Lahmacun Turkish Spiced Lamb Flatbread Recipes

LAHMACUN: SPICY MINCED LAMB FLATBREADS

Steps:

• First, make the dough. Sift the flour, salt and yeast into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add 250ml warm water and the olive oil and mix together to make a soft dough. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. Put back into the bowl, cover and leave somewhere warm for about an hour until doubled in size. For the topping, bring the minced lamb back to room temperature if necessary. Roughly chop the onion, red pepper and green pepper, put them into a food processor and process, using the pulse button, until finely chopped but not a pulp. Tip into a sieve set over a bowl and press out the excess liquid. Add to the minced lamb with the crushed garlic, chopped parsley, Aleppo pepper and 2 teaspoons salt. Mix together into a soft paste using your hands. Divide the mixture into 12. Preheat the oven to 240°C/Gas Mark 9. Punch back the flatbread dough, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead once more until smooth. Divide the dough into 12 evenly sized pieces. Working with 4 pieces at a time, roll each one out very thinly on a lightly floured surface into ovals of 14 x 24 cm. Place side by side on 2 lightly floured baking sheets. Using your fingertips, spread one portion of the lamb mixture evenly over each base, taking it right up to the edges because the mixture shrinks as it cooks. Bake for 8 minutes until the dough is lightly browned. Serve straight away. The traditional way to do this is to pile a few parsley sprigs towards one end of the flatbread, squeeze over a little lemon juice and roll it up, much like you would a taco. While your guests start to eat, repeat with the remaining dough and lamb topping. This is one of those dishes where the cook always eats last.

LAHMACUN TURKISH FLATBREAD

Steps:

• Combine yeast, sugar and 3/4 cup boiled water in a bowl, let sit until foamy, about 5-7 minutes.
• Combine flour and salt separately, fold in the yeast mixture, and knead until soft, smooth dough ball forms. Cover the dough in a bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise for about an hour.
• Punch down dough, divide into 4 portions, and form them into a ball. Transfer dough balls to a floured baking sheet. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rest for another 45 minutes, or refrigerate until needed.
• In a large bowl, combine oil and tomato paste with the Baharat blend packet. Add in lamb, garlic, tomato, onion, and season with salt (optional).
• Preheat oven to 475°, use a pizza stone in bottom third of oven.
• Roll out each dough ball fairly thin, into a 10" disk. Transfer dough to a parchment paper, spoon about 4 tablespoons of topping onto dough, spread evenly with your fingers.
• Bake until the crust is golden brown and topping is cooked, between 6-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of your crust and topping layer. Repeat with remaining dough and toppings.