Gozleme | Turkish Spinach and Feta Flatbread
Gozleme is a Turkish special flatbread with different kinds of filling. This is one of my favorites with spinach and Feta cheese. This is a wonderful flatbread that is crusty outside with a soft and chewy inside, and filled with delicious filling.
Gozleme has been on my bookmark list for more than 2 years. Ever since I first read this recipe, I have always wanted to make it, but it kept slipping out and I could not make it until now.
It is the end of our first week of the A to Z International flatbread series, and I have this delicious Turkish Gozleme for the letter 'G'.
What kind of filling to use in Gozleme
Gozleme is a very popular street food in Turkey and can be made with a variety of fillings. The fillings can be either sweet or savory, and there are several different savory versions.
The filling can be anywhere from potato to herbs to just cheese or spinach and cheese. The spinach and cheese combination is very popular in Turkish cuisine and can be seen as a filling for several other recipes, like this Turkish Cigar Pastry.
The dough for the Turkish Flatbread is pretty easy and is made with just the basic flour and yeast. There is also a little bit of yogurt to give it that tangy flavor, but if you prefer, it can be skipped.
Rolling fun
The fun of making the Turkish Spinach Flatbread is in the rolling part. The dough has to be rolled/stretched pretty thin to have a good ratio of the dough to the filling.
If the dough is rolled too thick, the Gozleme will feel like a mouthful with a very doughy feel. The rolling comes with practice, and I pretty much was able to get a very thin stretched dough by my third ball of dough.
What kind of cheese to use
I used an imported good-quality sheep milk Feta, and it had a very strong flavor. I am not a big feta cheese fan, and when making it otherwise, would happily swap it with another stronger-flavored cheese.
My boys and my husband thought like feta chees, and to keep their taste buds happy, I use feta quite often. I have mentioned not to use salt in the filling, as my feta cheese was very salty.
Taste your cheese before adding salt to the filling. I followed the folding technique mentioned in Ozlem's Turkish Table recipe. I have tried my best to capture the rolling technique for better understanding.
Preparation time - 20 minutes plus 45 to 60 minutes of resting time
Cooking time - 30 minutes
Difficulty level - Intermediate
Recipe adapted from - Ozlem's Turkish Table
Ingredients needed
To make the dough -
- All-purpose flour - 3 cups
- Active Dry yeast - 2 ¼ tsp
- Sugar - 1 tsp
- Olive oil - 3 tablespoon plus more to cook the Gozleme
- Yogurt - 2 TBSP
- Salt - 1 tsp
- Warm water - 1 ¼ cup (might need more or less)
To make the Filling -
- Spinach - 10 oz (chopped)
- Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
- Feta cheese - 8 oz
- Crushed red pepper - 1 ½ teaspoon (adjust based on spice level)
- Olive oil - 2 tsp
Procedure to make Gozleme
To make the dough
- I made the dough in my stand mixer. In the bowl of the mixer, add the flour and salt and mix to combine.
- In a measuring cup, heat about 1 cup of water. Add the active dry yeast and sugar to the water and mix well. Cover the cup and let the yeast proof for about 10 minutes.
- The yeast would be bubbly and foamy at the end of 10 minutes. If the yeast does not appear foamy, then the yeast might be dead, and you have to start with a new batch.
- Add the yogurt and the yeast mixture to the bowl along with the olive oil and start mixing. Add more water if needed to make a very soft dough. The dough would be very soft but not sticky.
- Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and make a smooth ball. Place the dough balls on a greased tray, well spaced, and cover with a plastic wrap.
- Let the dough rise for about 30 minutes to an hour or until it has doubled in size.
To make the spinach and feta filling
- I used frozen chopped spinach to make the filling for the Gozleme. In a microwave-safe bowl, place the spinach and thaw it in the microwave according to the instructions on the microwave.
- Squeeze all the extra water out of the thawed spinach and keep it aside.
- Heat oil in a pan, and once it heats up, add the chopped onion. Let the onion cook a bit.
- Add the crushed red pepper to the onions and let it cook for a couple of minutes more. Do not let the onions caramelize too much. Just cook until they are soft and translucent.
