Pog?ac?a: Cheese & Herb Turkish Pastry

Delicious savory bread rolls packed with crumbly white cheese and parsley. Perfect for tea time, breakfast time or any time of day.

If you visit a Turkish bakery, you would be hard pressed to not find Po?aça. They are an essential! Commonly enjoyed for breakfast or tea time, they are perfect to keep on hand especially for last minute guests.

The dough is a simple yeast dough but with egg and yogurt, it makes the dough a bit more tender. While cheese and herb filling is one of the most common, olive filling and potato filling are also popular alternatives to try out.

Here’s the recipe:

Po?aça

For the dough:

• 1 1/3 c flour (plus more for kneading and dusting)
• 2 TBSP thick yogurt
• 1.5 TBSP olive oil
• 1/3 c warm milk
• 1.5 tsp yeast
• 1 whole egg
• 1/2 tsp salt

For the filling:

• 1/2 c lor peynir (sub: feta cheese or ricotta cheese)
• 1/4 c chopped fresh parsley
• 2 T thick yogurt
• salt (to taste)

For the topping:

• 1 egg yolk
• 2 TBSP milk
• 2 TBSP sesame seeds
• 1 TBSP olive oil

Preparation:

To prepare the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the yeast and the warm milk until combined.

Then add the whole egg, olive oil and yogurt and continue to stir well.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour and the salt.

Then constantly stirring, add the flour mixture to the dough and keep stirring until it comes together.

Pour the dough onto a floured surface and knead it well for five minutes.

Then using the remaining 1/2 T of olive oil, grease a bowl and place the dough in the bowl, flipping it to make sure that both sides are covered lightly with the oil. Then cover with a damp kitchen towel and place it in a warm place to rise for one hour.

After one hour, divide the dough into ten small balls and cover again with the kitchen towel as you prepare the filling.

To make the filling: Place all of the ingredients in a bowl and stir well. Season with salt (to taste).

To assemble the Po?aça: Take a dough ball and flatten with your finger tips. Then take it and stretch it like a pizza dough until it is about four inches in diameter.

Then take 1.5 tsp of the filling and place it in a line close to the right side of the circle.

Fold over one side to the other to create a semi-circle. Then crimp the edges with your finger tips.

Dip your fingers in some olive oil and gently coat the bottom of each of the Po?aça and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Continue until all of the Po?aça are done.

For the topping: Whisk together the egg yolk with the milk and using a pastry brush, brush each of the Po?aça with the egg wash. Then sprinkle over the sesame seeds.

Bake in the oven for approximately 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve & Enjoy! They taste so good when they are warm!

Afiyet Olsun!