Katmer: Gaziantep Pistachio and Clotted Cream Pastry

Katmer comes from Gaziantep, the pistachio capital of Turkey, and it is traditionally eaten for breakfast — often the morning after a wedding. Paper-thin dough, clotted cream and a great deal of ground pistachio.

If you cannot find ground pistachio, buy shelled nuts and pulse them in a blender. Do not take them to a paste; you want a coarse powder.

Makes 8

Ingredients

For the dough

3/4 cup water, warm
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, approximately
1 teaspoon salt

For rolling

Cornstarch

For the filling

7 tablespoons butter, melted
9 oz clotted cream (kaymak), or mascarpone
10 tablespoons granulated sugar
10 tablespoons ground pistachios

To finish

More clotted cream and ground pistachios

Method

Make the dough

Dissolve the salt in the warm water.

Add the flour gradually and knead until you have a soft, smooth dough — the texture people describe as an earlobe. Soft is right here; stiff dough will not stretch thin enough.

Knead for 10 minutes.

Divide into 8 equal balls. Cover with a damp cloth and rest for as long as you can — ideally a full day in the refrigerator, but at least 2 hours.

The rest is not optional. Katmer dough has to be stretched almost transparent, and that only happens once the gluten has fully relaxed. A dough rested for twenty minutes will tear every time.

Roll and fill

Dust the work surface with cornstarch, not flour. Cornstarch lets the dough slide rather than grip, and it does not toughen it.

Roll one ball out as thin as you possibly can. The traditional standard is thin enough to read newspaper through. Work from the center outward, and once it is large enough, stretch it further with the backs of your hands.

Brush the whole surface with melted butter.

Place small pieces of clotted cream over the center third, then scatter over sugar and ground pistachios.

Fold the sides in over the filling to make a square parcel, the way you would fold a gözleme.

Repeat with the remaining dough.

Cook

Heat a dry nonstick pan or a griddle over medium heat. No oil in the pan — the butter inside the dough is enough.

Cook the katmer on both sides until golden and blistered, 3 to 4 minutes a side. Press down gently with a spatula to get even contact.

Medium heat, not high. High heat colors the outside before the layers inside have had a chance to separate and the cream to warm through.

Serve

Top each one with a spoonful of clotted cream and a heavy scatter of ground pistachios.

Serve warm rather than hot. Straight off the pan the filling runs; a few minutes and it settles.

Chef’s notes

Kaymak is difficult to find outside Turkey. Mascarpone is the closest substitute, and a thick crème fraîche also works. What you need is high fat and low moisture — anything watery will steam inside the dough and tear it.

In Gaziantep this is breakfast, served with strong tea. It is worth trying that way at least once rather than treating it only as a dessert.