Lahmacun: Yummy Turkish Pizza

Lahmacun, also known as Turkish pizza is a delicious cheeseless pizza recipe, very popular in Middle Eastern countries. The dough used to make Lahmacun is pretty much the same as the Italian pizza dough recipe. The difference between Turkish and Italian pizza lies in the topping. Italian pizza is topped with a variety of cheeses and cold cuts. Turkish pizza is instead topped with a sauce made with vegetables, lamb, and lots of spices. This recipe represents a fusion between Arabic food and traditional Italian food. Turkish pizza has less fat and calories than Italian pizza. It is one of those dishes, that once you taste it, it is difficult to forget because of the diversity and richness of the spices it contains.

What are the main ingredients in Lahmacun?

A good Lahmacun depends almost entirely on the topping. Although dough is also important, we will dedicate a separate section to dough. The Lahmacun topping is made with a combination of minced meat, vegetables, and spices. This mixture should be low in moisture so that the pizza dough is not soft. The most used vegetables for this pizza are onion, garlic, and tomato. Many cooks grate tomatoes and onions with a cheese grater, then squeeze them with their hands to squeeze them out and remove excess water. This vegetable mixture is then kneaded with the ground meat and spices. The most used meat for this pizza is lamb meat, but it can also be made with beef or buffalo. Even a mixture of meats is very tasty. You can use half lamb meat, and the other half beef.

How is Lahmacun served?

Lahmacun is a dish that is prepared in Middle Eastern homes, in Restaurants, but it can also be found as street food. The way to serve it will depend on that. For example, when taking the Lahmacun in the street. The most common way to serve it is rolled up as if it were shawarma. In homes and restaurants, it is served with a lettuce salad and topped with a topping of red onion and parsley. You can also add a little Greek yogurt.

Pizza dough

You can use this dough to prepare any pizza. It is a fast dough that does not require long fermentation times. If you haven't made pizza dough yet, don't worry. The recipe always works great. Like all doughs, pizza dough requires yeast. For the yeast to activate, you must soak it with a teaspoon of sugar in half a cup of warm water for about ten minutes. When the surface of the water is covered with bubbles, you will know that the yeast is good and you can begin the preparation. Then you just have to mix the diluted yeast, with the rest of the water and the oil. Form a volcano with the sifted flour and place the liquid in the center. Now with a little patience, knead until the ingredients are integrated into an elastic dough, which comes off easily. This dough requires a half-hour of rest until it doubles its volume. Some people cook pizza with raw dough. Ovens that have heated up and down can do this very well. But you may find some part of the raw surface. So, we recommend baking the dough for only ten minutes. Remove from the oven, cover with the topping, and make the final baking.

Lahmacun (Turkish Flatbread with Spiced Meat) Recipe

Serves: 6 (6 flatbreads) | Prep Time: 30 min plus 1 hr rise | Cook Time: 8 min per batch

Ingredients

• Dough: 3 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp instant yeast, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1 cup warm water, 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 lb Boxed Halal ground beef or lamb
• 1 small onion, very finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1 tomato, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp red pepper paste (biber salcasi) or 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp Aleppo pepper flakes, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper
• To serve: lemon wedges, parsley, sliced red onion, sumac

Instructions

1. Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Add the water and oil and knead 8 minutes into a soft dough. Cover and let rise 1 hour.
2. Mix the meat, onion, pepper, tomato, garlic, parsley, both pastes and the spices into a smooth paste.
3. Heat the oven to 500°F with a baking sheet or pizza stone inside.
4. Divide the dough into 6 balls and roll each into a very thin oval.
5. Spread a thin, even layer of the meat paste to the edges.
6. Bake on the hot tray 7 to 8 minutes until the edges are crisp and the meat is cooked.
7. Top with parsley, onion and sumac, squeeze over lemon, roll up and eat.