Easy meal, hands down

AT FAIRS, fetes and food festivals around Australia, one food reigns supreme.

And no, I’m not talking about the sausage sizzle, although I will always have a soft spot for a snag roll.

The new king of hand-held eating is a simple rustic food from the other side of the world, Turkish gozleme.

Thin, golden, crisp dough enrobing a rich, savoury filling, cooked on a flat-bed barbecue in a matter of minutes. You can have spinach and feta, sausage and garlic, lamb mince or spicy beef and onion. The flavour combinations can be traditional like these, but are also infinitely adaptable. Because the real key to this dish is not what’s inside, but the pastry itself.

The name “gozleme” is an adaptation of the Turkish word for “compartment”, referring to the way the dough encases the filling, and puffs gently when cooked.

Making the dough is simple enough, although a stand mixer will save your shoulders from a serious workout. It’s no more than flour, salt, water and oil, but the kneading will take 10 minutes in the machine, or half an hour by hand because developing a silky smooth consistency is essential if you’re planning to stretch it out.

Like strudel and filo, gozleme dough can take a few attempts to perfect, but once you master the right amount of moisture, it’s one of the simplest recipes to throw together.

Essentially, you need to add as much water as you can, right up to the point where the dough would stick to your fingers.

The only other essential trick is to refrigerate the dough overnight. This conditions and relaxes it so that rolling and stretching becomes easier. Then, keep the filling to a minimum, use a reasonable amount of oil on the grill, and make sure you serve them the moment they’re cooked.