Kiymali Pide

Kiymali Pide is basically Turkish pizza. I wasn't really looking forward to making this because it involved making dough and using lamb. My success rate in making breads for this project has not been good. It's actually been really terrible so I was a little worried about that part. As for the lamb, I think I've mentioned before that I'm not a fan of lamb and I was afraid we'd have a repeat of the Finnish Liver Casserole...

Ingredients

Preheat oven to 350

I didn't take a pic of the ingredients for the dough.

3 cups plus 1 tbsp flour

1 tsp salt

4 tsps yeast

1 cup warm water

3 tbsp olive oil

Dissolve the yeast in a half cup of the warm water. Let it sit for five minutes until it's frothy. Mix the 3 cups of flour and salt together. Make a well in the middle and pour in the yeast mixture and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Pour in the other half cup of water and mix well. Knead with your hands for 3-5 minutes, until the dough is smooth. The recipe says the dough can get sticky so you can pour in the additional tablespoon and flour to help with that. I didn't have this happen. Place the dough in a large bowl and cover it with cling film. Let it rest for an hour in a warm place so it can double in size.

For the filling

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped

14 oz ground beef, lamb, or mixture. I used lamb.

2 tomatoes, deseeded and diced. I didn't have tomatoes so I used 2 tbsps tomato paste.

1 tbsp lemon juice. I didn't have any lemons so I just eliminated it.

1 tbsp olive oil

1 egg plus 1 tbsp olive oil to brush on the bread

S&P to taste

Saute the olives and peppers until soft. Add the tomatoes, lemon juice, and S&P. Turn off the heat. Mix the veggies with the meat in a bowl.

After the dough has risen, place it on a lightly floured surface and knead for another minute. Divide the dough into two rolled balls. Roll each ball into an oval shape of about 8"x16" and .2" thick. Line a baking tray with baking paper and place the ovals on the tray. I used two trays and you want to put the dough on the tray before putting in the filling. It's hard to transport onto a tray after the fact. Spread the filling evenly onto each oval and leave about a 2 cm at the edges without filling. Fold in the sides to keep the filling intact and squeeze the ends together to make a point. Brush the edges with the egg/oil mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

These were a lot tastier than I expected! The crust was really light, which surprised me because I guess I was expecting something like greasy, pizza dough. It was also crispy and not too thick. The filling was great, too. I think it would have tasted gamier had I used fresh tomatoes but the tomato paste offset that flavor. I had to plan this meal a little more because of the amount of time it took to let the dough rise but this would be good on a night when I have more time. I think it would be just as good with beef and definitely more accessible.

The girls ate hot dogs and yogurt.