Gözleme

Gözleme

Origin
Place of origin	Turkey
Type	Pastry

Gözleme is a traditional savory Turkish flatbread and pastry dish, made of hand-rolled leaves of yufka dough that are lightly brushed with butter and eggs, filled with various toppings, sealed, and cooked over a griddle.

The name derives from the Turkish word göz, meaning "compartment", in reference to the pocket of dough in which the various toppings are sealed and cooked. Typically, this is done over a sac griddle.

Toppings for gözleme are numerous and vary by region and personal preference, and include a variety of meats (minced beef, chopped lamb, fresh or smoked seafood, sucuk, pastirma), vegetables (spinach, zucchini, eggplant, leek, chard, various peppers, onion, scallion, shallot, garlic), mushrooms (porcino, chanterelle, truffle), tubers (potatoes, yams, radish), cheeses (feta, Turkish white cheese, lavaş, lor, çökelek, kaşar, kaşkaval), as well as eggs, and seasonal herbs and spices.

Originally a breakfast item or light homemade snack, the comfort food nature of gözleme has allowed it to achieve fast-food status in Turkey in the latter part of the twentieth century, with both simple and gourmet preparations ranging from the traditional (e.g. minced beef, "kıymalı"; spinach and feta, "ıspanaklı"; potato and onion, "patatesli"; etc) to the contemporary (e.g. chocolate and orange zest; walnut and banana with honey; smoked salmon and lemon; etc) proliferating across the country's restaurants, cafes, and food carts.

Images

• Gözleme
• 

  Traditional tableside preparation of gözleme in a restaurant near Antalya. A gas-powered sac griddle can be seen inside the red oven chimney to the right, with two thin wooden rolling pins ("oklava") and pastry brushes used to prepare the dough to the lower left, and the cook cutting up the finished gözleme on her pastry board table to prepare for final serving.

• 

  A simple example of a popular preparation of gözleme with spinach, parsley, and Turkish white cheese.

• 

  The filled and sealed pastries being cooked over a sac griddle until they become golden brown.

• 

  Finished pieces of gözleme resting flat on a table prior to being served.

• 

  Gözleme can be served flat on a plate with additional toppings, rolled up into a wrap, or cut into smaller mini-rolls, as depicted in this picture.

See also

• Çiberek
• Qistibi
• Qutab
• Murtabak

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Gözleme at Wikibook Cookbooks