Lahmacun, Turkish Pizza Recipe
Lahmacun or Turkish Pizza is a thin crust flatbread, topped with a meat mince and tomato sauce.
Ingredients
- 3 cups plain flour
- 1 cup semolina
- 2 teaspoons fast acting dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 kg lamb/chicken/beef mince
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin ground
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon ground
- 1 teaspoon sumac or annardana ground
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley chopped
- 1 small onion chopped
- 4 medium tomatoes chopped
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 lemons cut into wedges
- 1 cup thick yogurt optional
- 1 cup mixed onion, tomato, parsley chopped salad
- 2 teaspoons zaatar spice mix for sprinkling on top optional
- 1/4 cup olive oil for drizzling on top or serving on the side
Instructions
- Dissolve yeast in 1 cup of warm water, add sugar and cover. Leave to bubble up for 10-15 minutes.
- Add the flour, semolina and salt to a large mixing bowl and stir well.
- Add the olive oil and the yeast mix to the flour. Knead the dough till smooth and elastic, about 5-8 minutes.
- Add more water if the dough is too tough, gradually 1 tablespoon at a time. If the dough gets too soft - to handle, sprinkle a little more flour and keep kneading till you get the desired elastic texture.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with a wet kitchen towel and leave to rise in a warm place until it doubles in volume, almost 2 hours.
- Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface. punch it back and knead again for a couple of minutes. Divide into five equal portions. And then shape each portion into a dough ball.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for another 30 minutes.
- While the dough is resting, place a baking tray in the oven to preheat and set the temperature at 220 C.
- At the same time we can make the meat and tomato paste for the topping. To make the paste simply place all onion, tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic. parsley, salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, cinnamon and sumac or annardana in a food processor till everything is mixed and turns into a paste. Now add meat mince to the paste in the food processor and briefly mix till everything is incorporated.
- To make Lahmacun, lightly flour the dough balls and roll out into very thin rounds. Place the rounds on baking sheets individually. Smear the meat paste over these rounds evenly, spreading to the edges. Press the topping with your finger tips in the dough gently to make it stick. Do not overload with topping or the dough will get soggy and heavy.
- Place the Lahmacun over the baking sheet in the oven on the preheated tray. Bake for 6-7 minutes or till the edges are crisp and golden.
- Repeat with all the rounds till all five are cooked. Serve immediately with suggested sides or on it's own.
Notes
You can make the dough a day ahead and refrigerate. Or even roll out and completely set the Lahmacun with topping many hours ahead and just pop in the preheated oven when you need to bake.
The baked Lahmacun can also be wrapped in butter paper and frozen. Thaw them on kitchen counter and microwave covered to reheat right before serving.