- Add the prepared spinach to the pan and mix well to combine. Cook for a couple of minutes more for the flavors to combine. DO NOT ADD SALT. The Feta cheese has a lot of salt, and that was just enough for the filling. Also, taste the cheese and then decide if you need any extra salt.
- Let the spinach onion mixture cool down to room temperature, and then add the crumbled feta to the mixture. Mix well to evenly combine.
To shape and cook the Gozleme
- Once the dough has risen, take one piece of dough and place it on a well-floured surface.
- Start rolling the dough to form a large circle, which is very, very thin. Make sure that you roll the dough very thin, or else the Gozleme will feel very doughy.
- Fold the two opposite sides of the dough towards the center.
- Divide the filling into 6 equal parts. Place one part of the filling in the center of the dough. Refer to the picture below to understand the folding technique.
- Now fold the other two opposite sides over the filling towards the center, overlapping and sealing the edges well.
- Heat a heavy skillet/pan on medium-high heat.
- Brush the prepared gozleme dough with olive oil and place it on the hot pan, oiled side down.
- Cook on medium heat until golden brown and then flip to the other side. Before flipping, brush this side with oil as well.
- Cook on both sides until golden brown. Make sure that the heat is on low to medium to allow the Turkish spinach Flatbread to cook all the way through. If cooked at high heat, the outside will cook quicker, and the interior will remain very doughy.
- Slice into 2 or 4 pieces and serve warm.
Expert Tips and FAQ's
- Make sure to make very soft and pliable dough. This helps when shaping the Turkish Flatbread, as it needs to be stretched thin.
- If using frozen spinach for the recipe, make sure to thaw and squeeze all the extra moisture. This helps in making the filling drier and shaping the gozleme easier.
- Be careful when adding dough to the filling. If your cheese is salty, you might not need extra salt at all.
- It takes a little patience to roll the dough thin. The thinner the dough is stretched, the less doughy and flavorful it will be.
More Flatbread Recipes
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Recipe
Gozleme - Turkish Flatbread With Spinach and Feta
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
Ingredients
To make the dough -
- 3 cups All Purpose flour
- 2 ¼ teaspoon Active Dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon Sugar
- 3 tablespoon Olive oil
- 2 tablespoon Yogurt
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 ¼ cup Warm water might need more or less
To make the Filling -
- 10 oz Spinach chopped
- 1 Onion finely chopped
- 8 oz Feta cheese
- 1 ½ teaspoon Crushed red pepper adjust based on spice level
- 2 teaspoon Olive oil
Instructions
To make the dough -
- I made the dough in my stand mixer. In the bowl of the mixer, add the flour and salt and mix to combine.
- In a measuring cup, heat about 1 cup of water. Add the active dry yeast and sugar to the water and mix well. Cover the cup and let the yeast proof for about 10 minutes.
- The yeast would be bubbly and foamy at the end of 10 minutes. If the yeast does not appear foamy, then the yeast might be dead and you have to start with a new batch.
- Add the yogurt and the yeast mixture to the bowl along with the olive oil and start mixing. Add more water if needed to make a very soft dough. The dough would be very soft but not sticky.
- Dived the dough into 6 equal pieces and make a smooth ball. Place the dough balls on a greased tray, well spaced and cover with a plastic wrap.
- Let the dough rise for about 30 minutes to an hour or until it has doubled in size.
To make the spinach and feta filling -
- I used frozen chopped spinach to make the filling.for the Gozleme. In a microwave safe bowl, place the spinach and thaw it in the microwave according to the instructions on the microwave.
- Squeeze all the extra water out of the thawed spinach and keep it aside.
- Heat oil in a pan and once it heats up, add the chopped onion. Let the onion cook a bit.
- Add the crushed red pepper to the onions and let it cook for couple of minutes more. Do not let the onions caramelize too much. Just cook until they are soft and translucent.
- Add the prepared spinach to the pan and mix well to combine. Cook for couple of minutes more for flavors to combine. DO NOT ADD SALT. The Feta cheese has a lot of salt and that was just enough for the filling. Also taste the cheese and then decide if you need any extra salt.
- Let the spinach onion mixture cool down to room temperature and then add the crumbled feta to the mixture. Mix well to evenly combine.
To shape and cook the Gozleme -
- Once the dough has risen, take one piece of dough and place it on a well floured surface.
