One of my readers, Nurten, emailed me this week requesting the recipe for Pastirmali Ekmek.  Some of you may or may not be familiar with this very rich and extremely tasty bread, normally sold in a Turkish delicatessen or bakers on the streets of North London and in Cyprus and Turkey.  It makes a great lunchtime treat but probably not too often!  Being so rich, what with the spicy Cypriot sausage encased in a soft bread topped with tomato sauce and an egg for added cholesterol, it's not something I'd advise you eat too often.  However, it does make a tasty occasional snack and is even better when made by your own fair hands!  Afiyet olsun. 

For the Bread dough: 

400g Strong white bread flour

20g Fresh yeast (or a sachet of dried)

Lukewarm water to form the dough – approx. 250ml or more

2 to 3 tbsp Olive oil

1 tsp salt 

For the filling and topping: 

2 or 3 Cypriot sausages (Pastirma), sliced thinly

5 fresh ripe tomatoes, skinned and chopped finely – alternatively 1 or 2 cans of chopped tomatoes

1 sprig of parsley, finely chopped 

Eggs – use one egg per bread that you make 

Preparation: 

First make up your filling.  Slice your pastirma and fry gently for 1 or 2 minutes.  Add the chopped tomatoes and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes until thick and rich.  Season with the chopped  parsley.  Do not add salt and pepper as the pastirma is already highly seasoned and spicy.  Set aside to cool. 

Make up your dough as follows: Put the flour in a large bowl and mix in the salt and olive oil.      Now make a well in the centre.  Crumble in the yeast (or follow the instructions on the sachet for the dried yeast).  Pour in a little lukewarm water and dissolve the yeast.  Now add a little of the lukewarm water at a time, do not add all as you may or may not need it.  Draw in the flour from the sides and form a dough.  If you add too much water then add more flour.  You should have a soft but not sticky dough.  Knead for about 5 minutes and then put the dough in a clean bowl and cover with a  damp tea towel or sheet of cling film.  Put aside somewhere warm and proof until doubled in size.   

When the dough has doubled in size, knock back and knead again for 2 or 3 minutes.  Now break the dough up into tennis ball size balls.  As you shape each ball, keep the rest covered until needed.  The shape of your bread depends on you but in the shops they are normally an oval shape with pointed ends (bit like a flat rugby ball).  You can also use the entire dough and make one big one!  Roll out the dough until about 1 inch thick.  Fill the centre with some of the pastirmali tomato sauce.  Fold over the sizes leaving a space in the centre but overlapping the ends.  Place on a greased baking sheet and set aside whilst you make the rest.  Once they are all made allow to proof for about 20 minutes.  Glaze with some beaten egg and bake in the oven at gas mark 6/200*C for 10 minutes.   Now remove from the bread from the oven (it's not cooked yet) and turn the oven down to gas mark 4/160*C.  Crack a whole egg on top of each bread, carefully.  Put back in the oven and continue cooking until the egg and bread are both cooked.  Enjoy whilst warm!