Turkish Pizza ( Lahmacun )

One of my friend who visited Turkey asked me cook lahmacun-Turkish pizza- for her. I have searched the best recipe online. Then I remembered the where I can find the best recipe; my brother.I called my brother and he explained it to me in detail. Last Sunday, she came to my house and we tried to make lahmacun. I wasn't as pleasant as I expected like the ones in Turkey however still it was a good start when consider you can't find it around easily.

Ingredients 

For dough 

½ T         Yeast

½ T         Salt

1 tsp      Sugar

3 C          Warm water

5 ½ C      All-purpose flour (more as needed)

For Filling 

½ lb        Ground beef

1 ½ T      Tomato paste

1 ½ T      Salt

2              Garlic cloves

1              Onion

2              Banana peppers

3              Plum tomatoes

                Parsley, ½ bunch

                Red pepper, to taste

                Black pepper, to taste

                isot, (roasted red pepper )to taste

 Direction

1-In a bowl, combine yeast, salt, sugar and water.  Set aside to let the yeast bloom.  Add flour, a little at a time, and mix with hands just until dough forms.  Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.  While dough rests, prepare the meat filling.

2-In a food processor, mince garlic and onion.  Add tomatoes, parsley, and peppers and pulse until finely chopped.  Transfer vegetable mixture to a bowl.  Add meat, tomato paste, salt and spices. Mix with hands to thoroughly combine. 

    

3-When the dough has risen, turn out onto a floured surface and knead with hands. 

4-  Roll dough into a thick rope and divide into equal sized portions (based on how large you want your lahmacun to be).  With a rolling pin, roll each portion of dough into a very thin disk.  Add flour as necessary to prevent sticking. 

5-One at a time, place a rolled piece of dough into a dry frying pan on medium heat.  After a few seconds (and the dough just starts to firm up a bit), spread a very thin layer of the meat mixture on the dough with the back of a spoon.  Cook until the bottom starts to brown and then transfer to a broiler.  Continue cooking until the meat is done and the crust begins to crisp up.  Remove from oven and repeat with the rest of the portions.

    

Lahmacun is traditionally eaten rolled up with salad in the middle.  Serve with pickled vegetables and ayran. 

Afiyet Olsun