- Start rolling the dough to form a large circle which is very very thin. Make sure that you roll the dough very thin or else the Gozleme will feel very doughy.
- Fold two opposite sides of the dough towards the center.
- Divide the filling into 6 equal parts. Place one part of the filling in the center of the dough. Refer to the picture below to understand the folding technique.
- Now fold the other two opposite sides over the filling towards the center, overlapping and seal the edges well.
- Heat a heavy skillet / pan on medium high heat.
- Brush the prepared gozleme dough with olive oil and place it on the hot pan, oiled side down.
- Cook on medium heat until golden brown and then flip to the other side. Before flipping, brush this side with oil as well.
- Cook on both the side until golden brown. Make sure that the heat is on low to medium to allow the Gozleme to cook all the way through. If cooked on too high heat, the outside will cook quicker and the interior will still remain very doughy.
- Slice into 2 or 4 pieces and serve warm.
Notes
- Make sure to make very soft and pliable dough. This helps when shaping the gozleme as it needs to be stretched really thin.
- If using frozen spinach for the recipe, make sure to thaw and squeeze all the extra moisture. This helps in making the filling drier and shaping the gozleme easier.
- Be careful when adding dough to the filling. If your cheese is salty, you might not need extra salt at all.
- It takes a little patience to get to roll the dough really thin. The thinner the dough is stretched, the less doughy and flavorful it will be.
This was amazingly easy and oh, so tasty! I reduced the crushed red pepper a bit, but my toddler still loved it!
these look amazing but i'm coeliac .has anyone tried making them with gluten free flour?
Mel, I have not used gluten free flour, but it should work. You might not be able to roll it as thin as this but it should work.
The Turkish flat bread turns out to be amazing!
i love the filling of spinanch and feta - this recipe is delish
This Turkish spinach and feta flatbread is so delicious! The filling was so flavorful. Everything turned out perfect. Thank you for sharing!
Wow! This was truly delicious. Thank you for all your great photographs which helped me with the recipe. Gozleme are a real hit here!
Hi! If you don’t use all of the dough, can you freeze it?
Absolutely. Just thaw and bring it room temperature before making it again.
I live at 7000 ft. Do I need to adjust for the elevation? Can I bake this in the oven air fryer?
Kristen, since this is not baked and cooked on skillet, it should not be a problem. I would not use an air fryer to cook it entirely as the inside might not cook well. But you can definitely reheat it in a air fryer after cooking on skillet.
My dough is sticky, I’ll try again. Any tips?
An very easy yummy dough works great every time! Thankyou
Thanks a lot! Glad the recipe works well for you. It is one of our favorite as well.
Amazing.
I am making these for dinner tonight and couldn’t resist and tried one. It is delicious!!! Thank you for sharing such a wonderful recipe!
I am so happy that you liked the recipe. Thank you for trying!
THANK YOU FOR SHARING, LOVED YOUR RECIPE
Thanks a lot! Glad you liked the recipe.
Seems to be too much water for the amount of flour...1 1/4 cups was too much. Ok, it was my fault, that I just look at the list.. I didn't See, that you wrote something different in the text... But should be the same please.. 😉
Wonderful recipe. I’m making this for quite some time now. Quite easy to follow steps.
Thank you 😊
Thanks a lot for your feedback! It is one of our favorites as well 🙂
Can I prepare these in full and freeze or even cook and freeze for ease at a dinner party.
Can someone please let me know if you can freeze portions of the doe mixture for later use ? Thankyou
Yes Theresa. You can freeze the dough and the bring it back to room temperature and use in the recipe.
So easy and yummy, thank you
Thank you!
These were delicious! We love the dough and will be using it for many other things. Thank you!
I am so happy that you liked the dough! It is very versatile and works for so many different kinds of flatbread.
I shaped as described, but found shaping them like jingolov hats worked better. I think fresh dill would make them even better. I used Swiss chard because that is what grows in my garden.
Thanks Debra! Dill sounds exciting and we love dill.
I love the filling of feta and spinach for sandwiches. will love to try this turkisk bread.. a wholesome filling meal for weeknights.
