Fun fact: There is hardly any flatbread in Turkey. Instead, long loaves of bread are offered everywhere. Crispy, fluffy on the inside and reminiscent of a baguette. In the fasting month of Ramadan, the tables are turned. This is when all bakeries often only offer the long "Ramadan flatbread" (Ramazan Pidesi) or thick flatbreads with or without an egg on top. The bread culture in Turkey therefore goes far beyond normal flatbread (and white bread).
We would therefore like to show you our simple no knead bread recipe. This is called "cörek" in Turkish. At least in some places in Turkey, like in Aksaray. Because we copied this flatbread recipe from our mum (in-law). In other provinces corek could also be a simple yeast pastry or even a börek.
The great thing about Turkish baking is that there is no right or wrong. In most Turkish recipes, for example, you will find the specification "as much flour as necessary". Or, for example, "1 kilo flour, water, salt"... so you are dependent on your sense of proportion. And as insecure as you may feel at the beginning, you will experience so much fun and freedom at the end. This also applies to our corek recipe.
My mother (in-law) always prepared the Cörek with a very light dough. Stirring it with a wooden spoon is perfectly sufficient. However, when her daughter once told her that her mother-in-law would make Cörek with a very firm yeast dough, the answer was something like "Haa (Turkish sound for "yes"), Cörek is always good.". So don't worry: if you can't do anything wrong, the Cörek can only turn out well.
You can also sprinkle the Turkish bread with Gouda or Turkish kashkawal cheese (kaşar) before baking. Then it tastes like cheese sticks. With a little white cheese made from cow's milk or sheep's cheese, it tastes like börek again. Either way, this simple recipe always produces delicious bread.
Our tip: Enjoy with butter, brine cheese and tea.
Corek recipe: easy no-knead Turkish bread
Ingredients (for one baking tray)
- 360 milliliters/1,5 cups milk (or water or mixed)
- 500 grams/2 cups flour
- 1 yeast cube
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp sugar
In addition
- 3 tablespoons yogurt
- 1 egg
- a dash of oil (approx. 2 tbsp)
- optional sesame seeds and black cumin*
Preparation
Step 1: Put the yeast, milk, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. Stir everything with a wooden spoon until the yeast dissolves.
Step 2: Slowly add the flour and continue stirring the dough. It should not be tough. Once all the flour has been stirred into the dough, cover and leave to rise for approx. 30 minutes.
Step 3: Whisk the yogurt, egg and oil in a bowl.
Step 4: Tip the entire dough onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Do not shape! Now it gets fun. Pour the yoghurt-egg-oil mixture onto the pile of dough and press it in with both hands. Pull and press the dough over the whole baking tray and spread the mixture all over the bread at the same time.
Step 5: Sprinkle the flatbread with sesame seeds and/or black cumin if desired. Bake the bread at 180 °C/350 °F until golden brown.
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