Sfiha-Lebanese Meat Pies

The idea of filling flatbread with aromatic well-seasoned ground meat is as simple as it is ingenious. The result is so delicious that the dish, known as sfiha, esfiha, esfirra, sfija, sfihah, sfeeha or fatay, has even travelled around the world. From the kitchens of the Levant to South America, particularly Brazil where it has become an integral part of Brazilian cuisine.
The long tradition of flatbread starts in the Arab world, especially in Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon, where sfiha is widespread. As with many flatbreads, yoghurt plays a central role. Yoghurt's unique properties allow it to act not only as a binding agent, also makes the dough particularly soft and fluffy. Traditionally, sfiha is made with ground lamb, but you can also use beef. There are also vegetarian sfiha with vegetables or variations refined with cheese or quark. These meat pies are really delicious when served warm with yoghurt or tahini dip. But they taste equally good when served as cold party snack.

Dough	Filling
500 g Plain flour 5 g Instant dry yeast 1 tsp Sugar ¾ tsp Sea salt 2 tbsp Plain yoghurt 100 ml Lukewarm milk 80 ml Olive oil 150 ml Lukewarm water	1 Large onion, peeled and finely chopped 1 Large tomato, finely chopped 500 g Ground lamb ½ tsp Sea salt ½ tsp Cinnamon powder ½ tsp Pul biber ©angiesrecipes 2 tsp Sumac 1 tsp Dried oregano 1 tsp Dried thyme 50 g Pine nuts, toasted 1 tbsp Mint leaves, chopped, to garnish Freshly squeezed lemon juice

Sift the flour into the bowl of your mixer fitted with a dough hook and add in the dry yeast, sugar, salt, natural yoghurt, milk, olive oil and lukewarm water and knead everything until you have a smooth and elastic dough. Cover and leave to rest in a warm place for 1 hour until it doubles in bulk.
In the meantime, peel and finely chop the onion. Wash the tomato and finely dice. Mix the ground meat with the onion, tomato, salt and spices. Strain the filling to get rid of the excess liquid, this is a crucial step to avoid unravelling the sfiha while baking. (Alternatively, add 2-3 tablespoons of breadcrumbs to soak up the liquid)
Roast the pine nuts in a non-stick frying pan without adding oil until golden brown and set aside.
Knead the dough again and divide it into 12-16 portions, depends on how large you prefer them. Roll each portion of dough out to a 12 cm circle on a lightly floured work surface. Place 2 tablespoons of the minced meat filling in the centre of the dough circle. Fold up the edges of the dough and pinch the corners together, creating a triangular or square shaped sfiha. Repeat with remaining dough portions.
Place them on two baking trays lined with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 220C/430F. Bake for 25-28 minutes for large sfiha, 18-20 minutes for smaller sfiha. Garnish with toasted pine nuts, mint leaves and sprinkle with a squeeze of lemon juice.

8 comments:

DEZMOND 18/8/25 13:05: Lebanese food is the best, I love Levant kitchen.
Javier 18/8/25 13:23: So delicious! Looks like a wonderful snack!
speedy70 18/8/25 13:41: Grazie, proverò a farle, molto invitanti!!!
Tom 18/8/25 14:07: ...Angie, these look great.
Judee 18/8/25 14:38: Beautiful! My Mother-in-law used to make something like this!! They look great.
ellie 18/8/25 15:01: Oh, so pretty!
Caitlin'nMegan 18/8/25 15:02: Such a beautiful Monday post! Awesome and tastey too!
Pantherka 18/8/25 17:14: That's beautiful.
It must be delicious, yum.