Gözleme with Cheese and Spinach – Turkish Crispy Flatbreads Recipe
Gözleme are thin, hand-rolled flatbreads filled with a savory stuffing and fried in a dry pan. In Turkey they’re often bought from street stalls or markets and eaten for breakfast, a quick lunch, or as a snack on the go. The cheese and spinach version is delicate yet filling – something between a crêpe and a thin calzone.
These homemade gözleme bring the flavor of Turkish street food into your kitchen: thin, crispy flatbreads with a creamy spinach and feta filling that’s simple to make yet feels like a treat. The dough is yeast-based but easy to handle, and the flatbreads cook quickly in a dry pan without deep-frying.
Chef's tips
Make sure the spinach is very well squeezed so the filling doesn’t make the dough soggy. Roll the dough as thinly as you can without tearing it – this is what gives gözleme their characteristic delicate, crispy texture. Fry over medium heat: too high and they will burn before cooking through, too low and they will dry out instead of puffing and browning nicely.
How to serve
Serve gözleme straight from the pan with a bowl of thick yogurt seasoned with a pinch of salt and dried mint or chili flakes. They also pair well with a simple tomato and cucumber salad, or as part of a mezze-style spread with olives, pickles, and hummus.
Ingredients
- wheat flour - 350 g
- water lukewarm - 200 ml
- plain yogurt - 50 g
- instant dry yeast - 4 g
- salt - 5 g
- sugar - 3 g
- vegetable oil - 20 ml
- spinach fresh or thawed, well squeezed - 250 g
- feta cheese or another salty salad cheese - 200 g
- onion medium - 1 piece
- garlic - 2 cloves
- butter for brushing the cooked flatbreads, optional - 20 g
- black pepper - 1 g
Preparation
- Put the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast into a bowl and mix with a spoon.
- Add the yogurt and oil, then gradually pour in the lukewarm water, mixing until a soft, slightly sticky dough forms.
- Knead the dough by hand for about 8–10 minutes, until smooth and elastic; if it sticks a lot, dust it lightly with flour.
- Shape the dough into a ball, cover the bowl with a cloth, and leave in a warm place for about 30 minutes, until the dough has clearly risen.
- Meanwhile, prepare the filling: finely dice the onion and chop the garlic.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan, add the onion, and fry for 3–5 minutes over medium heat until softened and slightly translucent, without browning.
- Add the garlic and fry for about 30 seconds more, stirring.
- Add the chopped spinach and fry for 3–4 minutes, until the leaves wilt and excess moisture evaporates; set aside to cool.
- Add the crumbled feta and black pepper to the cooled spinach and mix the filling with a spoon.
- Divide the risen dough into 6–8 equal pieces and shape each into a ball.
- Roll each ball out into a thin flatbread about 2 mm thick, trying to use as little extra flour as possible.
- Spread a portion of the filling over half of each flatbread, leaving about a 1 cm border free.
- Fold the flatbread in half to form a half-moon or rectangle and seal the edges firmly with your fingers so the filling doesn’t leak out.
- Heat a large dry pan (without fat) over medium heat for 2–3 minutes.
- Place the flatbreads in the pan and fry for 2–3 minutes on each side, until brown spots appear and the dough is cooked through and lightly crispy.
- If you like a more buttery flavor, you can gently brush the cooked gözleme with butter immediately after taking them off the pan.
- Serve hot or warm, cut into triangles.
Storage
Usmażone gözleme przechowuj w lodówce w szczelnym pojemniku do 2 dni, podgrzewaj na suchej patelni, aż znów będą ciepłe i lekko chrupiące. Możesz je też zamrozić oddzielone papierem do pieczenia i odgrzewać bezpośrednio z zamrażarki na patelni lub w piekarniku.
