Katmer

Katmer is a Turkish food made by folding and layering thinly stretched dough and then baking it. Antep katmer from Gaziantep is a sweet dish in which pistachios, sugar and kaymak are wrapped in the dough. When you break through the thin layers on the surface, the richness of the warmed kaymak and the aroma of the nuts spread out.

Stretched paper-thin and wrapped around a filling

The dough is made by kneading wheat flour, water and salt, then left to rest before being stretched thin. After it is spread out with a rolling pin, the craftsman’s job is to lift it by hand and spin it until it is as thin as paper. Crushed pistachios, sugar, kaymak and other ingredients are placed in the center, and the dough is folded in from all four sides like an envelope and baked. Baking the folded layers of dough makes the surface fragrant and toasty, while the sugar inside melts and blends into the filling.

In the registered method for Antep katmer, no syrup is poured over it or used to soak it after baking. Its sweetness comes from the sugar added when it is wrapped. The step that adds sweetness differs from an example of Laz böreği, which is made to absorb syrup.

A regional katmer layered with poppy seeds

In Afyonkarahisar, there is a katmer made by spreading poppy seed paste and fat on the dough and layering it. In the method registered as a geographical indication, yellow poppy seed paste is spread on thinly stretched dough, which is cut into strips and stacked, folded, stretched out again, and then baked on both sides on a heated iron griddle. Both its ingredients and its layering method differ from those of Antep’s sweet pastry, in which pistachios and kaymak are wrapped in the dough and baked in an oven.

Morning shops and a wedding gift

In Gaziantep, it is eaten at breakfast and on special occasions. A custom has also been recorded in which, on the morning after a wedding, attendants deliver it to the bride’s home or to both families. It is a gift carrying the wish that the bride and groom, sharing a sweet breakfast together, will also have a peaceful life ahead.

Craftsman Onur Özsertt says that the katmer placed on wedding trays is made larger than usual. According to another craftsman, Emre Yılmaz, katmer was once often made early in the morning and sold out before the morning was over, but partly because of demand from visitors, it has come to be eaten during the day as well. The skill of stretching the dough thin has been passed down within families and from craftsmen to apprentices. When the pastry originated is uncertain.

Glossary