Gözleme on a Wok: from Spirit and Spice by Ghillie Basan

Get inspired by Ghillie Basan and get outside to make these delicious gözleme, which are at their best cooked on an upside-down wok over a camp fire.

Gözleme on a Wok

from Spirit & Spice by Ghillie Basan

Makes 4–6

Gözleme are Anatolian flat breads, often rolled out to the size of a bicycle wheel and cooked over the arched dome of an upside-down cauldron. They can be drizzled with honey and sprinkled with sugar or they can be filled with savoury ingredients like chopped spinach and onions, potatoes and spices, and cheese and herbs.

When I make gözleme at home, I make small, plate-sized ones over an upturned wok, which always takes me back to my early twenties when, after working in Italy for a year, I walked and hitch-hiked from Venice to Istanbul through former Yugoslavia with a wok attached to my backpack. The wok was the most useful utensil I had as I could cook soups, pasta and stir-fries; I could heat water in it for washing myself and my clothes; and, turned upside down, I could cook eggs, bacon and flat breads on top of it. I even used to dry my underwear over the hot dome!

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 225g/8oz chapatti flour
• a pinch of salt
• a splash of vegetable oil

For the filling:

• 200g/7oz feta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon dried mint
• a bunch of dill, finely chopped
• a big bunch of mint, finely chopped
• a fistful of wild garlic leaves, coarsely chopped 
• 1 teaspoon pul biber, Aleppo chilli or finely chopped dried chilli
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve:

• a drizzle of runny honey

Method

Sift the flour into a bowl with the salt and add enough water and a splash of oil to make a dough. Knead until smooth and divide into four to six balls. Place the balls under a damp cloth for 30 minutes.

Crumble the feta into a bowl and combine with the egg, herbs, wild garlic and chilli. Season to taste.

Place your upside-down wok over a smouldering fire, resting it on logs or stones either side, and leave it to heat up. Place the ghee in a small pot beside the fire to melt it.

Stretch or roll one of the balls of dough into a wide, flat, thin circle large enough to cover the dome of the wok and go down the sides a bit. Brush a little ghee over the dough and place it ghee-side down over the hot dome. Let the flat bread cook for a few seconds, then spoon some of the feta mixture into the middle, spreading it as wide as you can.

Pull up the sides of the dough to form a parcel, brush the top with ghee and flip it over to seal and cook until brown, then flip it back again and cook until almost crisp.

Lift the parcel off the dome, drizzle with honey and chomp on it straight away while the cheese is soft and the honey dribbles down your chin. You have to be patient and make the gözleme one by one.

Buy Spirit & Spice by Ghillie Basan here.