Turkish Gozleme Recipe – easy, homemade, Turkish flatbread stuffed with your choice of four fillings: spicy lamb or beef, spinach and feta, cheese and herb, and potato and cheese. An easy to make recipe without yeast!

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The best Turkish Gozleme recipe!

A tender flatbread that’s perfectly crispy and golden on the outside and filled with savory Mediterranean flavors. You’ll love this Gozleme recipe!

An easy, foolproof dough without yeast
No rising
4 delicious, most popular fillings to choose from
Simple instructions for rolling and filling the dough
Easy to cook in a skillet

What is Gozleme?

Gozleme is a Turkish stuffed flatbread that’s popular in Turkey as a street food or part of a Turkish breakfast.

Traditional Gozleme is rolled out in a large, paper thin circle, filled with a variety of fillings, and folded either in half or like an envelope. It’s cooked on a sac, a large convex griddle, until golden brown.

I find the method of folding the dough into a semicircle to be the easiest and most straightforward. Since we’re making it at home, it's not rolled out as large and super thin because we’re limited by the size of our skillet.

Gozleme dough recipe without yeast

Turkish Gozleme dough without yeast is super easy to make. Simply mix the dough ingredients, let it rest, then roll it out into circles.

Many traditional Gozleme recipes contain just flour, salt, and water. I’ve added a little olive oil for softness.

You can also make a Gozleme dough with yogurt. Substitute ⅓ cup of yogurt for the olive oil. You may need a little more or a little less water so add it slowly until you have a smooth dough.

Fillings

Gozleme is filled with a variety of savory or even sweet fillings. I’ve shared the recipe for 4 of my favorites:

Spicy Lamb or Beef
Spinach and Feta
Potato
Cheese

The amount of dough in this recipe is enough for one recipe of these fillings. Or make half of one and half of another.

Spicy Lamb or Beef Gozleme recipe

My favorite Gozleme, it’s filled with a delicious mixture of ground (mince) lamb or beef, onions, garlic, red bell peppers, cumin, red pepper flakes or powder, feta, and fresh herbs. It’s not hot spicy, just wonderfully fragrant.

For the red pepper flakes you can use the crushed red pepper flakes or paprika that you find in the supermarket. Or you can try some Urfa biber (Urfa pepper), a Turkish Chile pepper that's distinctive for its dark burgundy color, irregularly sized flakes, and intriguing salty-sweet-smoky-sour flavor.

Spinach and Feta Gozleme recipe

Spinach and Feta Gozleme is filled with spinach, feta cheese, mozzarella, sliced green onion, and chopped fresh herbs.

My favorites are parsley and mint. I use a small amount of dill as it can be overpowering. Use just one herb or a combination. It’s harder to find fresh dill, so it’s no problem to leave it out.

Potato Gozleme recipe

Potato Gozleme is filled with mashed potatoes, sliced green onion, feta, and chopped fresh herbs.

Cheese Gozleme recipe

Cheese Gozleme is filled with mozzarella, feta, sliced green onion, and chopped fresh herbs.

How to make

Make the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes.
Make one of the fillings.
Divide the dough into 4 equal portions and roll into a ball.
Roll each ball out into a 10-inch circle.
Place ¼ of the filling onto half of the circle of dough.
Fold the other half over to make a semicircle.
Press the edges tightly to seal.
Heat a skillet and cook each flatbread, pan frying in olive oil until golden brown on both sides.

Make the Gozleme dough:

You can make the dough by hand or in a food processor or stand mixer. I’ve made it here in the food processor.

Combine flour, salt, and oil in the bowl of a food processor. With the motor running, add warm water until the dough comes together in a smooth ball. It should not be too sticky or too dry.
Remove the dough from the processor and give it a couple of kneads on the counter. Wrap in plastic and let rest about 20 minutes so that it’s easier to work with.

Make the filling:

Make only ONE of the following fillings. Or you can make half of one and half of another.

