Lahmacun - the Turkish version of a pizza that you definitely have to try at least once
29.3.2018
Translation: machine translated
Wafer-thin flatbread, beautifully crispy, traditionally baked in a wood-fired oven. However, as I don't have a wood-fired oven, I bake the Turkish pizza as usual in the oven or in a pan.
The well-known Turkish pizza is usually found in kebab shops, where it is usually cut into large pieces and served with a little parsley, spicy red pepper flakes and a squeeze of lemon juice. I'll show you the ingredients now and then you can get started yourself.
Preparations for the dough
Stir the yeast with the sugar and 150 millilitres of lukewarm water in a small bowl and leave to rest for 15 minutes until bubbles form. Pour the flour and salt into a large bowl and mix together. Make a well in the centre, pour in the yeast mixture and another 150 millilitres of lukewarm water. Mix well by hand or with a food processor.
Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and knead for about 10 minutes; dust with a little flour if it is too sticky. Grease a large bowl with a little olive oil and place the dough in it. Cover the bowl with a clean, damp tea towel and leave the dough to rise for about an hour until it has doubled in volume.
Now you should preheat the oven to 240 °C.
Topping
For the topping, heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat, then sauté the onion and garlic with the oregano for 3 - 5 minutes until the onion is soft. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, add the minced lamb, beef or veal, paprika powder, red pepper flakes, parsley and tomato purée and season generously with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix everything thoroughly by hand and cover and chill until ready to use.
Continue with the dough
Place the risen dough on the lightly floured work surface and work it gently with your fist: this is known as "punching down" to allow the air to escape. Shape into a roll and divide into four equal portions. Roll the pieces into balls and flatten by hand. Roll out with a rolling pin as thinly as possible into circles of around 30 centimetres in diameter, turning the dough over and over and pulling it apart with your hands.
Spread a quarter of the topping on each lahmacun. Drizzle with a little olive oil, carefully place on a baking tray sprinkled with polenta and place in the hot oven. Bake for 10 - 20 minutes until the pastry is crispy and golden brown.
Baking in the pan
As mentioned at the beginning, you can also bake lahmacun in a pan if you prefer the soft rather than the crispy version of lahmacun and want to top it with salad later. You can place the lahmacun in a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat and put the lid on. After about four minutes, the bottom of the dough will be lightly browned and the minced meat topping cooked through. You can then stack the lahmacun on top of each other and cover them with a cake tin so that they soften and you can roll them up later.
Ingredients - makes four pieces
- 1 tablespoon, i.e. approx. 7 grams, of dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 500 grams of flour plus a little more for processing
- 1 tablespoon of sea salt
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Polenta for sprinkling
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Topping
- 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon of dried oregano
- 200 grams of minced lamb
- ½ teaspoon of paprika powder
- 1 pinch of hot red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
- ½ tablespoon of tomato paste
To serve, sprinkle with parsley and red pepper flakes, garnish with lemon wedges and eat hot. Have fun making it and en Guete mitenand!
Arbenita Jashari
Junior Editor
arbenita.jashari@digitecgalaxus.chWhen it comes to office supplies, I believe in form and function. From pens, scissors, paper notes to glittery glue and funky folders. That’s what I’m about at work. When I’m not busy checking out the latest desk accessories, I enjoy jetting off to remote corners of the world, lifting weights or taking an evening walk.
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