Kale and Cheddar Gözleme
Taking down a full pound of frozen kale feels like a Herculean task, but wrap the thawed contents in a stretchy, butter-riddled dough with lots of cheese, and suddenly, a pound doesn’t feel quite enough. These blistered stuffed breads are a joy to eat, hot off the skillet or cold and rolled up in a lunch pail the day after. Gözleme are customarily unleavened Turkish flatbread that take well to a variety of fillings. Ground meat, fresh or melted cheese, potato, or leafy greens are traditional.
The dough featured here is decidedly untraditional, starring a generous amount of butter and a pinch of baking powder. Both ingredients facilitate a particularly elastic dough that’s easy to work with and roll paper-thin. The dough will be damp, almost wet, on the initial mix, but after 10 minutes, it becomes springy and pliant. If you’re new to flatbread, know that you can use as much flour as you need while rolling out these gözleme; just brush off the excess with a pastry brush before cooking. Besides, a misshapen, blob-shaped gözleme is better than no gözleme at all.
Recipe information
Total Time
45 minutes
Yield
4 servings
Ingredients
Dough
Filling
Preparation
Dough
Step 1
Mix 1¼ cups (156 g) all-purpose flour, ½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt, and ¼ tsp. baking powder in a medium bowl to combine. Massage 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into ½" pieces, room temperature, into dry ingredients with your fingers until mixture looks shaggy. Pour in ⅓ cup room-temperature water and stir until a soft dough forms (if it feels very sticky, add up to 2 Tbsp. additional flour). Cover dough and let sit 10 minutes.
Step 2
Knead dough until smooth, about 3 minutes. Divide into 4 pieces, cover, and let sit while you make the filling.
Filling
Step 3
Squeeze one 16-oz. package frozen kale, thawed, in a fine-mesh sieve over the sink until very dry; transfer to a medium bowl. Add 1 bunch scallions, trimmed, finely chopped, 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped, zest of 1 lemon, 8 oz. extra-sharp white cheddar, coarsely grated (about 2 cups), 1½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1 tsp. Morton kosher salt, and ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes and toss to combine. Divide mixture into 4 portions (divide in bowl to save washing up; eyeballing is fine).
Step 4
Place some all-purpose flour in a small bowl. Working one at a time and keeping remaining balls covered, toss dough balls in flour, shaking off excess. Roll out on a lightly floured surface, dusting with more flour as needed, to a ¹⁄₁₆"-thick round, 9"–10" in diameter (it’s okay if it’s not a perfect circle). Place a portion of filling in center of dough (it will look like a lot). Fold 2 opposite edges of dough up and over filling, then fold remaining 2 edges up and over to completely encase filling (it should look like a square package). Press seam to close. Lightly press package down with your fingers or rolling pin to flatten to about ½" thick (it’s okay if the dough tears a little in some spots). Transfer gözleme to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Step 5
Heat a medium cast-iron skillet over medium-high. Cook a gözleme until golden brown and puffy with a few charred spots underneath, about 2 minutes. Turn and cook on other side until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining 3 gözleme.
