Lahmacun Recipe (Easy Turkish Pizza)
Lahmacun, also known as Turkish pizza, has crispy baked dough topped with a Middle Eastern spiced ground meat. It makes a delicious appetizer or main course.
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 409kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
Meat topping
- 1 pound ground beef, bison, or lamb
- 1 medium onion
- 2 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 celery rib
- 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- several grinds of freshly cracked black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 2 ounces tomato paste half a tube
- 1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses optional
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon pine nuts optional
Dough
- 1 pound pizza dough room temperature. Ideally, look for one already rolled out in a rectangle or circle.
- olive oil for greasing
Garnish
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves or parsley or mint
- 2 teaspoons runny natural tahini to drizzle
Instructions
- Prep: Place oven rack in the middle of the oven or just above. Preheat to 450°F (230°C). Line a large baking sheet with foil, and generously grease with olive oil. Set aside. Put onion, garlic, and celery in a small food processor, and mince into a paste. Set aside. Put spices, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, and stir to mix. Set aside.
- Make the meat mixture: Place ground meat in a medium sized bowl. Sprinkle spice mix on all around the meat. Then add vegetable mixture, tomato paste, pomegranate molasses, and lemon juice on top of the meat. Mix well with your hands- I like to wear disposable food grade gloves.
- Prepare the dough: Spread out the ready to bake dough. Cover the ones you are not working on to prevent the dough from drying out. Stretch the dough a little until it is about ⅛” thick. Take a metal dough cutter or a large knife and cut the dough into rectangles that are about 2x3 inches (or triangles for Purim). It's fine if the shapes are a bit irregular. Move each piece of dough to the oiled baking pan as you work. Keep the pieces separated, but they can be close together as they don't expand much when they bake. You’ll have approximately 40 small pieces of dough.
- Assemble: put a heaping tablespoon of raw meat mixture on each piece of dough, and gently flatten the meat to about ⅓ of an inch thick. Leave a tiny border of dough around the meat. The meat shrinks when it cooks. Lastly, sprinkle the meat with a few pine nuts each. Gently press on any nuts that look like they won't stick.
- Cook: Bake the first sheet of lahmacun in the oven for about 12-15 minutes or until the dough is golden brown on the edges and bottom. The darker the color, the crispier the dough will be.
- Serve: Let sit on the baking pan a couple minutes until they are cool enough to handle and remove with a spatula. Garnish with a thin drizzle of tahini and a sprinkle of chopped cilantro. Serve warm.
- Additional Directions for if you have a ball of dough: divide the dough into thirds. Cover 2 pieces and set aside. Select a work surface like a silicone cutting board. Spread a light amount of oil over the surface. Take your dough and stretch the dough by gently pulling with your fingers. You can also gently push the dough out against the board with your fingers until the dough is about ⅛ of a inch thick everywhere. Aim to stretch the dough into a square or rectangle.
Notes
- Make the meat mixture up to one day ahead of time.
- To simplify the recipe, substitute the pepper and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cardamom) for one spice blend: Baharat or 7 Spice seasoning in an equal amount.
- Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
- Freeze in an airtight container or bag for up to 3 months.
- Reheat in the oven directly from the refrigerator or freezer. Put on a baking sheet at 350ºF (175°C) until they are warm and lightly sizzling.
- Resources: Impossibly Kosher and Simply Lebanese for recipe inspiration.
Nutrition
Calories: 409kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 54mg | Sodium: 1061mg | Potassium: 346mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 149IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 4mg