Pide

Flat pita-like bread 

Sponge:

• 4 tsp. Active Dry Yeast
• ½ tsp. Sugar
• ½ c. Warm Water
• ½ c. All-purpose Flour

Dough:

• 3 ½ c. Bread Flour
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 3 T. Olive Oil
• 1 c. + 1 T. lukewarm Water

Glaze & Topping:

• 2 Eggs lightly beaten
• Sesame Seeds or Nigella Seeds

1. Dissolve Yeast and Sugar in warm Water. Let stand in a warm place 10 minutes, until frothy.
2. Stir in all-purpose Flour and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise 30 minutes.
3. Place Bread Flour in a separate bowl and make a well in the center.
4. Pour the sponge mixture into the well, and add Salt, Olive Oil & lukewarm Water.
5. Gradually work in the flour to make a soft and sticky dough.
6. Knead the dough on a floured surface for 15 minutes. (The dough will be very sticky at first, but as you knead it will cease to stick to your hands. You will have a damp and very springy dough that will offer no resistance to kneading.)
7. Put the dough in a buttered bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise 1 hour until well swollen. (You can refrigerate the dough at this point until you are ready to use it.)
8. To shape the pide, divide the dough into 2 pieces, and shape each into a ball. Cover with a towel and let rest 30 minutes.
9. Flatten 1 piece of dough slightly. Wet your hands and press the dough outward in a circle until it is stretched to a 10-inch circle.
10. Paint the dough generously with beaten Egg.
11. Using the sides of your hands, mark a border ½-inch wide all around the edge.
12. Moisten your fingertips with the egg on top of the dough and make 4 horizontal rows of indentations parallel to each other, staying within the boarder. Then make 4 rows indentations the other way. (Let your fingertips go down deep, but do not pierce the dough.)
13. Sprinkle a baking tray with some flour or cornmeal. (In Turkey they would use a wooden paddle and bake it on heated quarry tiles but using a baking tray in the oven is a good substitute.)
14. Lift the pide (holding it by both ends) and stretch it into an oval shape while placing on the paddle.
15. Make sure it is well brushed with Egg, add more if needed. Then sprinkle with Sesame or Nigella Seeds.
16. Slide the tray gently into an oven preheated to 550^o Bake approximately 10 minutes or until it looks done.
17. Upon removing place the hot pide in a folded towel to remain warm and fresh while you finish baking the remaining dough.
18. Pide is best served fresh from the oven, but can be eaten cold or reheated in foil if necessary.