Lahmacun - Turkish Pizza

Lahmacun (pronounced lah-ma-june), literally translated as meat with dough, is like a thin and crispy pizza that is topped with a deliciously spiced meat mixture, can be either lamb or beef, with paprika, tomato, onion and seasonings like cumin, isot paprika and oregano. Lahmacun is offten referred to as ‘Turkish pizza’ and makes a perfect stand-alone meal but you can serve them topped with a onion salad, parsley, lemon juice and alongside a yogurt drink ayran, in which case they are rolled up and eaten like a taco.
Isot, aka urfa biber, is a kind of dried Turkish chilli pepper. It is a variety of Capsicum annuum grown in the Urfa region of Turkey. It has a smoky, raisin-like taste with undertones of chocolate and red wine. Pul biber can be used as a substitute for isot chilli, although the unique smoky and raisin-like aroma of Urfa biber is difficult to replicate. Isot is one of the main ingredients of kebab and bulgur köfte, and a MUST for lahmacun. It works very well with especially lamb recipes, tomato-based salads, mezzes and roasted vegetables.

Dough	Topping
380-400 g Plain flour, plus more to work with ¾ tsp Sea salt 250 ml Lukewarm water	250 g Ground lamb 1 Onion, finely chopped 1 Green pepper, finely chopped 1 Large tomato, finely chopped 1 clove Garlic, finely chopped 2 tsp Tomato paste 2 tsp Pepper paste 30 g Parsley, finely chopped ½ tsp Ground cumin 1 tsp Dried oregano 1 tbsp Isot pepper, aka Urfa biber ©angiesrecipes ¾ tsp Sea salt

For the dough, mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Add water slowly and knead until you get a soft and smooth dough. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Set aside for an hour.
Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for the topping on a large cutting board and chop with a knife until everything well mixed.
Preheat the oven to 250C/500F.
Transfer the dough to a floured surface. Divide the dough into six even portions.
Shape each piece of dough into a circle as best you can, about the size of a dinner plate.
Transfer the rolled-out dough to a pizza peel or oven tray. Spread 2-3 tablespoons of topping over the dough. Transfer the lahmacun into the oven and bake until the edges are slightly brown, about 7-10 minutes.
Serve the pizza with pickled red onion, sumac, parsley and lemon wedges.

6 comments:

Anonymous 26/1/26 12:38: Wow.
rsrue.blogspot.com
Tom 26/1/26 12:58: ...Lahmacun pronounced or meat with dough looks mighty good to me!
Lola Martínez 26/1/26 13:11: Pues sí que es una carne con masa, muy buena a primera vista, una suerte de pizza diferente. Me gusta.
DEZMOND 26/1/26 13:20: Them Turks do have good food, we stole some from them, they stole some from us while they kept us enslaved for 500 years. I usually make oat or cornflour crust pizza.
David M. Gascoigne, 26/1/26 13:38: The first pizza I ever had was in Naples when I was a teenager. It was very simply, basically dough, cheese, tomato sauce and fresh basil as I recall, and it was delicious. Pizza has morphed into many things, but my memory of Naples is still the best of all!
Anonymous 26/1/26 14:01: Yummy -Christine cmlk79.blogspot.com