Blog

Bread and Pastry in Istanbul

• Tweet
• Sharebar

• Tweet

Bread and pastry may sound so trivial to many of us. After all, what’s so special with dough being
massage with bare hands and baked in an oven? But in Istanbul, it is a whole different story. Bread
is regard as an important staple food in the city. It is eaten with every meal, and there are bakeries
everywhere cooking fresh bread throughout the day.

Before you get acquainted with Istanbul’s different kinds of bread, it is best for a little history first
about the food. The bakers of the Ottoman Empire thought that Adam, the patron saint of bakers was
taught to make bread by the Archangel Gabriel. And to this day bread has major cultural significance in
Istanbul. It is usually baked twice a day, early in the morning and late in the afternoon so folks heading
home from work can have fresh bread at dinner time.

There are many types of bread available in Istanbul but here is some information about the more known
breads. “Ekmek” is the Turkish word for bread, but what it usually refers to is the most common of
Turkish breads which is white and soft on the inside with a golden brown crunchy crust. It comes as a
long oval loaf in regular, double or large bread roll size. It is the bread that most people eat during the
day. Then there’s borek. Borek is a baked or fried fillo pastry filled with salty white cheese (similar to
feta), potato or minced meat. Borek can be made in a large pan and cut into portions after baking, or
as individual pastries, and is usually eaten with breakfast or as an afternoon or evening snack. When

bought to take-away, borek is cut up into small pieces and neatly boxed with forks included.

When talking about pastry, there are sultans, a sausage shaped pastry with coconut in citrus flavors,
yummy, chestnut chocolates from Kafka in Istanbul. And then there is Turkish Delight (lokum) known
all over the world. You can also feast on pide, the basic version is flat and round, white with a golden
brown crust sprinkled with sesame and caraway seeds. Pide is familiar to all as pita bread which is good
for wrapping stuff up in. And finally the “simit”, a small, donut-shaped, firm, sweetened bread roll
covered in sesame seeds usually sold at every street corner. A convenient, cheap, tasty snack when
you’re on the move! Simit can also be found on cafe menus with fillings such as melted cheese or olives.

No related posts.