Serves a Crowd

Berlin Gozleme

by:
June  4, 2011
4.7
3 Ratings
Berlin Gozleme
  • Makes 8 gozleme
Author Notes

My sister is spending the year in Berlin, 10 times zones and over 5000 miles away. She's been raving about a Turkish street food called gozleme. These filled flatbreads are prepared on large griddles for eager patrons who consume them standing up around crowded tables. I thought the distance between us might feel a little less vast if I could enjoy gozlemes too. I created this recipe to match my sister's description, with a yeast dough and fragrant lamb and spinach filling. We ate them, according to my sister's instructions, hot off the griddle, sliced with a drizzle of yogurt cucumber sauce. They were delicious, but Berlin still felt very far away. - Fairmount_market
—Fairmount_market

Test Kitchen Notes

Fairmount Market's version of the traditional Turkish street food, Berlin Gozleme, is a winner! A simple dough is filled with a delectable mixture of baby spinach leaves, Middle Eastern-spiced ground lamb and feta cheese, then grilled, sliced and served with a cucumber-mint raita. The first time around we didn't roll out the dough thinly enough—make sure each stretches out to about 9 by 12 inches. We may also have been a little heavy-handed proportioning out the meat as we ran out for the last Gozleme, but that turned out to be a plus as we filled it with baby spinach leaves, feta and some craisins and toasted pine nuts for my visiting (vegetarian) niece! - wssmom —wssmom

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • for the dough
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • for the filling and cucumber sauce
  • 1 small onion
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil (divide use)
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayene
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1/2 pound ground lamb
  • 2 cups baby spinach leaves
  • 3 ounces crumbled feta cheese
  • 1 cucumber
  • 1 cup Greek style yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 sprigs mint
  • 8 chives
  • salt and pepper to taste
Directions
  1. To prepare the dough, combine the yeast, sugar, and 1/4 cup warm water and allow to dissolve. Mix in remaining ingredients, alternating flour and water until the dough is soft but not too sticky. You may need a little less water or more flour, depending on the humidity. Knead well. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place for a couple hours until the dough has doubled in size.
  2. To prepare the filling, saute onions in 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium low heat until quite soft. Add the garlic and cook a little longer. Add in the spices, cook for a minute, then add the tomato paste, ground lamb and a generous pinch of salt and continue sauteing until the lamb is thoroughly cooked.
  3. Prepare the sauce. Peel and seed the cucumber and chop into small pieces. Mince the mint and chives. Combine the cucumbers, herbs, yogurt, lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Divide the dough into eight pieces. Roll into very thin rectangles. On one half, layer on a handful of baby spinach leaves, a heaping spoonful of lamb, and a handful of crumbled feta. Fold over the dough and seal the sides.
  5. Heat a skillet to a medium temperature so that the gozleme can cook without burning for about 7 minutes per side. Slick the surface with olive oil and place the gozleme on the hot surface. Once the first side is nicely browned, flip and cook the second side. Serve hot off the griddle, sliced, with a generous drizzle of the yogurt cucumber sauce.
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Fairmount_market
I'm a biology professor and mother of two, and in my (limited) free time I love to cook, which is much more forgiving than laboratory science. Last year I helped start a farmers market in my neighborhood, and to promote it, I created a food blog: fairmountmarket.blogspot.com. I enjoy the challenge of coming up with recipes for local, seasonal ingredients and finding fun ways to cook with my children.

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11 Reviews

Fairmount_market
Fairmount_market June 23, 2011
Thanks wss mom for testing this recipe and for the nice review. I agree that it's critical to roll out the dough very thin. Some gozleme recipes use a dough of just flour and water, but to recreate my sister's description I used a yeast dough. It need to be thin enough to cook through on the griddle. I love your suggestion of the vegetarian version of these.
 
Beautiful, M.
Beautiful, M. June 23, 2011
That looks delicious!
 
Fairmount_market
Fairmount_market June 23, 2011
Thanks!
 
Midge
Midge June 7, 2011
This sounds so delicious! I can relate re your sister and mine doesn't even live that far away!
 
Fairmount_market
Fairmount_market June 22, 2011
She's my twin sister and I can't wait for her to be back in at least a time zone where I can call her and chat about what she's cooking for dinner.
 
TheWimpyVegetarian
TheWimpyVegetarian June 4, 2011
This looks and sounds so delicious!! Hopefully you'll have the opportunity to visit your sister and try them there too.
 
Fairmount_market
Fairmount_market June 4, 2011
Thanks ChezSuzanne! I won't be able to go to Berlin this year, but I'll get to see my sister back in the States in August. I guess if I were to visit Berlin right now, I'd have to forgo the cucumber sauce anyway.
 
Fairmount_market
Fairmount_market June 4, 2011
I think these would also work on an outdoor BBQ, but they are traditionally made on a griddle and cooked until they develop dark spots or "eyes" (according to Wikipedia these get their name from Turkish word for eye, "goz")
 
Fairmount_market
Fairmount_market June 4, 2011
Thanks boulangere! I love spiced ground lamb in these. I just wish I could enjoy one with my sister in Berlin.
 
boulangere
boulangere June 4, 2011
Seriously, I can almost feel the texture of the fried dough and smell the savory filling. This might be great done over a backyard bbq, do you agree?
 
boulangere
boulangere June 4, 2011
Oh my! I'm off to Italy and France with the daughter in July, and one of the things I love is the rich variety of ethnic foods to be found. This looks wonderful - the dough, the filling, the street . . .