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RAMAZAN ‘PIDE’
A
taste of old |
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People
queue up for hours to buy Ramazan ‘pide’, an annual culinary
tradition associated with the Islamic month of fasting
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Due to the
difference between the Islamic calendar and the western
calendar, the month of Ramazan arrives about
11 days
earlier each year. As a major part of Turkish social life, this
traditional month of fasting therefore falls at different
seasons over our lifetimes. The dishes so carefully prepared
during the month also change in keeping with the season. But
there is one foursome that is never missing from the Ramazan
table whatever the season: olives, dates, gullac and Ramazan
'pide' (pronounced 'pee-deh).
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Pide baked during
Ramazan is an indispensable item on every family's table |
Dates and
olives satisfy the body's need for salt and sugar after a
day of fasting, while the unique dessert 'gullac', which
comes from ‘gullu as’ or 'food with roses', is prepared only
in the month of Ramazan. But Ramazan 'pide', a flat bread
that people wait for hours in front of bakeries to buy as
its freshly baked aroma fills their nostrils, is a Ramazan
specialty different from all the others.
FROM
INDIA TO THE ADRIATIC
Pitta,
pita or pide, however you say it, 'pide' reigns supreme over
a broad geography stretching from India all the way to the
coast of the Adriatic. |
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In
Anatolia alone there are a thousand and one varieties of it.
The meat-filled and tahina-flavored pide of Kayseri, the
country pide of Kastamonu, the 'open' and 'closed' pide of
the Black Sea's Uzungol region, the meat-filled bread of
Konya, and the famous Aegean pide constitute the unmatched
products of the art of baking in Turkey.
In fact,
pide is a variety of flat, almost unleavened bread baked
either on a hot metal sheet or in a tandour oven. |
Pide with sesame and black cumin seeds |
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Besides
the varieties of pide mentioned above, Ramazan pide, which
differs from all of them in its taste and composition, was
invented exclusively for this holy month.
No source
has yet been found concerning its inventor, but viewing it
as a cook I can say that it is a product of extraordinary
genius. Just as pide cannot be made from just any flour, so
too it is not always
possible to procure the special dour it uses. Inventing such a
product even under today's conditions would appear close to
impossible. Pide dough, which used to be made of special
flour and beer yeast, is made today with commercially
prepared yeasts. Since the dough is extremely soft, to
prevent sticking it is kneaded on a surface sprinkled with
whole wheat flour, which gives it a spacial flavor. After
being shaped, it is left on shelves to rise. In the old
days, when it had risen, the pide master brushed the surface
with egg yolk and sprinkled it with either sesame or black
cumin seeds. Today however a mixture called 'sifa', made by
boiling a type of flour with water, is spread over it.
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Two of the 'sine qua
non's
of Ramazan
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ONCE A
YEAR
We are
witnessing today the gradual loss of many of our wonderful
old traditions. Ramazan pide for us is great blessing, not
to be forgotten in time's relentless flow. So why do we
enjoy this delicious bread only in the month of Ramazan? The
question is understandable but there are many logical
reasons for it, foremost among them the difficult
workmanship involved, the special ingredients required, the
fact that it cannot be factory-produced like today's loaves,
that it quickly goes stale and must be consumed absolutely
fresh-all factors that make Ramazan pide more expensive than
normal bread. |
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Throughout
the month of Ramazan, which is holy to all Muslims, people
generally do not hesitate to spend more lavishly by buying
pide, which costs more than normal bread.
But those
luscious pides can cause major economic hardship during the
other months of the year. There is also the sentimental
aspect. If the Ramazan pide whose taste and aroma we long
for throughout the year were there on the grocer's shelf
every day, wouldn't it lose something of its special taste
and ritual? But let's forget all that and stick to the old
ways. Let us live with the memory of pide the year round and
count the days to the next Ramazan! |
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Because the kneading and shaping of pide dough requires
great expertise, gakeries employ temporary pide masters
every Ramazan
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Source: Skylife 11/04 |
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Vedat Baţaran & Önder Durmaz |
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