Turkish Flatbread - Pide

The Turkish flatbread, pide, is often used as a base for the boat-shaped, meat- or vegetable-filled, pizza-like pides sold as street food and in cafés all over Turkey. But it's so good, you can eat it on its own.

Mix all the dry ingredients for the dough, stir in the yoghurt and then the water. When it forms into a ball, tip it out onto a floured suface and knead it for about 5-10 minutes. You'll see the kneading technique in my video, but basically you form the dough into a sausage, pull it to stretch it, fold it into three, turn it 90 degrees and repeat the process many times until the dough is smooth and elastic. 

Form it into a ball, cover it in oil and place in a bowl. Cover it with plastic film and leave to rise until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours.

When well-risen, tip the dough out onto a floured surface and  punch all the air out of it.

This quantity of dough is enough to make 2 pides about 30cm (a foot) by 25cm (10 inches), so divide it in two. If you don't intend to use the spare half, it will keep well in the fridge wrapped in plastic film for about a week, or you can freeze it.

Oil a large baking sheet and place the dough in the centre. Stretch it into a rectangle or oval until it covers almost the whole sheet. Brush with oil, cover with plastic film and leave to rise for about 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 210°C (410°F). When the dough has risen, make parallel furrows in it with your fingers. Brush all over with more oil, then sprinkle with nigella seeds (or sesame seeds if you prefer) and Maldon sea salt.

Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.