Closed Minced Meat and Kashar Cheese Pide

Kıymalı kaşarlı kapalı pide is a closed Turkish pide filled with seasoned minced meat and kaşar cheese, the dough folded right over the filling and sealed so it bakes into a long loaf that is sliced across. Minced meat is the classic closed-pide filling: Bafra, in Samsun province on the Black Sea, is known for long, very thin closed pides of exactly this kind, and most closed pides served in kebab houses elsewhere follow that model. Adding kaşar, the semi-hard yellow cheese used on most Turkish pides, gives a filling that holds together and stretches when a slice is pulled apart. The difference from an open kıymalı kaşarlı pide is the cooking environment. On an open pide the mince browns and dries a little in direct heat; sealed in dough, it cooks in its own steam and stays juicier, and the cheese melts through it rather than sitting on top.