Katmer: the buttery, soft, and irresistible Turkish layered bread!
The katmer, also known as Turkish layered bread, officially joins my list of international recipes that you can find on the blog.
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know how much I love to experiment with flavors from around the world and bring traditional recipes from other countries into the kitchen… this one, believe me, is absolutely worth trying.
The Turkish katmer is a bread with an incredibly soft texture, characterized by a buttery layering that makes it fragrant, soft, and decidedly delicious.
It’s not a light recipe, it’s true, but every bite is well worth it, its deliciousness is almost “unsettling”!
Once brought to the table, it disappears in a flash, because everyone loves it, both adults and children.
These Turkish layered rolls have another great advantage, they stay soft for days, provided you don’t finish them immediately.
The structure of the bread allows them to be stored for a long time, maintaining their fragrance and softness.
Like all homemade leavened products, it requires a bit of patience for the rising times, but the final satisfaction is priceless… watching the dough grow and transform into a fragrant bread is a true joy.
The katmer bread is extremely versatile, you can serve it as a side to meals, use it instead of classic bread, or enjoy it stuffed.
It’s delicious with cold cuts, perfect for a casual lunch or dinner, but it’s also surprising in a sweet version, with jam, spreadable cream, or Nutella it becomes an irresistible snack.
If I’ve piqued your curiosity even a little, I really recommend trying this Turkish layered bread katmer recipe.
Follow the preparation step by step and let me know what you think, I’m looking forward to your photos and comments because sharing the passion for cooking is the most beautiful part!
Kcal 272 approximately per roll
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 5 Hours
- Portions: 12 rolls
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Turkish
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients to make Katmer Turkish Layered Bread
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 tsp fresh yeast
- 1 tsp honey
- 0.5 cup sunflower oil (or corn)
- 1 egg white
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3.5 tbsps butter
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tsps milk
- poppy seeds (or sesame)
Preparation of Katmer Turkish Layered Bread
We start by working in a large bowl or using a stand mixer; add the milk, yeast, and honey, dissolve well, then combine 1 cup of flour and mix the dough.
Next, add the oil, egg white, salt, and remaining flour, mix everything well, working the ingredients until you obtain a well-combined non-sticky dough.
Let it rise covered for about 3 hours, and until it doubles in size.
Once risen, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, form a ball.
Meanwhile, prepare the butter and soften it in the microwave for layering.
At this point, divide the dough into 8 equal weight balls.
Roll out each ball with a rolling pin to form a medium-sized pizza, prepare the first pizza, brush the entire surface with butter, overlap the second pizza, brush with butter and continue in the same manner, but do not brush the surface of the last pizza.
Now with the rolling pin, flatten the stacked pizzas, working to obtain a very large and fairly thin circle.
At this point, divide the circle into 10 or 12 equal wedges, I divided into 12.
Each triangle will be rolled up from the base to the tip, but after the first roll, the two vertices’ tips must be turned inward to continue rolling the triangle… proceed in the same way for all triangles.
Prepare a baking tray lined with parchment paper, place the rolls obtained, spacing them apart.
Let them rise again for about 1.5 hours, then brush with the yolk and milk mixture and sprinkle the surface of the rolls with poppy seeds or sesame.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for about 25 minutes, checking the cooking.
Once cooked, let cool and enjoy!!!