Spicy Lamb or Beef filling:

Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté the onion until translucent and beginning to soften. Add the garlic and sauté for 30 seconds.
Add the beef and cook until brown, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Add the cumin, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.
When the meat is cooked through, add the chopped red bell pepper and cook for 1 minute.
Take the pan off the heat and stir in the feta, green onion, and chopped fresh herbs. Let cool slightly before filling.

Spinach and Feta filling:

Combine the fresh spinach, feta, mozzarella, green onion, fresh herbs, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. It may not need much salt as the feta is already salty. Using your hands, squeeze the mixture several times. This helps to wilt the spinach, making it easier to work with.

Cheese and Herb filling:

Combine the mozzarella, feta, green onion, fresh herbs, salt, and pepper in a large mixing bowl.

Potato and Cheese filling:

Combine the boiled potatoes, feta, spring onion, chopped fresh herbs, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Use a fork to roughly mash the potatoes.

How to roll and fill:

Divide the pastry dough into 4 equal pieces and roll into balls. Keep them covered on the counter while you roll them out.
Divide the filling into 4 equal portions.
Roll out a ball of dough with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 10-inch inch circle.
Put a portion of filling on the top half of the circle, leaving a half inch border around the edges.
Fold the bottom half up over the top half and seal the edges, pressing firmly all around the edge to seal it shut.
Repeat with the remaining balls of dough.

How to cook

Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat to medium high heat.
Add the Gozleme and fry until golden brown, pressing it down so that all of the surface and the edges come into contact with the pan. Flip and cook on the second side, adding a little more oil if desired, about 2 minutes per side.
Repeat with the remaining Gozleme.

Recipe

Turkish Gozleme Recipe

Kelly

Turkish Gozleme Recipe– easy, homemade, Turkish flatbread stuffed with your choice of four fillings: spicy lamb or beef, spinach and feta, cheese and herb, and potato and cheese. An easy to make recipe without yeast!

5 from 6 votes

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Prep Time 30

Cook Time 30

Total Time 1

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Turkish

Servings wedges

Calories 280 kcal

Ingredients

For the Gozleme dough:

2 cups all-purpose flour 283g
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil 30g
¾ cup water 160g

For the filling: Choose ONE (Note 1)

Spicy Lamb or Beef:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves minced
¾ lb ground lamb or beef (mince) 340g
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes or paprika or to taste
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 red bell pepper chopped
3 oz feta cheese, crumbled 85g
½ cup green onions sliced thin
½ cup chopped fresh herbs parsley, mint, and dill (Note 2)

Spinach and Feta:

6 oz baby spinach, roughly chopped 170g
6 oz feta cheese, crumbled 170g
1 ¼ cups shredded mozzarella cheese 140g
½ cup green onions sliced thin
⅓ cup chopped fresh herbs parsley, mint, and dill (Note 2)
Salt pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste (Note 3)

Cheese and Herb:

16 oz 454g shredded mozzarella cheese
10 oz 283g feta cheese, crumbled
½ cup green onions sliced thin
½ cup chopped fresh herbs parsley, mint, and dill (Note 2)
Salt pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste (Note 3)

Potato and Feta:

2 lbs potatoes, peeled and boiled until soft (about 3 medium) 908g
7 oz feta cheese, crumbled 198g
½ cup green onions sliced thin
½ cup chopped fresh herbs parsley, mint, and dill (Note 2)
Salt pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste (Note 3)

To cook:

4 tablespoons olive oil Note 4

Instructions

To make the Gozleme dough in the food processor:

Combine flour, salt, and oil in the bowl of a food processor. With the motor running, add water until the dough comes together in a smooth ball. It should not be too sticky or too dry.
Remove the dough from the processor and give it a couple of kneads on the counter. Wrap in plastic and let rest about 20 minutes.

To make the Gozleme dough in the stand mixer:

Combine the flour, salt, oil, and water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the dough hook, knead on medium for 6-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth.

By hand:

Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the oil and water. Mix until it forms a shaggy dough, then knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.

Make the filling:

Make only one of the following fillings. Or you can make half of one and half of another.