How to Make Delicious Lahmacun – Step-by-Step Recipe
Lahmacun is a beloved Turkish dish, often referred to as Turkish pizza. It’s a thin, flavorful flatbread topped with a mixture of ground beef, tomatoes, peppers, and spices. It is surely one of the best Turkish street foods of all time to enjoy. In this blog post, I will give you a step-by-step process of making a homemade lahmacun recipe that’s just as good, if not better, than what you’d find in a restaurant.
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups of strong flour or all-purpose flour might need more depending on the type, so add gradually
- 1 cup of lukewarm water
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp dry yeast
- 250 grams of ground beef
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 onion
- 2 green peppers
- 1 chili pepper
- 1 sweet red capia pepper
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp “isot” pepper smoked, flaky pepper
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- Black pepper to taste
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tbsp pepper paste optional
- 1/2 tbsp Tomato paste optional
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and dry yeast.
- Gradually add lukewarm water, kneading until the dough is smooth and not sticking to your hands. You can drizzle more water if needed.
- Shape the dough into a ball, cover and let it rest for about half an hour. Unlike traditional bread, lahmacun dough doesn’t need to rise.
- Step 2: Preparing the Lahmacun Topping
- Finely chop the onion, peppers, and garlic. You can use a food processor for this step for convenience.
- Remove the seeds from the hot peppers if you prefer less spiciness.
- Add the chopped vegetables, minced meat, and all the spices to a bowl. Mix everything thoroughly.
- If your minced meat doesn’t have much fat, consider adding a bit of olive oil to the mixture. Also if the mixture is thick you can drizzle some water to achieve the spreadable consistency.
- Step 3: Shaping and Cooking the Lahmacun
- After the dough has rested, divide it into smaller portions for individual lahmacun. If you have a pan as big as about 34cm in diameter you can divide it into 9 balls as I did. If you have a smaller pan or to make it easy to handle you can work with smaller dough pieces like dividing into 12.
- Roll out each piece of dough on a floured surface, making it as thin as possible without sticking. You can add more flour as needed.
- If you have a special pan for “gözleme,” use it for cooking your lahmacun. If not use the biggest non-stick pan you have with a lif. You will use the lid to create steam, resulting in a well-cooked topping with a crispy on the bottom because of direct flame.
- Transfer the rolled-out dough onto baking paper for easy handling.
- Spread the topping mixture evenly over the dough, leaving a small border around the edges.
- Meanwhile, heat the pan and transfer the lahmacun with the baking paper directly onto the pan, don’t slide it from the paper yet
- Cook the lahmacun in the pan for about 1-2 minutes with the lid on,
- Then remove the paper and continue cooking for another 1-2 minutes without the lid to allow the steam to evaporate.
Notes
Transferring the baked lahmacun
Step 4: Serving and Enjoying
Lahmacun is best enjoyed hot and fresh. You can serve it with thinly sliced lettuce, tomatoes, and a squeeze of lemon. Don’t forget to pair it with a glass of “ayran,” a refreshing diluted yogurt drink.
Step 4: Serving and Enjoying
Lahmacun is best enjoyed hot and fresh. You can serve it with thinly sliced lettuce, tomatoes, and a squeeze of lemon. Don’t forget to pair it with a glass of “ayran,” a refreshing diluted yogurt drink.