Gozleme (Turkish Flatbread Recipe)

Gozleme, written “Gözleme” in Turkish, are crispy flatbreads made from a quick and easy dough and stuffed with delicious savory fillings. This recipe is stuffed with feta and spinach perfect for packed lunches, picnics, or just to snack on throughout the day!

Gozleme is our much-loved street food in Turkey and one of my favorite childhood snacks. In fact, my mother would prepare the crispy flatbreads for us to take to school in our lunch bags. The beloved snack is similar to other famous flatbreads like lahmacun and pide, except that the round dough is stuffed and rolled to make a half-moon shape.

Then, unlike lahmacun which is served open-faced, and pide which is pinched only at the top, gozleme is sealed around the edges. For this gozleme recipe, I used a simple filling of spinach, onion and feta seasoned with a hint of Aleppo pepper, red pepper flakes, and salt.

You can find gozleme all over Turkey, at street vendors, farmers markets, and cafes. They’re traditionally cooked over a round sac griddle, which is a wide, thin pan similar to a Mexican comal.

Thankfully, authentic gozleme is easy to make at home over a wide non-stick pan. Serve for breakfast with a cup of çay–the Turkish word for tea, pronounced: “chai.” Or, pack for lunch or enjoy throughout the day as a wholesome snack.

The origin of these stuffed flatbreads goes back thousands of years. Turkish Yörüks (nomads) were making gözleme as they traveled from Central Asia and settled in Anatolia, today’s Turkey.

The word gözleme is believed to derive from Turkish word “közleme,” meaning to “cook on the embers,” as the yörüks were cooking the flatbreads originally on embers.

Today, gozleme is enjoyed all throughout Turkey. If you get the chance to visit, you may see women rolling the gozleme dough into thin round sheets effortlessly over wooden boards in street markets and cooking them on the wide sac griddle.

Gozleme dough can be either unleavened, as I make it here, or made with yeast-leavened dough. I love the simplicity and ease of the unleavened dough, consisting of only a few ingredients. Please make sure to rest the dough for 20 minutes, as this will help the gluten to relax and make the dough easier to roll into thin sheets. To make gozleme, you’ll need:

The key to perfect dough, is to let it rest and roll it thin! Remember you're just cooking it briefly in a skillet so if the dough is too thick it won't cook properly. Once you get the hang of it, it goes pretty quickly.

Gözleme is versatile and accommodating–you can use the herbs and vegetables you have on hand for the filling. We use a variety of fillings in Turkey which differ throughout the regions. You may see a variety of fresh herbs added at the Aegean region or ground meat-based fillings in mainland Anatolia, for instance. Here are some of my favorite gozleme fillings:

Here are my tips for making the best gozleme:

And above all, have fun making these delicious flatbreads! Involve everyone in the process and let them have a go—they will love making their own gözleme!

Gozleme is convenient to make. You can make the filling a day ahead and keep covered in the fridge. Once cooked and cooled, gozleme will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days. Reheat over a non-stick pan for about 1 ½ minutes on each side over medium to high heat. I wouldn’t recommend freezing as they can get soggy.

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