Lahmacun - The turkish pizza
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EmailIngredients:
Dough
2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1-3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Topping
8 ounce ground lamb or beef (I pulse the already ground meat at the food
processor 4-5 times)
1/3 cup very finely chopped onion (I used pulse option on food processor)
1 green onion- very finely chopped (First, I cut the stalk in two lengthwise, then
chopped finely)
1/3 cup finely chopped Italian parsley
1 medium size ripe tomato, peeled, cored and chopped very finely
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon Turkish Aleppo pepper (optional- depends on how spicy you like)
Garnish
Shredded lettuce
Red onion rubbed with sumac (slice very thin half moons, rub with 1/2
teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon sumac)
Parsley
Fresh lemon juice
Procedure:
1. Combine yeast, sugar and warm water in a mixing bowl. Let it proof for 10 min.
2. Add 1/2 cup of the flour, combine with yeast water. Let it rise for 30 min
3. Add the remaining flour, salt and olive oil to the yeast mixture. Mix to combine well.
The dough should form a stiff ball. If the dough is dry and has hard time coming
together, add one more tablespoon to bring it the dough together. Turn it onto a
floured surface and knead for 10 minutes.
4. Lightly oil a bowl, place the dough in and cover. Let it rise for an hour or two until it
doubles.
5. In the mean time, mix all the ingredients for the topping.
6. Divide the dough into four or six equal sizes. Form each portion into a ball. Let it
rest for 30 min.
7. Put your baking tile/stone in the oven. Heat the oven to 550 degrees. It takes 30
minutes for the tiles to get hot.
8. Pat each dough into a circle on a floured work surface. With a rolling pin, roll out
each piece into a bigger circle. It should be thin.
9. Divide the topping into four or six (depending on how many lahmacuns you have).
Top each lahmacun dough with its portion of the topping, almost smearing it all over
the surface very thin, leaving 1/4 inch dough untouched around the perimeter. Make
sure you get an even cover and not have any clumps of meat. (I left some intendation
marks with my nails around the perimeter on several of them to see if the dough would
bubble up around the edges. The ones with the marks stayed flatter around the edges)
10. Bake it at 500 for about 8 minutes. The edges would turn crisp and meat will cook
fast since it is a thin layer.
11. Cover the baked lahmacuns with a damp kitchen towel or cover with a glass cake
dome for about 5 minutes. The moisture will make it softer. If you want crispy ones,
then skip this step.
12. Put any of the fillings, wrap it and enjoy with a glass of ayran.