While I am not as skilled as you so that I had a bit of a fight with sticky dough, spent 4 hours making this and my gozleme did not look as wonderful as yours, I quite enjoyed this. Many thanks! 🙂
PS: Grand photos!
Julia, thanks for your feed back. Yes, this requires a little bit of practice and keeping the dough sticky is the key to make it thin. Do give it a try again and you will be surprised how quickly you will shape them.
Can it be baked instead of fry?
This looks delicious! Thank you for sharing this!
These are great! I honestly thought I'd be disappointed because, well, whenever I try something new it just feels like I did something wrong. But these tasted and felt great, I'm shocked I didn't burn them or something. I think I may have done the dough slightly too "thick", but it was thin enough to be cooked all the way through.
Any other fillings you can recommend?
And do you know if these can be frozen? If so, should I freeze them before they're cooked or after? I'm gonna try it myself, but thought I'd ask in case someone's already tried it! 🙂
Turns out perfectly delicious every time . I have made this recipe 3 times.
I have made the gozleme with a variety of fillings like mashed potato , chillie and cream cheese and chicken shredded with onions jalapeño and cheese as well as your spinach and feta.
This recipe is perfect . Thank you for sharing !!!
The filling is perfect.. thank you for the recipe
I replaced the dough with tannoor bread (Arabic thin round-shape bread) and brush it with olive oil before toasting it..
So delicious 🌷👍🏻
Thanks a lot Samia! Glad you liked it 🙂
Gozleme looks delicious I love anything with spinach and feta, they are wonderful combo.
This would be a perfect snack for me! I love everything spinach!
This sounds absolutely delicious. I must make this for my family. Love the flavors and how easy this is to make. So healthy too. Saving the recipe!
i seriously love anything with feta cheese in it. this sounds just incredible! The perfect snack or meal 🙂
Whenever we are in Turkey, these vegetarian flatbread is our first choice to eat, also at home for the weekend. Loving your step by step recipe pictures.
Can you post a gozleme with a meat filling?
I am a vegetarian and this is a Vegetarian blog. Sorry, I can't help you with that.
I can't wait to try this amazing recipe! It is explained so well with very good instructions.
Thanks a lot Mary Judith! Really appreciate your comment. Do let me know how it turned out when you get a chance to try it.
lovely recipe. Earmarked this recipe to try out very soon!
Thanks a lot Ginia! Do let me know how you liked it.
Looks yummy and got me inspired to try out all your flat bread recipes in 2019.
Question - can I use whole wheat flour instead of APF?
Thanks Aarthi! I will not entirely replace the APF with wheat flour as it will change the texture. You could start by using 50 % wheat flour.
Your Gozleme has turned out simply too good Sandhya. I enjoyed it so much when I had made for the previous edition. I found the feta that we got here was salty too, since it was the first time I had some time to get used to it. Spinach and feta filling sounds so inviting yaar.
Feta and spinach is such a yum combo.And your clicks are so delicious Sandhya.Nice choice for G
amazing, filling using feta cheese surely making it a great flatbread. Filling itself looking mouthwatering. Great share must say.
Glozleme looks delicious. The filling definitely must have given an awesome taste.
I love feta, I love crispy breads so I still don't know why I've not made this flatbread as yet. Yours with spinach and cheese filling looks very tempting and perfect.
I hate store bought feta because of its saltiness. But I do love the home made version with very little salt. Feta and spinach are such a great combo together and in this bread, it sounds so yum. The technique of rolling is so much like filo pastry. You have made it perfectly thin Sandhya.
Excellent choice Sandhya. The bread has been stretched really very thin. Perfectly made.
How fabulous this Gozleme looks especially am in love with this green and cheese filling. Have tried Gozleme with a different filling yet this spinach and feta stuffing tempts me a lot. You rolled them prefectly Sandhya.
The flaky Gozleme with spinach and feta cheese filling....awesome. Bookmarking it to try soon
The gozleme looks fabulous! The spinach and feta filling must have been delicious...awesome pick!!
I have no choice but to drool , seriously this is the second Gozleme in a row ! The feta and spinach is a lovely combo and I agree due to high salt in feta and even spinach one should be careful while making this stuffing .
Beautifully rolled , stuffed and presented . I wish I could just grab one single slice :))