Turkish Flatbreads Explained: Pide, Lahmacun, Gözleme, Bazlama, Lavaş & Simit

Quick answer: Pide is a boat-shaped, oven-baked yeasted bread with toppings. Lahmacun is a very thin, crisp round topped with spiced minced meat, rolled up to eat. Gözleme is thin unleavened dough folded around a filling and cooked on a griddle. Bazlama is a thick, fluffy pan bread. Lavaş is a thin, soft wrap. Simit is a sesame-crusted bread ring.

Key takeaways

• Pide and lahmacun are often called "Turkish pizza", but lahmacun is thinner, has no cheese and is eaten rolled.
• Gözleme and lavaş can be made without yeast. Bazlama and pide are yeasted.
• Gözleme and bazlama are traditionally cooked on a griddle or pan, so you don't need a stone oven.
• Simit is dipped in grape molasses water before being covered in sesame. That's where its colour and crunch come from.

Turkish breads at a glance

Pide vs lahmacun: the "Turkish pizza" confusion

Pide is a yeasted dough shaped into a long boat with the edges folded up and filled with toppings such as cheese, minced meat, sucuk or egg. It's baked in a very hot oven until the edges puff and blister. Each region has its own shape and filling. Black Sea pide is long and buttery, and Konya's etli ekmek is extremely thin.

Lahmacun (from Arabic lahm bi'ajin, "meat with dough") is a thin round spread with a raw paste of minced meat, onion, pepper, tomato and parsley. It bakes in minutes, so the meat cooks straight onto the crisp base. To eat it the traditional way, top it with parsley, onion and lemon, roll it up and eat it by hand. Make our crispy lahmacun recipe, and learn how to get it right in a home oven or pan with our stone-oven-style lahmacun guide.

Gözleme: the village griddle pastry

Gözleme is made from a simple dough of flour, water and salt, rolled very thin, filled, folded and cooked on a hot sac griddle. Village women still roll it by hand at weekend markets. Fillings range from white cheese and parsley to spinach, potato or minced meat. In Cyprus it's filled with hellim. Try our hand-rolled cheese gözleme, spinach gözleme or Cypriot halloumi gözleme.

Bazlama and lavaş: the pan breads

Bazlama is a thick, soft yeasted bread, often made with yogurt, and cooked in a dry pan until it puffs up. It's excellent warm with butter, honey or cheese. Here's our village bazlama recipe.

Lavaş is thinner and softer and is used to wrap kebabs, or baked until it puffs into a balloon as a starter in kebab restaurants. See our quick lavash recipe and our guide to making lavash and bazlama puff in a pan.

Simit: Turkey's sesame bread ring

Street sellers carry simit on trays on their heads all over Turkey. The dough is twisted into a ring, dipped in water mixed with grape molasses (pekmez), coated in toasted sesame and baked until deep brown. The molasses helps the sesame stick and gives simit its colour and slightly sweet crust. Bake it at home with our street simit recipe.

Katmer and yufka: the thin doughs

Yufka is a paper-thin sheet that is the basis of börek (see our guide to Turkish börek). Katmer is dough stretched until it's almost transparent, then folded around fillings. Gaziantep's breakfast katmer is filled with pistachios, sugar and kaymak. Try our Gaziantep katmer. To learn how to roll thin sheets yourself, read our homemade yufka guide.

Cypriot breads worth knowing

Cyprus has its own bread tradition too: bitta with halloumi and olives, sesame-topped çörek, and the Easter cheese pastry flaouna. Nicosia's walled city still has traditional stone-oven bakeries. Read about them in our Nicosia bakery culture guide.

Which bread for which meal?

• Breakfast: simit, bazlama, gözleme, katmer
• Kebabs and grills: lavaş, pide
• Quick lunch or street food: lahmacun, gözleme, pide
• Soups and dips: bazlama, lavaş, fresh loaf

Chef's tip: Home ovens are much cooler than a Turkish stone oven. For lahmacun and pide, heat a heavy baking tray or pizza stone at your oven's highest setting for 30 to 45 minutes. Then bake on the hot surface, as close to the top element as you safely can.

Basic dough ratios to start from

These starting ratios are handy if you want to experiment. For tested versions with full steps, follow the linked recipes.

Flours absorb water differently, so hold back the last 10% of the liquid and add it only if the dough feels stiff. Doughs for rolling thin (gözleme, lavaş, lahmacun) should be soft but not sticky. Bazlama dough can be slightly wetter.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between pide and lahmacun?

Pide is a thicker, yeasted, boat-shaped bread with toppings such as cheese or meat, and it's sliced to serve. Lahmacun is a paper-thin round spread with a raw spiced meat paste, baked until crisp, then topped with salad and rolled up.

Is gözleme made with yeast?

Traditional gözleme dough is unleavened, just flour, water and salt, rolled very thin. Some modern recipes add a little yogurt or yeast for softness.

Is Turkish bread the same as pide?

Outside Turkey, "Turkish bread" often means the soft, dimpled Ramadan pide loaf. In Turkey there are many breads, and pide is one family among them.

Can I make Turkish flatbreads without an oven?

Yes. Gözleme, bazlama, lavaş and even lahmacun can all be cooked in a heavy frying pan or on a griddle.

What is the Turkish sesame bread ring called?

It's called simit: a twisted ring of yeasted dough dipped in grape molasses water, coated in sesame seeds and baked. It's sold by street vendors across Turkey and eaten with tea and cheese.

Sources

• Lahmacun: etymology and preparation
• Simit: Turkish sesame bread ring
• Gözleme: Turkish griddle pastry

Written by the House Chef Cyprus editorial team, Cyprus. Last reviewed: September 2026.