Basma

Başma is a stretched, sweet cheese dessert from the city of Bursa in northwest Turkey, made by kneading the drained teleme cheese into a smooth paste and stretching it with sugar, semolina and a small amount of butter or cream until it forms glossy, silk-like strands. The hot cheese is then shaped into small mounds, loafs or rolls, dusted with ground pistachio, and chilled until firm. The result is somewhere between a sweet cheese pastry and a confection — faintly salty, very milky, with a long, sweet finish.

Başma is closely associated with the orchards and dairy farms around Bursa, particularly the village of Mudanya, and is sold across Turkey as peynir tatlısı ("cheese dessert"). It is a fixture of Ramadan iftar tables and of afternoon tea in the city's old bazaars, and is often eaten with a slice of fresh ekmek or a glass of cold milk.