Name: Balkan-Style Brioche Stuffed with Potato and Chilli (Poğaça)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Turkey
Ingredients: 70 g (2½ oz) butter; 1 egg; 1 tablespoon vegetable oil; 2 teaspoons salt, plus extra for boiling the potatoes; 125 g (4½ oz/½ cup) plain yoğurt; 1 tablespoon sesame seeds; 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 300 g (10½ oz/2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting; 1 heaped tablespoon shredded kaşar (or mozzarella); 3 boiling potatoes (such as desiree); 2 teaspoons chilli flakes; 1 egg yolk; 1 teaspoon dry yeast; 1 tablespoon nigella seeds; 2 teaspoons sugar

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Anatolia

By David Dale and Somer Sivrioglu

Published 2015

About

The Turkish word poğaça (pronounced ‘poe-uchah’) comes from the same root as the Italian word focaccia: the Latin panis focacius, which means bread cooked in the hearth. That suggests it must have been a favourite of the Romans during their time in Constantinople. In the mid-seventeenth century, the travel writer Evliya Çelebi reported in his memoir Seyahatname (Tales of the Journey) that a sweet version of poğaça had been popular in the sultan’s palace