Lahmacun

Lahmacun

Lahmacun, also known as 'Turkish pizza', is a spicy Turkish/Middle Eastern dish consisting of a ground meat/vegetable mixture, spread on a very thin bread/cracker-like crust. 

Although lahmacun may look somewhat similar to Italian pizza (and is referred to as Turkish pizza outside of Turkey), their tastes are completely different. Lahmacun is spicy, the dough is very thin, there is no cheese and it's main ingredient is the ground meat. Lahmacun is especially famous in the Southern and Eastern parts of Turkey where it's traditionally eaten with salad and lots of red hot pepper flakes! The latter is optional, if you are not into hot/spicy food, just leave it out. I myself have started appreciating spicy food just recently, yet enjoyed the more mellow, non-spicy lahmacun for years.

Lahmacun has a few key ingredients: ground meat, salca, tomatoes, paprikas, onion and oil. Other than those ingredients, the recipe may vary from region to region. In my family and the region we originate from (Adana, Southern Turkey that is), it's common to use a mixture of tomato and pepper paste (salca) in the meat mixture. We also like to add some spices like cumin and hot red pepper flakes, while other families may not (although in my opinion, the cumin is most definitely a must!).

So, let me share my family recipe with you!

We will first start off with making the dough for the crust.

     For the crust

• 5 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1.5 cup of milk (or water - the reason for me to use milk is for the bottom of the crust to get a nice golden colour)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1.5 small package of insant yeast (10 grams).

Combine all the ingredients for the dough in a bowl or stand-mixer. Kneed or mix the dough for about 5 minutes and let it rise for two hours. Lahmacun crust is not like pizza crust where the crust almost defines the dish. We are also not achieving to get air bubbles or anything. The star of the lahmacun is the meat-mixture, not the dough. If you can manage to let the dough rise and roll a thin flat disk with your roller pin, then you've achieved your goal!

While the dough is rising, let's go on with the meat mixture. What we need:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 red paprika
• 1/2 green paprika
• 2 tomatoes (you can use tinned tomatoes)
• 1 large onion or 2 medium sized onions
• 1 tbs pepper/tomato salca (pure tomato salca will work fine if you can't find mixed salca)
• 2 tsp red paprika powder
• 1.5 tsp ground cumin
• 1.5 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 tsp salt (use the double if your salca is not salted) 
• A handfull of parsley
• 1/5 cup olive oilPut the the paprikas, tomatoes, parsley and onion in a food processor and mix untill everything is well ground.                     
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  The consistency of the mixture should be in between a paste and sauce. 
  

  
  

  Add this, together with the salca, olive oil and spices to the ground beef and mix with your hands untill everything is mixed thoroughly.

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  Now..when your dough has risen, start with forming little balls out of it (or big, it all depends on how large you prefer your lahmacuns). Mine are a little bigger than a ping-poing ball. Cover the balls so they don't dry out. 

  
  

  

  
  

  Flour your work surface, take your roller pin and roll out your balls. You want your dough to be very thin, about two millimetres. Then, take a spoon and put about one tablespoon or more - like I said before, it all depends on how big you made the balls - of the meat mixture and spread it on your dough. You may want to use the back of your spoon to even it out.

  
  

  

  
  

  In an ideal world, we would own a brick oven in which we would bake these babies, but we don't, well...at least, I don't. I have a simple large pizza pan and a small 'grill' that I use for baking my lahmacuns - and to be honest, they turn out great every time! If you don't have a pizza pan or a flat grill, you can also use your oven. Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees C and bake the lahmacuns for about 5-10 minutes. If you are using a pizza pan/grill, it will take less time. Your lahmacuns will be done in 3 minutes or less.

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  Squeeze a bit of lemon juice, put some salad on your lahmacun, wrap and enjoy!

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  ©Steve Bawden 2015

  Afiyet olsun!