nokul — Turkey

Nokul, also called lokul, is a puff-pastry-style bread from Turkish cuisine, made of rolled yeast dough sprinkled with a filling and baked until golden. It is served hot, often taking the place of bread at the table, and it can also open a meal as a light starter. This entry reports the version cooked in Turkey, common in the Central Black Sea region, where it is also known among Turkish-minority communities in Bulgaria, with small variations in filling and shape from one household to the next and from one bakery to another. A soft yeast dough is rolled into a thin sheet, brushed with melted butter and topped with crumbled feta-style white cheese, or with ground walnut or poppy seed instead, then rolled up, cut into individual portions and baked in a hot oven until crisp outside and tender within, the layers of butter helping the dough puff slightly as it bakes. The choice of filling, cheese, walnut or poppy seed, shifts nokul from a savory bread substitute toward something closer to a snack pastry, while the shared rolling and cutting technique keeps the family of preparations recognizable from one region to another, whether it is served warm from the oven or reheated later in the day.